COOL COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES WHIRLPOOL INDIA* Whirlpool India is a part of the multinational company, Whirlpool Corporation that is a global

manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, with its headquarters at Michigan in the U.S.A. It is claimed to be the world's largest white goods company, a status it reached in 2006. Whirlpool Corporation has annual sales of more than $18 billion, more than 73,000 employees and more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centres around India Limited was acquired to facilitate entry into the refrigerator market in India. A majority ownership in the joint venture with TVS led to the emergence of Whirlpool of India Limited in 1996. The vision of Whirlpool India articulated in 1998 is stated as: 'Every home, everywhere, with pride, passion and performance'. The mission statement enunciated in 2003 is 'Everybody creating loyal customers for life'. The objectives of innovation, operational excellence, customer-centric approach and diversified talent are claimed to be embedded within business goals, processes and work culture. In 2002, the company launched an initiative called 'Whirlpool Strategic Architecture' as the implemenv tation framework to achieve its vision and mission. Whirlpool India is one of the popular brands of home appliances in India. The business portfolio of the company consists of four lines: air treatment, fabric care, food preparation and foodstream solutions. The product portfolio includes air conditioners, microwave ovens, refrigerators and washing machines. The company claims to hold a market share of 25 per cent in the refrigerator market, 10 per cent in the microwave oven market and 16 per cent in the'washing machines market in 2006. There are three manufacturing units situated at Faridabad, Pondicherry and Pune. Whirlpool has transformed itself from an accomplished manufacturer to a consummate marketer a process that is said to be achieved through a brand building framework that aimed at building excellent brands and engendering customer loyalty. In doing so, the company claims to have relied on one of its the world in 2007. Among its eleven major brands are Whirlpool, jMaytag and KitchenAid that are produced in 13 countries and marketed to consumers in over 170 countries around the world. The initial internationalisation of Whirlpool Corporation began in 1958 when it entered Brazil. Serious efforts came in the 1980s when it started adopting an aggressive strategy to be a worldclass company. India was identified as a growth market sometime in the iate1980s. Entry into India was made through a joint venture wi'.h TVS Group to produce automatic washers at Pondicherry. In 1995, Kelvinator of facilities have ISO certification and have also adopted the six-sigma quality

technique for quality management in 1-999. Care has been taken to create adequate capacity for the long-run, along with eco-friendly technology. Regional Technology Centres at Pune and Pondicherry are involved in design engineering aimed at continual upgrades of features and styling and customisation of products. There is also a global consumer design centre for Asia based at Delhi, indicating the*company's commitment to using India as a technology base for its Asian operations. The Pune-based design centre has online connectivity with other Whirlpool design centres around the world, enabling optjpium utilisation of modelling and analysis software. Digitalisation is a progressive process at Whirlpool India. For instance, it has incorporated digital manufacturing technology into its washing machine manufacturing operations. The software connects Computer Assisted Design data with assembly times and the cost of materials, simplifying the planning and ordering phase, resulting in the application of a customercentric marketing strategy. The company website was re-launched in 2006 and was made more interactive, providing a forurn not only for information but also for performing the sales functions. Whirlpool India is a recognised export house with an export-oriented unit based at Pondicherry, to produce KitchenAid appliances for the export markets in the U.S. It is also exporting refrigerators and washing machines to South Asia, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and West Asia, Russia and East European countries and claims to be the largest exporter of home appliances from India. Exports constitute 13 per cent of the turnover of the company and reached Rs. 200 crore in 2006-2007. The market positioning of Whirlpool India is based on the theme: 'your partner in homemaking'. Customer focus drives innovations in product design and changes. Product differentiation is built on customer responsiveness for the demanding Indian consumer. An example of such responsiveness is its realisation that the Indian climate core competence of 'customer excellence', the other two being innovation and operational excellence. The transformation process has five elements of: market leadership through customer loyally, innovation diversity with inclusion and core competence, passion for customer excellence and operational excellence. The end result is a customer-centred organisation. These five elements form the core of the company's strategy and guides strategic planning and implementation. The manufacturing facilities of Whirlpool India at Faridabad and at Ranjangaon near Pune, are dedicated to making refrigerators and at Pondicherry, to washing machines. All production quite successful, along with an advertising campaign based on the theme, 'Ice, Ice Baby'. Other special features like movable trays, space for large bottles and strong body to withstand the heavy toads a typical Indian home subjects its appliances to, have driven its product changes and design. The consumer durables or the white goods industry in India is a growing industry, albeit at a slow rate. There are strong competitors such as the mul-

tinationals LG or Samsung and strong domestic players such as Godrej and Voltas. It's a tough market for the best of marketers. The Indian consumer is hard-to-convince and demands value for money and is not swayed easily by the hype built, around products through advertising campaigns. Future plans of Whirlpool are mostly to concentrate on the existing businesses, except a related diversification into water purifiers where it plans to leverage its retail distribution strength. Whirlpool products are available across 11000 retail outlets in over 150 cities and towhs in India. There are no new manufacturing units in the pipeline. Whirlpool India had sales of Rs. 1592 crore for the year ending March 2007 and a net loss of Rs. 5.32 crore, an improvement over the past year's loss of Rs, 38.1 crore. It expects to turn around by 2008 through sustained productivity improvements and cost reduction.21
People: whirlpool not only exchanges basic info and ideas but also shares more intensive involvement at development, engineering and technological levels. Global: learn and work with worldwide partners Anti tangled specially designed agitators introduced in India, helping inidan women wash saries without tangling. JV with local parter to redesign washing amchines to suit local partners. World leader in establishing strategic partnerships, main agreement with top retail leaders in North America, Europe, South America. Continuous change is essence of gloabal markets Empowering and enabling people from throughtout the organisation and across the business chain to achieve world wide success

The Basic Whirlpool Story

Names as CEO in 1987, David Whitwam assessed multiple strategic options and decided that he wanted Whirlpool to become a global leader in the large appliance industry. This dictated a number of changes: new strategies, new capabilities and new people in several areas of the business. Whitwam has assembled a global web of manufacturing facilities, R&D centers, and strong brands -- KitchenAid, Roper, Estate, Admiral, Ignis, Laden, Bauknecht and, of course, Whirlpool. Whirlpool has become the only global player in what had been perceived as the stodgy and traditional world of refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers. As a strategic

innovator, it is driving change and pressing its competitors to simply keep up -- to react rather than to challenge. In the late 1980s, Whirlpool Corporation set out on a course of growth that would eventually transform the company into the leading global manufacturer of major home appliances, with operations based in every region of the world. At the time, Dave Whitwam, Whirlpool's chairman and CEO, had recognized the need to look for growth beyond the mature and highly competitive U.S. market. Under Mr. Whitwam's leadership, Whirlpool began a series of acquisitions that would give the company the scale and resources to participate in global markets. In the process, Whirlpool would establish new relationships with millions of customers in countries and cultures far removed from the U.S. market - and the company's roots in rural Benton Harbor, MI, U.S. Whirlpool's global initiative focused on establishing or expanding its presence in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. In 1989, Whirlpool acquired the appliance business of Philips N.V., which immediately gave the company a solid European operations base. In the Western Hemisphere, Whirlpool expanded its longtime involvement in the Latin America market and established a presence in Mexico as an appliance joint venture partner. By the mid-1990s, Whirlpool had strengthened its position in Latin America and Europe, and was building a solid manufacturing and marketing base in Asia. Mr. Whitwam knew that the company's new scale, or global platform, that emerged from the acquisitions offered a significant competitive advantage - but only if the individual operations and resources were working in concert with each other. "If you think about putting together a global leadership position, the challenge is not in buying the individual businesses; it's the hard work required to integrate all the businesses together in a meaningful way that creates the leverage and the advantages that you set out to achieve," says Mr. Whitwam. Some of the advantages were easy to see. By linking the regional organizations through Whirlpool's common systems and global processes, the company could speed product development, make purchasing increasingly more efficient and cost-effective, and improve manufacturing utilization through the use of common platforms and cross regional exports. Given the competitive dynamics of the global industry, leveraging the advantages would become a critical objective for the company in the mid to late 1990s. "We concluded that we needed to be in the position to lead change from an industry standpoint," Mr. Whitwam says. "So, we initiated a re-dimensioning, a re-focusing of the company. We went through a number of dramatic changes, including restructuring and reorganizing the company into business units and creating a more responsive environment within which to work and manage, one that could respond to the changes we saw were inevitable."

Whirlpool has had success in refocusing a number of its key functions to the global approach. Procurement was the first function to go global, followed by technology and product development. The two functions shared much in common, and have already led to significant savings from efficiencies. More important, the global focus has helped reduce the number of regional manufacturing platforms worldwide. The work of these two functions, combined with the company's manufacturing footprints in each region, has led to the development of truly global platforms - products that share common parts and technologies, but offer unique and innovative features and designs that appeal to regional consumer preferences. Work continues on the manufacturing side of the global platform as well. Whirlpool is in the final stages of its global restructuring initiative that was announced in December 2000. Since that time, the company has rationalized manufacturing in each region in ways that have reduced costs and aligned the resources to the company's strategies for growth. "We identified the activities and finalized the charges of our most significant and important restructuring effort in the company's history," adds Mr. Whitwam. "When fully implemented, the restructuring will reduce ongoing structural costs by more than U.S. $200 million a year. Changes to date have already strengthened our global platform and our regional manufacturing positions." Acquisitions that complement the company's global platform remain an important element of Whirlpool's long-term growth strategy. Last year, for instance, Whirlpool acquired leading appliance businesses in Mexico and Poland. Vitromatic S.A. de C.V., now Whirlpool Mexico, is the country's second largest appliance maker and distributor. Whirlpool Mexico fits well within the company's North American operation, and offers direct access to Mexico's fast-growing domestic market. The Supermatic and Acros brands, combined with newly acquired distribution channels, create additional export opportunities for Whirlpool. The company also acquired Polar S.A., a leading home appliance maker based in Poland, which complements Whirlpool's European manufacturing platform, expands its distribution network in the region, and provides additional export opportunities for Whirlpool Europe.
Procurement's Prerequisite

During the mid-1990s, procurement became the first function to be structured as a truly global organization. According to Mark Brown, senior vice president of Global Strategic Sourcing, managing Whirlpool's procurement as a global function makes sense. "Because of our scale, we are a very attractive customer for suppliers," says Mr. Brown. "A partnership with us gives suppliers the opportunity to sell globally, but it also gives them efficiencies within their operations. They don't have to design for different places in the world. They can come at us as one supplier to serve all of our global needs. We think that gives us access to their best technology and to all of their best people globally. We can obtain savings as a global player, as opposed to a company that has four separate businesses that come at a supplier in four different ways."

Jeff Fettig, president and COO

Mr. Brown notes that the benefits of procurement are so important to Whirlpool that it is the first process to get serious attention following every acquisition. "Each time we make an acquisition, we begin leveraging our global platform again in terms of procurement." The integration process, which is conducted by Mr. Brown and his team, focuses on changes that need to be made based on how the new business operates. The success of the integration depends on people and training. "We work on installing our global systems and training the key personnel to think in Whirlpool terms," says Mr. Brown. Whirlpool's global procurement approach complements the global development process. "We have purposely placed procurement within the Corporate Technology Organization for two reasons," says Mike Thieneman, executive vice president and chief technology officer. "First, to marry procurement with technology so we can obtain value at the front end of design; and then to operate as a global unit - to drive global design from region to region, category to category, commodity to commodity."
Product Development for Global Markets

"Our global product development structure and process allow us to rapidly migrate innovative consumer solutions from one part of the world to another," says Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool's president and COO. "For example, our operations in Brazil manufacture refrigerators with innovative features and designs that appeal to consumers worldwide," says Mr. Fettig. "In 2002, the region exported these popular refrigerators to Europe. Because of the global product development process, Whirlpool India was also able to leverage the Brazilian platform and quickly ramp up production. As a result of the successful launch, Whirlpool India now claims the number 1 refrigeration position in the country." "Before the globalization of product development took place," explains Mr. Thieneman, "there were multiple platforms in each product category, little feature leverage, multiple

technologies with wide performance variations, significant technical resources to keep all of these platforms going, and long and costly product development. Today we manage 60 percent of our commodities globally, and we have fewer platforms. Global product development cuts our engineering costs considerably and, in the end, the consumer is the winner. They get better performance and more features that are relevant to who they are." "Fewer platforms also give us the ability to design global products with regional features, such as energy-efficient appliances," says Hank Marcy, vice president of Corporate Technology and Engineering Development. "It's easy to design and build from global platforms even when regions have different energy efficiency requirements. For instance, in Europe, you know you need a more efficient product, so starting with the same global cabinet and wall thickness, you can obtain more energy efficiency - and meet European energy standards - by simply adding a different compressor." "Our goal in global product development is to evolve quickly from regional platforms to a global platform, while ensuring that we meet the unique needs of consumers in all the diverse markets we serve," adds Mr. Fettig. "Through a transfer of technology and knowledge around the globe - the product reaches the marketplace faster."
A Platform for Continuous Improvement

Mark Brown, senior vice president of Global Strategic Sourcing

While Mr. Whitwam and his team have spent more than a decade building the company's global entity, he points out that Whirlpool still is only 50-60 percent complete. From a productivity standpoint, the global platform gives Whirlpool the capability to drive key operational initiatives for maximum impact. This includes the company's customized Six Sigma, lean manufacturing methodology, known as Operational Excellence, which ensures that it consistently improves quality levels, even as costs are reduced and cycle times are shortened. Mr. Fettig adds, "We have systematically gone through our business and said that we should perform every activity - at every level - with a focus on the value that we deliver to our customers. In some cases, repositioning, realigning, and leveraging the manufacturing footprints can help. For example, we produce virtually all of our microwave ovens for the world in one location: China. We are trying to take what we learn around the world in terms of best practices, innovation, and new ideas and quickly transfer that learning. There is no one model that works. The test for us is if we can bring a better benefit to customers." Mr. Whitwam is quick to emphasize the importance of customers to the company's strategic plans. "Our strategy is customer loyalty, and the global platform strategy

enables us to accomplish our goal," he says. "We recognize that consumers are different around the world. They have different tastes, cultures, and usage patterns with our products. We want to understand better than anyone else in this industry what will satisfy a customer."
Building Unmatched Customer Loyalty

To sustain the growth of its global business, Whirlpool has embarked upon a strategic path to build unmatched levels of customer loyalty. "Whirlpool's growth strategy - 'Building unmatched customer loyalty' - is unlike any other within the appliance industry," says Mr. Whitwam. "The strategy focuses on winning the hearts and minds of our customers. We know that loyal customers are recommending our brands to others; that they are requesting and repurchasing our brands over those of competitors; and that they are beginning to upgrade their appliances because they trust the innovation and value that our brands deliver." Nancy Snyder, vice president of Strategic Competency Creation, says that Whirlpool operations are engaging employees in initiatives to better understand the perspective Nancy Snyder, vice president of Strategic of customers by becoming a customer that shops and Competency Creation interacts with the company's brands and products. Ms. Snyder says that Whirlpool's Latin America operation was the first to implement such an effort to help employees within the region become knowledgeable advocates of the company's brands. Management implemented an employee purchase program to encourage its employees to purchase and use Brastemp and Consul brand products. The program also provided opportunities for employees to ride along during appliance deliveries and visit retail outlets to experience the brands through the eyes of a customer.
Whirlpool's Global Brands

By focusing on consumer needs, Whirlpool has been rewarded with strong consumer acceptance of its brands worldwide. Whirlpool's portfolio of brands ranges from global brands to regional and country-specific brands of appliances. In North America, key brands include Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Roper by Whirlpool Corporation, and Estate. Acquired with the company's 2002 purchase of Vitromatic S.A., brands Acros and Supermatic are leading names in Mexico's domestic market. In addition, Whirlpool is a major supplier for the Sears, Roebuck and Co. Kenmore brand. In Europe, the company's key brands are Whirlpool and Bauknecht. Polar, the latest addition to Europe's portfolio, is the leading brand in Poland. In Latin America, the brands include Brastemp and Consul. Whirlpool's Latin American operations include Embraco, the world's leading compressor manufacturer. In Asia, Whirlpool is the

company's primary brand and the number 1 refrigerator and washer manufacturer in India. Each of the company's brands is involved in ongoing innovation efforts designed to build customer loyalty by delivering products and services that consumers value and that cannot be easily duplicated by competitors. Much of the success of Whirlpool's brands and innovations is based on the ability of its regional operations to execute the company's global value-added trade and distribution strategies. In North America, for example, Whirlpool holds the number 1 appliance position with the top national appliance retailers and buying groups. Whirlpool has relationships with trade partners that have trained salespeople who can effectively demonstrate that value of Whirlpool's product innovation to customers. Whirlpool believes this type of value-added format is a winning formula for Whirlpool and its trade partners. Another key aspect of customer loyalty involves the experiences that touch customers before, during and long after the initial purchase. Each of Whirlpool's brands is putting in place a complete set of experiences - such as brand advertising, the in-store purchase, call center interactions, and ongoing customer communications - that will help forge lifelong relationships with our customers.
Innovations Drive Customer Loyalty

In addition to the company's global platform and brands, innovation is another key element of Whirlpool's strategy to build unmatched customer loyalty. The company's innovation effort began in 1999 as an effort to help employees think of customer-relevant solutions that go beyond the traditional Mike Thieneman, executive vice president and CTO view of the "white box" home appliance. The idea was to capture the imagination of employees and customers through a formal process that helped generated truly unique "out-of-the-box" products and services. Initially, says Ms. Snyder, Whirlpool lacked the innovation skills and capabilities needed to advance the strategy, and so turned to outside consultants to help develop the process. "Ultimately, we found a group called Strategos that offered us a set of tools that were accessible to anyone within the organization and that created an infrastructure within which to innovate," she says. But how is such a task communicated to Whirlpool's employees? "We started out by identifying 75 people around the world, 25 from each of our major regions to work fulltime on learning these tools," Ms. Snyder says. "We also instituted KM, a knowledge management employee intranet site, for people around the world to connect virtually. We also set up an innovation database for anyone that was working on an innovation

project to get help, resources, and find answers to questions. The KM was a way for us to propel innovation," she says. Since the initial months of the effort, Whirlpool employees worldwide have participated in the process and helped develop and introduce more innovations than at any other time in the company's history. A sampling of the company's new innovation in 2002 includes: the Whirlpool Polara range, the world's first refrigerated range; the KitchenAid brand briva in-sink dishwasher; the Gladiator GarageWorks line of organizing products and appliances for the garage; and the Whirlpool Family Studio, a suite of cabinetry containing integrated fabric care innovations that transform the traditional laundry room into a functional family space. "Because innovation is such an important driver of customer loyalty, we are expanding our efforts to transfer innovation capabilities and skills to employees everywhere," says Mr. Whitwam. "Approximately 600 innovation mentors and consultants assisted and trained employees who were involved in development projects last year, and that number will grow as our innovation efforts continue in 2003." Innovation is now a regular part of the corporate culture at Whirlpool, and each employee is expected to participate. Consumers are much more involved in product development than ever before, from the earliest discussion stages through introduction. Interviews are conducted in consumer's homes, and prototypes are tested there as well. Mr. Marcy notes that a culture in which innovation is fostered and welcomed is prevalent within his group. "We spend a lot of time working with consumers," he says. "We get out into people's homes, into where they buy the products, and get to consumers at the front end of a product's technology string to understand consumer's wants and needs. We get our ideas out into people's home very early in the process rather than waiting until all investment decisions have been made. We've built concept homes and rooms and have showed them to consumers to gauge consumer reaction. "As we began to go down this innovation path, all sorts of things started to open up to us," Mr. Marcy explains. "When we go through our innovation process now, we no longer are looking to improve the traditional white box with bells and whistles. Instead, we're looking for consumer solutions." Mr. Thieneman adds, "We tried to create migration paths, or paths of products, ideas, and services that get us from where we're at today up into the dream space. It's from those migration paths that we get to formulate; we take ideas into the concept stage and some even into prototypes."
Diverse Customers, Employees, and Ideas

According to Mr. Whitwam, much of Whirlpool's customer loyalty and innovation strategies are built upon the same foundation that supports the company's approach to diversity and inclusion. "Understanding and embracing differences and ideas of customers and coworkers are essential first steps in our innovation process," says Mr.

Whitwam. "Diversity within Whirlpool creates the originality and relevancy of ideas needed to solve unique problems. And because diverse employees reflect our global customer base, Whirlpool gains a keen understanding of our customers' needs."
Working with the Global Environment

As a leader in the global home appliance industry, Whirlpool recognizes its role in protecting the environment by producing products that are more energy and water efficient. As such, the company has established a set of environmental goals for its operations throughout the world. According to Steve Willis, director of Global Environmental Health and Safety, "Each of our plants tends to have the same kinds of processes and uses the same types of chemicals, so our environmental protection goal is the same no matter where you go." In the U.S., for example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) laws help to protect employees against numerous things that could harm them in the workplace. Not every country in which Whirlpool has a manufacturing facility has OSHA laws, but Whirlpool's global standards establish OSHA-type rules for each country. A Corporate Environment Health & Safety Council formulates, updates, and improves the policy and the mechanisms and processes that enable compliance. By making their appliances energy and water efficient, Whirlpool also makes a significant contribution to the preservation of the environment. Whirlpool's hard efforts have paid off. In the U.S., Whirlpool has been named an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for four consecutive years by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy for its commitment to making and selling energy-efficient products that save consumers money on energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2002, the award recognized Whirlpool in particular for its ENERGY STAR qualified Duet front-loading washer, which uses 68-percent less water and 67-percent less electricity than conventional washers.
Whirlpool's Future

With its global strategy underway, Whirlpool continues to strengthen its position in the market and meet its most important objective: delivering on its brand promise to consumers. Mr. Whitwam notes, "This is an industry that we said over time would become a fullgrown global industry. There is lots of evidence that has happened. A number of major players have elected to participate in the same global markets that we are in. If we look out 5 years from now, I think this is going to be an industry that will continue to consolidate. I think there will be a set of competitors who succeed because consumers say they want it to succeed. Consumers, wherever they are in the world today, have more choices, more power, and more mobility to determine the success or failure of anyone who manufacturers products or services for them. The companies that will win

are those who understand the consumer and deliver experiences and value that exceed their expectations." Adds Mr. Fettig: "Our strategy is completely aligned to deliver solutions to consumers that they truly value. Though price is an important part of the equation, it is not the entire equation. Our goals are straightforward: to grow the strength of our brands in ways that build unmatched levels of customer loyalty."

"We'll grow our brands by doing well everything in a customer's experience with us." - Dave Whitwam, chairman and CEO
APPLIANCE magazine traveled to New Delhi and Ranjangaon, India to report on Whirlpool Corporation's India headquarters and manufacturing facility.

Whirlpool India is successfully leading the Indian market in refrigeration and laundry by focusing on excellence in manufacturing, design, marketing, and customer care. "We were a company without a brand," reminisces Raj Jain, managing director for Whirlpool of India. "The irony was that when we entered the Indian market in 1995 and acquired the facilities of Kelvinator of India and TVS washing machines, the brand names did not come to us." So the team at Whirlpool of India started from scratch, virtually building the Whirlpool brand name in India and the company brick by brick, and establishing it as the leading brand and home appliance company in The refrigerator assembly line at Whirlpool India's less than 8 years. By 1999, Whirlpool was no longer an "unknown" brand. That year, Whirlpool India became the market leader in the refrigerator and fully automatic washing machine categories, selling more than 1 million appliances. It also became the largest exporter of white goods from India. By June 2002, Whirlpool brand had gained market leadership in the overall washing machine category. The company also had made a foray into other categories, including air-conditioners and cooking appliances.
The History of Success Ranjangaon facility. (APPLIANCE magazine photo.)

Whirlpool India's success story began in 1996, with the setting up of a 430,000sq-ft plant at a greenfield site in Ranjangaon, near Pune in the state of Maharashtra. In October 1997, its first no-frost refrigerator rolled out of the Ranjangaon facility, and commercial production was underway by February 1998. An investment of U.S. The air-conditioner assembly line at $80 million went into setting Whirlpool India's Ranjangaon facility. up a multi-technology plant (APPLIANCE magazine photos.) that today manufactures nofrost and direct cool refrigerators, washers, and air-conditioners. Microwave ovens will begin rolling out of the facility in the not-toodistant future. To date, the production value of the appliances made in the Ranjangaon facility amounts to $51 million. "The key drivers of manufacturing excellence," says Ram Natarajan, vicepresident of Pune operations, "are quality, cost and productivity, flexibility and response time, and people and organization." This focus has enabled Whirlpool India to make a mark in the highly quality-conscious export market. The first shipment to Hong Kong was made in April 1998. Since then the facility has shipped products to 52 countries. Says Mr. Natarajan, "There is enormous complexity involved in supplying products that have to be geared to different market needs. Be it electrical norms or specifications of the department of electronics, we have to ensure that every standard is met. Again, every market has its peculiar requirements. For instance, in Australia, soft drink bottles are of a completely different size and shape. Similarly, freezer sizes for Bangladesh have to be larger because of the storage pattern of fish and meat in that country. The small details such as label designs, graphics, colors have to be just right for each market." Flexibility, therefore, is a key to efficient plant operations, as the changeover time from one model to another has to be quick. Not surprisingly, the plant works with a team of 68 suppliers from whom components and finished parts are outsourced. "Despite the large number of suppliers and the stock keeping units (SKUs) that we manufacture at Ranjangaon, we have a 30-second cycle - that is, every 30 seconds a machine is getting packed for delivery," says Subir Kumar Chowdhury, director of Operations.

The need to maintain export quality has had a positive rub-off on the quality of products being manufactured for the domestic market as well. While Whirlpool brand's performance in the domestic market is noteworthy, what is even more remarkable is the manner in which Whirlpool India has integrated itself into the global arena. Says Mr. Jain: "India is an important market, and by gaining leadership in this market we are today in a position to transfer our learnings to other parts of the world. As Asian competitors become more visible in other parts of the world, we can understand them and be better prepared for them." This global perspective has resulted in not just honing manufacturing processes to enable made-in-India Whirlpool products to enter markets in other developing world countries, but also to enter developed markets. In fact, Whirlpool India is visualizing its vision of "Being in every home, Everywhere" by setting up a The Whirlpool India refrigerator lineup. Design Center in Pune, which provides design services to its counterparts in three centers - Brazil, Italy, and the U.S. India is the fourth global product development center for Whirlpool. Currently, the Indian development center is working on a refrigerator project for the Brazilian and Asian markets. The Pune's design center's online connectivity with the other Whirlpool design centers enables a continuous flow of work. Optimum utilization of expensive modeling and analysis software is ensured as Indian software engineers based in India work on it when the U.S. offices are closed for the night. Says Amit Verma, vice president of Product Development for Refrigeration: "Our approach is to have a common global platform for procurement and product development. This ensures that design and manufacturing costs are kept low, and there can be a maximum exchange between regions." Consequently, the no-frost and direct cool refrigerators have a common platform which allows them to be manufactured in the same facility. "Global commonalization helps us in designing products and getting them to the market efficiently and quickly," Mr. Verma says.

A Customer Care Focus

What's unique about the Whirlpool business process is that the conversion from product concept to execution begins with a product idea or innovation that can demonstrate a clear and compelling customer need and benefit. Says Ashok Bhasin, vice president of Marketing: "A sharp consumer focus is the Whirlpool USP. It distinguishes us from every other brand in the marketplace." The consumer focus often translates into product innovations that impact consumer convenience in a major way. For instance, back in April 1997, Whirlpool refrigerators were among the first to introduce movable shelves to create flexibility. Says Mr. Bhasin, "We reckoned that a consumer who has a small capacity refrigerator would need more flexibility in her refrigerator." That insight paved the way for the Flexigerator, one of the first successful launches for Whirlpool India. Similarly, Whirlpool was the first brand to create space for 1.5-L bottles and the door strength was improved to accommodate increasing loads. "Innovations have happened not just in the product functions, but also in customer care and service," Mr. Bhasin says. Adds Mr. Raman, vice president of Manufacturing, Technology and Procurement, "The core manufacturing strategy has been integrated with our customer focus. The challenge is to balance manufacturing excellence with customer care." Over a period of time Whirlpool brand has evolved its marketing position around the tagline, "Your partner in homemaking." Through this positioning, Whirlpool has differentiated its product features effectively and efficiently to consumers. Take for example, the company's most successful marketing campaign to date, "Ice Ice Baby," which was launched at the introduction of Whirlpool brand QuickChill frost-free refrigerators. Consumer research showed that consumers wanted refrigerators that could make ice quickly. While the manufacturing team ensured that the product delivered what the consumer wanted, the marketing and communication team chose to communicate the idea through an entertaining advertising campaign which became an instant hit. Today, Whirlpool has instant recall as the refrigerator that makes ice the fastest. Whirlpool brand's claim of being the refrigerator that makes the fastest ice has been supported by the consumer awareness magazine, Consumer Voice, which carried out a comparative testing of eight brands of refrigerators in its laboratory. In an article published by Consumer Voice in its

September-October 2002 issue, it stated: "It was a tricky exercise for us deciding which brand makes ice fastest, given the varying tray sizes. However, Whirlpool came out tops with ice-making time of 38-minutes faster for a 270 ml tray." (In the lab tests conducted by Consumer Voice, Whirlpool was ranked first, with an overall score of 89.54.) Whirlpool has taken the "fast ice" USP further and launched its new range of Icemagic refrigerators, which have a unique "fast forward ice system that helps make ice faster, at the touch of a button." The other successful campaign from Whirlpool has been its "Mummy ka magic" series for its washers. With an overall market share of 23 percent, Whirlpool brand has displaced Videocon, the longtime leader in the washing machine category. Whirlpool claims to have further consolidated its leadership position in the fully automatic segment, with a market share of 34 percent in this segment. Recently, it introduced the Whitemagic Hotwash and followed it by extending the "hotwash" capability to the semi-automatic segment as well. Microwave ovens and air-conditioners are the two categories in which Whirlpool has recently made an entry and claims to have already grabbed a 10-percent share and a 6.8-percent share, respectively, of the categories.
A Challenging Future

Despite the milestones in manufacturing, design, and marketing, Whirlpool has challenges ahead. Management of costs is a constant challenge, particularly in times when the competition is closing in. Says Mr. Raman, "Our objective is to lower costs every year. We are constantly assessing ourselves against the competition." The other challenge is in growing sales in a tough market. Adds Mr. Jain, "There has been a significant slowdown in the economy. Moreover, in the last 3 years a lot of new products have become available to Indian consumers and that has also reduced consumer spending on appliances." That has further imposed some restrictions on investments in plant expansion. Mr. Raman adds, "Typically, a new platform costs anywhere between Rs 80100 million (U.S. $1.6-2.1 million). Exports do help to balance out the seasonality of sales." The next 3-5 years, according to Mr. Jain, will see significant growth in appliances. And when that happens, Whirlpool India will

already be in position to grab a piece of the action. Whirlpool India is successfully leading the Indian market in refrigeration and laundry by focusing on excellence in manufacturing, design, marketing, and customer care. "We were a company without a brand," reminisces Raj Jain, managing director for Whirlpool of India. "The irony was that when we entered the Indian market in 1995 and acquired the facilities of Kelvinator of India and TVS washing machines, the brand names did not come to us." So the team at Whirlpool of India started from scratch, virtually building the Whirlpool brand name in India and the company brick by brick, and establishing it as the leading brand and home appliance company in less than 8 years. By 1999, Whirlpool was no longer an "unknown" brand. That year, Whirlpool India became the market leader in the refrigerator and fully automatic washing machine categories, selling more than 1 million appliances. It also became the largest exporter of white goods from India. By June 2002, Whirlpool brand had gained market leadership in the overall washing machine category. The company also had made a foray into other categories, including air-conditioners and cooking appliances.
The History of Success

Whirlpool India's success story began in 1996, with the setting up of a 430,000-sq-ft plant at a greenfield site in Ranjangaon, near Pune in the state of Maharashtra. In October 1997, its first no-frost refrigerator rolled out of the Ranjangaon facility, and commercial production was underway by February 1998. An investment of U.S. $80 million went into setting up a multi-technology plant that today manufactures no-frost and direct cool refrigerators, washers, and air-conditioners. Microwave ovens will begin rolling out of the facility in the not-too-distant future. To date, the production value of the appliances made in the Ranjangaon facility amounts to $51 million. "The key drivers of manufacturing excellence," says Ram Natarajan, vice-president of Pune operations, "are quality, cost and productivity, flexibility and response time, and people and organization." This focus has enabled Whirlpool India to make a mark in the highly quality-conscious export market. The first shipment to Hong Kong was made in April 1998. Since then the facility has shipped products to 52 countries. Says Mr. Natarajan, "There is enormous complexity involved in supplying products that have to be geared

to different market needs. Be it electrical norms or specifications of the department of electronics, we have to ensure that every standard is met. Again, every market has its peculiar requirements. For instance, in Australia, soft drink bottles are of a completely different size and shape. Similarly, freezer sizes for Bangladesh have to be larger because of the storage pattern of fish and meat in that country. The small details such as label designs, graphics, colors have to be just right for each market." Flexibility, therefore, is a key to efficient plant operations, as the changeover time from one model to another has to be quick. Not surprisingly, the plant works with a team of 68 suppliers from whom components and finished parts are outsourced. "Despite the large number of suppliers and the stock keeping units (SKUs) that we manufacture at Ranjangaon, we have a 30-second cycle - that is, every 30 seconds a machine is getting packed for delivery," says Subir Kumar Chowdhury, director of Operations. The need to maintain export quality has had a positive rub-off on the quality of products being manufactured for the domestic market as well. While Whirlpool brand's performance in the domestic market is noteworthy, what is even more remarkable is the manner in which Whirlpool India has integrated itself into the global arena. Says Mr. Jain: "India is an important market, and by gaining leadership in this market we are today in a position to transfer our learnings to other parts of the world. As Asian competitors become more visible in other parts of the world, we can understand them and be better prepared for them." This global perspective has resulted in not just honing manufacturing processes to enable made-in-India Whirlpool products to enter markets in other developing world countries, but also to enter developed markets. In fact, Whirlpool India is visualizing its vision of "Being in every home, Everywhere" by setting up a Design Center in Pune, which provides design services to its counterparts in three centers - Brazil, Italy, and the U.S. India is the fourth global product development center for Whirlpool. Currently, the Indian development center is working on a refrigerator project for the Brazilian and Asian markets. The Pune's design center's online connectivity with the other Whirlpool design centers enables a continuous flow of work. Optimum utilization of expensive modeling and analysis software is ensured as Indian software engineers based in India work on it when the U.S. offices are closed for the night.

Says Amit Verma, vice president of Product Development for Refrigeration: "Our approach is to have a common global platform for procurement and product development. This ensures that design and manufacturing costs are kept low, and there can be a maximum exchange between regions." Consequently, the no-frost and direct cool refrigerators have a common platform which allows them to be manufactured in the same facility. "Global commonalization helps us in designing products and getting them to the market efficiently and quickly," Mr. Verma says.
A Customer Care Focus

What's unique about the Whirlpool business process is that the conversion from product concept to execution begins with a product idea or innovation that can demonstrate a clear and compelling customer need and benefit. Says Ashok Bhasin, vice president of Marketing: "A sharp consumer focus is the Whirlpool USP. It distinguishes us from every other brand in the marketplace." The consumer focus often translates into product innovations that impact consumer convenience in a major way. For instance, back in April 1997, Whirlpool refrigerators were among the first to introduce movable shelves to create flexibility. Says Mr. Bhasin, "We reckoned that a consumer who has a small capacity refrigerator would need more flexibility in her refrigerator." That insight paved the way for the Flexigerator, one of the first successful launches for Whirlpool India. Similarly, Whirlpool was the first brand to create space for 1.5-L bottles and the door strength was improved to accommodate increasing loads. "Innovations have happened not just in the product functions, but also in customer care and service," Mr. Bhasin says. Adds Mr. Raman, vice president of Manufacturing, Technology and Procurement, "The core manufacturing strategy has been integrated with our customer focus. The challenge is to balance manufacturing excellence with customer care." Over a period of time Whirlpool brand has evolved its marketing position around the tagline, "Your partner in homemaking." Through this positioning, Whirlpool has differentiated its product features effectively and efficiently to consumers. Take for example, the company's most successful marketing campaign to date, "Ice Ice Baby," which was launched at the introduction of Whirlpool brand QuickChill frost-free refrigerators. Consumer research showed that consumers wanted refrigerators that could make ice

quickly. While the manufacturing team ensured that the product delivered what the consumer wanted, the marketing and communication team chose to communicate the idea through an entertaining advertising campaign which became an instant hit. Today, Whirlpool has instant recall as the refrigerator that makes ice the fastest. Whirlpool brand's claim of being the refrigerator that makes the fastest ice has been supported by the consumer awareness magazine, Consumer Voice, which carried out a comparative testing of eight brands of refrigerators in its laboratory. In an article published by Consumer Voice in its September-October 2002 issue, it stated: "It was a tricky exercise for us deciding which brand makes ice fastest, given the varying tray sizes. However, Whirlpool came out tops with ice-making time of 38-minutes faster for a 270 ml tray." (In the lab tests conducted by Consumer Voice, Whirlpool was ranked first, with an overall score of 89.54.) Whirlpool has taken the "fast ice" USP further and launched its new range of Icemagic refrigerators, which have a unique "fast forward ice system that helps make ice faster, at the touch of a button." The other successful campaign from Whirlpool has been its "Mummy ka magic" series for its washers. With an overall market share of 23 percent, Whirlpool brand has displaced Videocon, the longtime leader in the washing machine category. Whirlpool claims to have further consolidated its leadership position in the fully automatic segment, with a market share of 34 percent in this segment. Recently, it introduced the Whitemagic Hotwash and followed it by extending the "hotwash" capability to the semi-automatic segment as well. Microwave ovens and air-conditioners are the two categories in which Whirlpool has recently made an entry and claims to have already grabbed a 10-percent share and a 6.8-percent share, respectively, of the categories.
A Challenging Future

Despite the milestones in manufacturing, design, and marketing, Whirlpool has challenges ahead. Management of costs is a constant challenge, particularly in times when the competition is closing in. Says Mr. Raman, "Our objective is to lower costs every year. We are constantly assessing ourselves against the competition." The other challenge is in growing sales in a tough market. Adds Mr. Jain, "There has been a significant slowdown in the economy.

Moreover, in the last 3 years a lot of new products have become available to Indian consumers and that has also reduced consumer spending on appliances." That has further imposed some restrictions on investments in plant expansion. Mr. Raman adds, "Typically, a new platform costs anywhere between Rs 80100 million (U.S. $1.6-2.1 million). Exports do help to balance out the seasonality of sales." The next 3-5 years, according to Mr. Jain, will see significant growth in appliances. And when that happens, Whirlpool India will already be in position to grab a piece of the action.