Merloni Job Cuts.......

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chrisbsuk

chrisbsuk

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Joined
Aug 21, 2006
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Found this news article earlier today.... it would appear Indesit are responding to the market conditions (being no one is buying their goods!)

Reading the previous threads it is a real shame that Hotpoint have been sucked up by this organisation, and i guess it is further proof of the death of well built British machines....

Maybe Hoover/Candy are next.....??

 
The germans should be greatful i guess that Miele washers are built there. Please folks do not flame. If the UK and US did the same with our laundry products...we might stand a chance.

I have seen the current Mieles here and these machines do not have indented side panels..thicker gauge steel is apparent..like we had at one time.

It is a shame that most people just see the washer as "just give me something for the cheapest price" and then bitch because their $300 piece of s**t quit after 2 years.

It all sucks,....you collectors know what it's about. Older is actually better in so many cases.
 
Up to 45 jobs at one factory doesn't seem a lot, but I don't know how far the production process is automized. I guess you could calculate that this is 12.5% of the production. But ofcourse the Indesit company has more factories than this one so it's a small percentage of their whole production I think.

Not all Miele appliances are made in Germany. The toploaders, the little Giants, the built-in washers and dryers and the washer/dryer combo's are all made in the Czech Republic. I guess Miele has to cut costs too. But what's important is that they maintain the same quality. That's where Indesit went wrong, they economized a lot on quality control and now pay the price.

It's indeed true, a lot of consumers don't care about quality anymore, they just want the cheapest. As a matter of fact last week I was talking to a woman in a store who said that she never wanted to buy something else than the cheapest. All she wanted was a long warrantee and scrap the machine when it broke down after the warrantee ended.
 
Where the United States manufacturing suffers labour costs, so do Western European plants, though for different reasons. Thus everyone is seeking to move where they can find cheap labour/fixed costs.

What is going to be interestings is as the EU keeps enlarging to include more Eastern European countries,it is going to be more and more difficult to find those "cheap" places. Russia and several other former Soviet Union countires come to mind, but the corruption and mob rule mentality does not bode well for investment.

L.
 
Im not being spiteful to those who own Merloni Hotpoints or Variants or the workers who would be out of a job, but I hope this company sinks for good.

And I dont care anymore if the brand "Hotpoint" is never seen on a machine again.

Call me bitter but one day I dreamed of owning a Hotpoint that I had bought new with my own money, chosen myself, it was all I ever wanted and even though my mum had one of the last real ones (WM62P) it was not a true one. Sure the Fast spin sounded the same but it didnt growl on wash like a real one should.
This company have trashed the good name with - no tell you what, im not repeating myself about the faults on the machines youve herad it all before.

Rot In Hell Merloni

It wasnt enough you rip customers off with cheap S***ty machines, no you had to spoil the Christmas of some of the poor staff you have too.

A very Disgruntled Nick.
 
45 jobs in a factory that size isn't really that many. That's not the first time that there's been job losses there, and it's not entirely Indesit's fault to be fair. Had GE not sold Hotpoint to Indesit there may have been similar problems as the quality was already decreasing before Indesit bought them over.

Would you prefer that the manufacturing stayed in this country but with a few less jobs, or would you prefer that they closed the entire factory and lost all the jobs? I think they're sensible enough to know that if they closed the entire factory then the Brits would likely stop buying Hotpoints in as great numbers as they currently do, and then the brand would lose value.
 
nick...

many thanks for shouting the fact that Hoover went years ago.... my mistake, was trying to make discussion and get to know a few people
 
Chris

Im sorry I didnt post my message right, "Years ago" was meant to be in italics and sounding polite.
Im proud to be a brit and acknoledge what previous generations have achieved in terms of reliability and quality.
to see this thrown down the drain in a matter of months angers me.

Im sure you can understand that the ~UK makes nothing these days like we used to due to Merloni/Candy etc taking the reigns. and for example to find ex Rolls Royce employees working in Tesco (we have a fair few redundants)with the skills they have its very sad.

Although im not making excuses I do get passionate about anything British and to see to Brits lose jobs because a manufacterer is gutless to stand up to the public and produce a half decent machine and charge the right price is sad.

Things like this put peoples priorities into order then and society is a better place IMHO.

I believe if you cant afford something decent, you wait until you do.
ok so I dont have children but I would not buy an Indesit/Servis etc if money was tight, id go without and make personal sacrifices to be able to buy that Miele or whatever.

(this post is not meant to sound aggressive Chris.)

All the best

Nick
 
I'm afraid indeed...

I always have said it here in Italy... Merloni's Appliances are NOT products which you can trust in. Either for the appliances themselves (quality of the materials, friendly-use, reliablety), either for the choice of the factory (innovation, place of production).

Often people choose an Indesit here because of its low price, don't caring about what there's "behind" that competitive price.
It happens just as Louis said unluckly.

We always have purchased Zanussi appliances, as Rex for example and I still have my mum's 1st washer, a Sangiorgio, of those years (early '80) before it became a Brandt's brand.

Then... Whirlpool! But why? Because I don't believe that you have to worry where/how/when/... an appliance is made, the important is it keeps the same quality long the time.

Of course if that means what we read in the article IS NOT A GOOD THING TO LOOSE THE JOB, specially nowadays witth a such restrictive job market.

I hope everything will be solved as soon as possible and none gets angry and unsatisfied at the end.

PEACE&LOVE :-) (I don't usually say like that but this times, I think it to be right)
Diomede
 
in reply to Aquarious 1984 ( NIck)

I don't mean to be critical but I imagine you have a half decent income. As I work in housing, I see people who cannot even afford to pay their rent (or get into trouble with finances sometimes through no fault of their own.) I was a little disappointed with your comments as I feel many people do not have any form of passion for white goods as we do on this site. Feeding their kids and keeping a roof over their heads takes more than their income provides. Yes, I agree, I would rather buy TOL but not all people can.
Laundry equipment is a luxury to some, not a necessity.

Peter

PS. To all on this site. One job lost is a disaster to the person losing it!

Please note, i am not looking for a fight, just airing my views.
 
"I believe if you cant afford something decent, you wait until you do.
ok so I dont have children but I would not buy an Indesit/Servis etc if money was tight, id go without and make personal sacrifices to be able to buy that Miele or whatever. "

With all due respect Nick, that's all well and good IF you are able to do that. Many people can't. When you have kids you can't necessarily make personal sacrifices that you would make as someone without them, it's just not a choice. Equally, you may not have the time to hunt about and find a used machine that's going to be better than the cheap one you need right now - you just have to take what you can get. I think you see life a bit differently when you have kids in some ways.

For a lot of people, spending £400+ on a Miele just isn't an option at all, and yes there's better choices for £200 than a Servis or Indesit, but when you're in a hurry you'll take what you can get quickly and without spending more than you need to. If they have a bad experience, they won't go back for more.

Peter - I agree about the one job lost is a disaster to the person losing it, I've been there. I didn't mean to sound flippant in my comment, but was trying to make the point that a small number of jobs lost in the factory is surely better than the factory being closed down and manufacturing being moved to Poland or somewhere.
 
Everybody here by now knows my opinion of Indesit, so all I can say is that I'm not surprised. It is a true shame to see a brand such as Hotpoint that had so much national pride behind it deteriorate - but at least as Dave points out that they're still manufacturing here (though god knows how long seeming as the popular Aqualtis machines are now made in Italy).

In terms of affording a Miele - you don't necessarily have to buy a Miele to get a good, reliable machine. You can easily pick up a cheap, good-featured Zanussi or Bosch for £250 or £300 - quality of course isn't up there with Miele or Asko or whatever and they aren't as refined machines, but then you are only paying half the price. I was able to afford a Miele because I had saved up for it, and already had another machine at hand to get me through, but if I was in a situation where I was a single parent, had 4 screaming kids and no washing machine I'd prefer even a Hotpoint that I could afford and have now rather than go 3 or 4 months with no washer and running up launderette costs to afford a Miele in the long run. My mum and dad aren't exactly rich either, but the circumstances in that they had bought a £300 machine that only lasted a month (though it was a lemon), Miele were offering free 10 year warranties (i.e. no extra costs on the washing machine needed for at least 10 years, and buying a £700 Miele now meant not spending £900 on three £300 machines in the next 10 years plus any extra money on repair bills), and the ability to finance one at the time due to endowments then it was the best option. However even though there is a Miele sitting in the utility room, our TV is a black square box probably reaching about 10 years old now, mum drives an H reg car, up until recently we had a 1970s kitchen that was falling apart, mostly everything from the supermarket is own- or economy-branded etc, so because we have a Miele doesn't exactly mean we have a large disposable income.

Jon
 
The Death of Quality.....

Hopefully when the WEEE directive comes in next year manufacturers may once again build machines to last more than 2-3 years as they will be partly responsible for recycling costs etc.

If there were no sub £300 machines about everyone would still buy them- fair enough some people would have to save up or have the machine on credit but overall im sure they would still buy them, As Nick said I would love to be able to buy a British built machine but sadly as I also believe in quality I no longer have that option :(

Seamus
 
I relish the day when UK-made appliances that currently bear the Hotpoint name once again have a mark of quality about them. Not quite Miele quality of course, but reliability is the key.

Admittedly, things did go a little wrong before Merloni/Indesit Company took over, but GEC/Marconi did at least allow Hotpoint products to evolve over the years. I see this with consumer electronics as well – the best products just change a little inside over the years, not with completely new designs every year.

I really wish I had purchased a modern Hotpoint machine when they were still good. Back in late 1999, we had a choice of a Hotpoint and a Bosch. The Bosch had been reduced from £469.99 to £399.99; the Hotpoint was still at £399.99. The Bosch was not an end-of-line model; it just happened to be discounted. You need only guess which machine we went for. :-( Yes, the Bosch was nice, but it was so slow. I never really took to it, if that makes any sense.

Perhaps, one day, the “Made in Great Britain” badge may mean something on these machines. I do feel desperately sorry for the factory workers who are involved in assembling these machines. I wonder what they think about their finished products now. Even the Hotpoint engineers who come round, some of whom we have known for years, are friendly and as honest as they can be. They don’t rate their new products. :-(

I do get quite passionate about this sort of thing because I wanted to get a ‘new’ version of my beloved Microtronic L.E. We are too late now. :-( I have lots of products, like a portable TV, that was made in the UK back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It is so sophisticated – fully digital controls – and cost £300! £300!!! We had it fixed two years ago at a cost of… wait for it… £4.40 in parts. LOL The labour cost more, and we could have bought a new TV for less, but we wanted our old one working.

There really is more to an appliance than just a name, but I know for a fact that the UK-made Hotpoint appliances in years gone by served us very well, and I really do hold out for the time when things may get back to how they were, but I’m not holding my breath.
 
On the front page of today's (10/13/06) New York Times is an article about a law being drafted in China which will give workers some protections, allow them to form labor unions, help eliminate the wage gap and free them from some of the abuses of sweat shops. Amazing, yes. Overdue, yes. But the American and other foreign corporations with factories in China are lobbying against the proposal and threatening to reduce their factory building in China if this becomes law.

These corporate decision-makers are too low to kick and too wet to step on. What dirty, rotten scoundrels. They make huge wages themselves, yet begrudge paying anyone working for them, even the pittance they pay these poor 3rd world workers. Many US corporations first moved manufacturing from here to Mexico so that they could pay people less, then moved to China. Now, what other nation are they going to find where the people will work for nothing and where the government hates the West? Afghanistan, maybe? I have no great knowledge of economics, but if you do not manufacture, you do not have a value-added economy. I do not know where all of this is going, but I do not believe outsourcing jobs is a sustainable plan. Finally, I believe that all corporate officers that move jobs to these pathetically poor places be required to live and work there for a month every year. They would not work only in the air conditioned offices, but also out on the factory floor so that they can see what it is like for their employees. While they are there, they would not be paid more than the manager of the factory and would have to live on the economy of the area; no villas or special apartments for visiting management. While this is the stuff of dreams like Scrooge had, management has to be brought back to the reality of how their workers live. It should also be mandatory for corporations that have manufacturing facilities in their home country, just to keep them in touch with the world outside their mansions, chauffeured limos and top floor office suites. Perhaps they should also have to use the crap they make so that they have to experience, first hand, their products' shortcomings.
 

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