Electrolux

This article is about the appliance manufacturer. For other uses, see Electrolux (disambiguation).
AB Electrolux
Type Publicly traded Aktiebolag
Traded as OMX: ELUX B
Grey Market: ELUXF
Industry Household appliances
Founded 1919
Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden
Area served Worldwide
Key people Marcus Wallenberg (Chairman), Keith McLoughlin (President and CEO)
Products Major and Small appliances
Revenue SEK 101.60 billion (2011)[1]
Operating income SEK 3.017 billion (2011)[1]
Profit SEK 2.64 billion (2011)[1]
Total assets SEK 76.384 billion (end 2011)[1]
Total equity SEK 20.644 billion (end 2011)[1]
Employees 52,916 (average, 2011)[1]
Website www.electrolux.com

AB Electrolux (commonly known as Electrolux) is a Swedish multinational household and professional appliances manufacturer headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.[2][3][4] It is the world's second-largest household appliance maker by revenues (after Whirlpool).[5] Electrolux products sell under a variety of brand names including its own and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners intended for consumer use.[6] The company also makes appliances for professional use.[4]

Electrolux has a primary listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the OMX Stockholm 30 index.

History

The origins of Electrolux date back to a 1918 cooperative agreement between sales company Svenska Elektron AB and kerosene lamp maker Lux AB.[7][8]

Sales company to major manufacturer

In 1919 a Svenska Elektron AB subsidiary, Elektromekaniska AB, became Elektrolux.[8] (the spelling was changed to Electrolux in 1957.)[9] It initially sold Lux-branded vacuum cleaners in several European countries.[8]

By 1925 the company had added absorption refrigerators to its product line[10][11] and other appliances soon followed: washing machines in 1951,[12]dishwashers in 1959,[12] and food service equipment in 1962,[13] etc.

Mergers and acquisitions

The company has often and regularly expanded through mergers and acquisitions.

While Electrolux had bought several companies before the 1960s, that decade saw the beginnings of a new wave of M&A activity. The company bought ElektroHelios, Norwegian Elektra, Danish Atlas, Finnish Slev, and Flymo, et al., in the nine years from 1960 to 1969.[13] This style of growth continued through the 1990s, seeing Electrolux purchase scores[14] of companies including, for a time, Husqvarna.[14][15]

Hans Straberg

Hans Straberg, a President and later Chairman of the Board, led the strategic core of an increasingly decentralised Electrolux—and was instrumental to its rapid growth.

Restructuring

While attempts to cut costs, centralise administration, and wring out economies of scale from Electrolux's operations were made in the 1960s and 1970s[13][14] with the focus so firmly on growth,[14] further company-wide restructuring efforts only began in the late 1990s.[16]

A public company

Electrolux made an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 (it was delisted in 2010)[17] and another on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1930.[11][18]

Currently its shares trade on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Market and over-the-counter, too.[19] Electrolux is an OMX Nordic 40 constituent stock.

2000 to present

In North America the Electrolux name was long used by vacuum cleaner manufacturer Aerus LLC, originally established to sell Swedish Electrolux products. In 2000, Aerus transferred trademark rights back to the Electrolux Group. Aerus stopped using the Electrolux brand in 2004.[20] Before 2000 Electrolux-made vacuums carried the Eureka brand name, and while Electrolux continued to make Eureka-branded vacuums after it regained the right to use its own brand, it also began selling Electrolux-branded vacuums, too. Electrolux USA customer service maintains a database of Electrolux-made vacuums and provides a link to Aerus in case an Electrolux-branded vacuum cleaner was made by Aerus.[21]

Keith McLoughlin took over as President and CEO on January 1, 2011, and became the company's first non-Swedish chief executive. In August 2011, Electrolux acquires from Sigdo Koppers the Chilean appliance manufacturer CTI, one of Latin America's largest producers and owner of the brands Fensa, Gafa, Mademsa and Somela.[22]

Electrolux moved its North American headquarters from Augusta, GA to Charlotte, North Carolina, announcing it in December 2009.[citation needed]

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Brands

An Electrolux vacuum cleaner

Electrolux sells under a wide variety of brand names many of them specific to a single country or geographic area and most acquired through mergers and acquisitions. The following is an incomplete list.

  • AEG, high quality German appliances.
  • Arthur Martin-Electrolux
  • Atlas
  • Beam, Electrolux's central vacuum brand[23]
  • Castor
  • Chef
  • Corberó
  • Dito, professional food processing equipment[24]
  • Electrolux ICON, consumer kitchen appliances sold in the US[25]
  • Elektro Helios, acquired in 1962,[9] consumer appliances under this brand are sold in Sweden[26]
  • Electrolux Laundry Systems
  • Electrolux Professional
  • Eureka, consumer vacuum cleaners[27]
  • Faure, French consumer appliances[28]
  • Fensa, Chilean domestic appliances brand, widely available in Latin America.
  • Frigidaire, full range of major appliances sold in the United States and globally[29]
  • Gafa, Argentinean kitchen, freezers, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers manufacturer.
  • Gibson, refrigerators and air conditioning[30]
  • Juno-Electrolux, premium consumer kitchen appliances[31]
  • Kelvinator, commercial refrigerators and freezers[32]
  • King, kitchen appliances sold exclusively in Israel[citation needed]
  • Lehel, appliances sold in Hungary, etc.
  • Mademsa, Chilean home appliances.
  • Marynen/Marijnen, consumer products sold in the Netherlands[33]
  • Molteni, professional stoves[34]
  • Olympic Group, all domestic appliances plus water heaters
  • Parkinson Cowan, cooking appliances
  • Philco
  • Progress, vacuum cleaners sold in Germany and throughout Europe[35]
  • Prosdócimo, refrigerators, fridges and air conditioning sold in Brazil
  • REX-Electrolux, appliances sold in Italy[36]
  • Rosenlew, consumer products in Finland and other Scandinavian countries[37]
  • Sanitaire
  • Simpson, consumer appliances sold in Australia[38]
  • Somela, Chilean home appliances brand available in more than 20 countries [39]
  • Tornado, vacuum cleaners and other consumer products[40]
  • Tappan
  • Therma
  • Tricity Bendix
  • Volta, vacuums cleaners sold in Australia, Sweden and elsewhere[41]
  • Voss, premium consumer cooking appliances and equipment in Denmark and elsewhere[42]
  • Wascator
  • Westinghouse
  • White-Westinghouse
  • Zanker, consumer kitchen appliances sold in central Europe[43]
  • Zanussi, became a part of Electrolux in 1984[44]
  • Zanussi Professional, professional food preparation, cooking, ventilation refrigeration, and dishwashing equipment[45]
  • Zoppas, consumer products sold in Italy[46]
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Notable products

1919: The Lux vacuum is the first product Electrolux sells.

1925: D, Electrolux's first refrigerator, is an absorption model.[11]

1937: Electrolux model 30 is unveiled.

1940: Assistant, the company's only wartime consumer product,[18] is a mixer[47]/food processor.[48]

1951: W 20, Electrolux's first home washing machine, is manufactured in post-World War II Gothenburg, Sweden.[18]

1959: D 10, the company's first dishwasher, is a counter-top model nicknamed "round jar".[9][12]

2001: Launch of the Electrolux Trilobite, a robot vacuum cleaner.[49]

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Slogan

In the 1960s the company successfully marketed vacuums in the United Kingdom with the slogan "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux".[50] In the United States it was frequently assumed that using this slogan was a brand blunder. In fact, the informal US meaning of the word was already well known in the UK at the time, and the company hoped the slogan, with its possible double entendre, would gain attention.[51]

The company's current slogan is "Thinking of you".[52]

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Religious discrimination

In 2003 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission resolved a complaint that Muslim workers at the St. Cloud factory were not allowed a sufficient number of breaks to observe their daily prayers.[53]

In 2010 and again in 2011 complaints against the company were filed by Muslim workers in Electrolux's plant in St. Cloud, Minnesota, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The 2010 complaint, that workers were not able to observe Ramadan, was resolved.[54] The 2011 complaint stems from the 30-minute breaks agreed to in 2010 being later reduced to 20 minutes by Electrolux.[55]

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See also

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References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Results 2011" (PDF). Electrolux. Retrieved 18 April 2012. 
  2. ^ "Olympic Q3 net profit down 55 percent". Reuters. 2010-11-14. 
  3. ^ "About Electrolux | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  4. ^ a b "About Electrolux | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  5. ^ Patrick Lannin and Johannes Hellstrom (2010-11-12). "UPDATE 2-Electrolux sets new cost-saving plan". reuters.com (Thompson Reuters). 
  6. ^ "National consumer brands; Electrolux Group". Electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  7. ^ "History 1910-1919 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  8. ^ a b c "Founding an international company; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  9. ^ a b c "Elektrolux becomes Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  10. ^ "Revolutionary products; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  11. ^ a b c "History 1920-1929 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  12. ^ a b c "History 1950-1959 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  13. ^ a b c "History 1960-1969 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  14. ^ a b c d "A new president with new strategies | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05. 
  15. ^ "History 1970-1979 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05. 
  16. ^ "History 1990-1999 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05. 
  17. ^ "Electrolux delisted from the London Stock Exchange ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  18. ^ a b c "Growth and industrial design ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  19. ^ "The Electrolux share | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02. 
  20. ^ [1][dead link]
  21. ^ [2][dead link]
  22. ^ "Electrolux acquires Chilean appliance company CTI | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  23. ^ "Brand – Beam; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  24. ^ "Brand – Dito-Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  25. ^ "Official Electrolux ICON Site - Electrolux ICON Appliances". Electroluxicon.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  26. ^ "Brand – Elektro Helios; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  27. ^ "Brand – Eureka; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  28. ^ "Brand – Faure; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  29. ^ "Brand – Frigidaire; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  30. ^ "Brand – Gibson; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. [dead link]
  31. ^ "Brand – Juno-Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  32. ^ "Kelvinator Commercial". 
  33. ^ "Brand – Marijnen; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  34. ^ "Brand – Molteni; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  35. ^ "Brand – Progress; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  36. ^ "Brand – Rex Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  37. ^ "Brand – Rosenlew; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  38. ^ "Brand – Simpson; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  39. ^ "Somela - Exportaciones". Somela.cl. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  40. ^ "Brand – Tornado; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  41. ^ "Brand – Volta; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  42. ^ "Brand – Voss-Electrolux ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  43. ^ "Brand – Zanker ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  44. ^ "/ Electrolux 90 Years of Innovation and Design". Electrolux.com.sg. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  45. ^ "Brand – Zanussi Professional ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  46. ^ "Brand – Zoppas ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  47. ^ "Svensk Köksmaskin Hushållsassistent Köksassistent Kitchen machine Kitchen Assistant - Bäst i Test". Assistent Original. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  48. ^ "History 1940-1949 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  49. ^ "Trilobite 2.0". Trilobite.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02. 
  50. ^
  51. ^ "The Project Gutenberg Etext of The New Hacker's Dictionary version 4.2.2". Gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  52. ^ "Vac from the Sea". Electrolux.se. 2011-12-10. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  53. ^ "EEOC and Electrolux Reach Voluntary Resolution in Class Religious Accommodation Case". Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2003-09-24. Retrieved 2012-06-16. 
  54. ^ "EEOC and Electrolux Reach Settlement in Religious Accommodation Charge Brought by Muslim Employees". Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2010-08-06. Retrieved 2012-06-16. 
  55. ^ "Muslim St. Cloud Electrolux workers file EEOC complaint". Minnesota Public Radio. 2011-08-23. Retrieved 2012-06-16. 
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External links

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Last modified on 22 May 2013, at 10:28