Turkey’s Minister visits our new cooking factory in Eskişehir
We were excited to welcome on February 27 the Minister of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey, Mehmet Fatih Kacır in our new cooking factory and R&D Center in Eskişehir.
The visit was also attended by the People’s Republic of China Ambassador in Turkey Liu Shaobin, along with local officials and representatives of the Turkish business community.
During this momentous occasion, Yannick Fierling, CEO of Haier Europe, and other members of Haier Europe Leadership team had the opportunity to show institutional representatives the best-in-class factory and how this facility is designed to excel in the premium segment and meet the high expectations of our kitchen channel customers.
The day also included an internal town hall, which was a resounding success and attended by over 300 people. During the internal town hall, CEO, Mehmet Ali Karasu, Head of Manufacturing Operations, and Marco Balliano, Head of Built-In & Cooking, delivered speeches that truly captured the essence of our new factory and how it fits our product and brand leadership strategy.
The industrial park in Eskişehir is the company’s largest and most crucial production hub in Europe, and the platform extension plays a pivotal role in the go-to-market and customer-centricity strategy of Haier Europe.
The industrial park also hosts the new R&D tech center covering an area of 2000 square meters and employs 85 engineers and lab technicians. The new cooking R&D hub features a design center and laboratories which cover all manufacturing activities of the ovens and cooktops – from conceptualization phase and design to development into production and testing of the cooking performance.
The factory represents a significant upgrade in our cooking and built-in production capabilities and will cover an area of 56,000 square meters. It will employ over 500 people with a total capacity of 1.2 million units per year.
The factory is conceived to win in the premium segment with a Titanium platform dedicated to Haier’s new ID Series with Bionicook technology, a new generation of A++ energy class ovens featuring increased IoT and AI features that combines technology with human touch such as temperature control throughout the entire cooking cycle and in-oven camera for live food detection, designed to offer consumers the most valuable and personalized cooking experience.
The new platform’s design allows maximum flexibility and efficiency, thanks to a modular and scalable structure that allows to switch product range manufacture and change capacity rapidly, with semi-automated low-volumes processes for product testing.
The extension of the platforms in Turkey plays a pivotal role in the go-to-market and customer centricity strategy of Haier Europe, and this investment will further strengthen the corporate commercial success globally and in Turkey, where we have recently launched the Haier brand and premium after sales services to offer unique and premium experiences to Turkish consumers driven by technological leadership and sophisticated design.
The factory was conceived to reflect our commitment to sustainability and reduced our environmental footprint: the A-class building will guarantee an estimated 60% reduction in CO2 emissions thanks to renewable energy resources, full-electric assembling lines and increased use of plastic-free and recycled materials.
Our primary focus when designing this new factory was the safety and well-being of our employees. We have ensured that the working area is ergonomically designed to provide maximum comfort and well-being. Additionally, we have established a training academy to provide ongoing learning and professional development opportunities for our employees.
