About Whirlpool Corporation:
1989: Whirlpool entered European Markey by buying a 53% stake in the appliance division of Dutch based Philips Electronic for $ 470 million .Formed a joint venture firm named Whirlpool International BV (WIBV).
1990: Added the whirlpool brand name to the Philips product line.
1991: whirlpool bought the rest of the Philips stake (47%) for $ 600 million to become the sole owner of Whirlpool International BV.
1991-1999: WIBV developed three pan European brands to differentiate its product line. Whirlpool, Bauknect, and Ignis. Regional brands like Laden which was sold exclusively in France were also created.
MARKET SHARE ? 13%.
Value Chain Analysis of Whirlpool Europe
Manufacturing through 11 plants, 10 in Europe and 1 in Africa.
Typical flow of goods:
FROM
Point of Origin: One of the Manufacturing Units.
TO
Contact Point 1: One of Two central distribution Centres.
TO
Contact Point 2: One of 12 regional Distribution Centres
AND FINALLY TO,
Customer:
A) Who purchased stand alone appliances for their homes
B) Contractors who purchased built in appliances for new home construction or kitchen remodelling.
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR THE SEGMENT
1) PRODUCT AVAILABILITY.
2) PRICE
3) PRODUCT AVAILABILITY.
KEY ISSUES FACED BY WHIRLPOOL EUROPE
RATIONALE FOR INSTALLING THE ERP SYSTEM
1) SKU'S: Company's multinational presence resulted in multiple stock keeping units (SKU's) for the same model. In total whirlpool Europe manufactured 6900 SKU's.