Whirlpool Corporation has presented, at the Ministry of Economic Development in Rome, the company’s industrial plans for Italy following the recent acquisition of Indesit Company. Whirlpool executives met with government officials and national union representatives. “Whirlpool senior representatives – the company explained in a official note – have presented the key elements of the company’s plan, which focuses on achieving a longterm, sustainable business for Whirlpool in the EMEA region, and specifically in Italy”. The industrial plan includes €500M of investment in process, product and R&D in Italy over the next four years. “A large portion of this investment – the company said – will be targeted at developing a specialized and efficient network of factories and innovative product platforms, while increasing at the same time the current volumes of production based in Italy. It also reinforces Italy’s role as a R&D hub, attracting more than 70 percent of Whirlpool EMEA’s R&D spending”. “The closure of the Carinaro plant and the None R&D facility, together with the consolidation of the Built-in hub in Cassinetta and the creation of the largest European hobs factory in Fabriano with the integration of the Albacina and Melano factories, are part of the plan. Additional redundancies to those already existing at the moment of the acquisition were kept to the lowest possible level. In that sense there are an estimated 250 further redundancies in factories and 150 in R&D”, the company added. Whirlpool explained that it is available to a dialogue with all the stakeholders in order to define next steps.