White Goods Mixer – Poland’s biggest meeting of the household appliances sector

Investments in state-of-the-art technologies worth billions of zlotys, a few thousand workers, and millions of refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers and cookers manufactured every year is what Lower Silesia’s household appliances market looks like. The industry’s biggest players met in Wrocław on Thursday, May 11 2017, at the event named White Goods Industry Mixer. 200 participants, over 90 companies including 8 household appliances manufacturers, and a 70-strong delegation of Italian entrepreneurs attended White Goods Industry Mixer, Poland’s biggest event dedicated to the household appliances market. The talks at the Conference Centre of the Wrocław Stadium concerned strengthening of cooperation within the sector and its importance to Wrocław and Lower Silesia. – Lower Silesia and Wrocław have been for a few decades one of the strongest household appliances production centres in this region of Europe - stresses Dariusz Ostrowski, President of Wrocław Agglomeration Development Agency: The household appliances sector, with its employment volume of thousands of people, is of strategic meaning to the city. Therefore, we always strongly support all related development projects. We also provide any assistance sought by new investors, and, if it’s needed, become involved in maintaining Wrocław’s production capacity, a testimony to which was our role in the acquisition of Fagor Mastercook production facilities by BSH. By closely cooperating with companies operating here and organising events such as White Goods Industry Mixer, we want to contribute to our region’s household appliances industry becoming stronger in Europe in the coming years. Household appliances sector is of strategic importance to Wrocław The discussions at the meeting covered issues such as the meaning of the household appliances sector to the economy of Lower Silesia, the economic situation in Poland and its impact on running business operations on the European market, as well as the cutting edge technologies applied in the manufacture of household appliances. – We must be a team. When operating on the global, fast changing market, you must match competition from countries such as China or India - adds Fabrizio Bosetti, founder of Bosetti Global Consulting: – Italian businesses have a lot to offer, also in the household appliances market. We think that inviting them to cooperate in the “white sector” in Lower Silesia was an obvious thing, which is why the White Goods Mixer initiative is a great success on the path of building the strength of the Polish and European household appliances industry. As a consultancy company boasting 20 years’ experience, we have hands-on knowledge of the good results of combining experiences, innovations, and Polish and Italian companies’ capitals. Wrocław’s educational institutions cooperate with business An important part of the programme consisted in talks between representatives of the vocational schooling system and tertiary institutes (there were employees of Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Practical Education Centre in attendance, among others) and entrepreneurs, which aimed to adjust the region’s educational offering of the needs of business. – We realise how enormous is the technological change we can see today in industry and that it also requires a fundamental change of one’s attitude to future employees’ qualifications - says Jarosław Delewski, Director of the Education Department of the Municipal Council of Wrocław. - Vocational schools in Wrocław are actively working on it while continually readjusting their curricula. This is why the attending representatives of schools and the Practical Education Centre in Wrocław will meet as many companies as they can - to broaden their knowledge of the industry’s needs and propose further actions aiming to ensure even better cooperation with businesses. I hope that we will see the first results of the talks as soon as next school year - he adds. Global household appliances producers operate in Wrocław Lower Silesia is one of not only Polish but also European leaders in the area of household appliances manufacture. Four of the world’s five biggest manufacturers of household appliances have their production facilities in Wrocław or its agglomeration. These include production plants owned by BSH, Electrolux, LG and Whirlpool.  Altogether, they employ about 8 thousand people in the region, delivering 8.6 million of household appliance units a year. Contact: Łukasz Czajkowski: [email protected]