Electrolux (Stockholm, Sweden; Hans Straberg, President and CEO, below: Electrolux) and Sharp Corporation (Osaka, Japan; Katsuhiko Machida, President, below: Sharp) have entered collaborative projects and conducted joint research with the aim of strengthening global competitiveness in the refrigerator business. As the first result of this collaboration, the two companies have developed and will launch a new series of small and mid-sized frost-free refrigerators for overseas markets.
Up to now, Electrolux and Sharp have forged an excellent business relationship through the existing OEM microwave oven business in Europe and the U.S.Last year, the two companies went a step further and set up the global business project for refrigerators. That collaboration has involved the mutual exchange of information, know-how, and consumer research. And, in terms of product and technical development, the two companies have built an efficient structure for task sharing in product planning, trial production, and product assessment. Because of such efforts, the two companies can now move closer to capturing the global market by launching small and mid-sized refrigerators mainly in Asia, a market currently on-track for expansion. In the future, they will expand their own line-ups. Based on the success of this refrigerator venture, this collaborative development will, in the future, also encompass fields in other home appliance product areas, with the two companies taking full advantage of each other’s strengths, namely, Electrolux’s marketing power and Sharp’s unique “One-of-a-Kind” environmental and health-oriented technologies. At the same time, the two companies will work to foster a strong competitive edge at the global level by strengthening their mutually complementary relationship still further. Scope of cooperation in the refrigerator business
The two companies will collaborate in the development of six models of small-to mid-sized (170 to 320 liters capacity) frost-free refrigerators equipped with environmentally friendly, energy-efficient technologies. Electrolux and Sharp will differentiate their products through design and features but will base their models on a common chassis. |
