Whirlpool 2003 Annual Report Download - page 16

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Jeff Fettig
President and Chief Operating Officer
President’s Message
2003 Awards and Achievements
■Whirlpool formed a global alliance with New Zealand-based Fisher &
Paykel Appliances, which is widely known for its innovative technology.
The alliance includes global sourcing of appliances and co-development
of technology.
■Whirlpool Europe was recognized as the Euronics "White Goods Supplier
of the Year" for 2003. Euronics represents the continent’s largest group
of major appliance retailers, with 6,500 stores in 21 countries.
Whirlpool’s global operations made significant progress deploying our
brand-focused-value-creation strategy in each of our regions last year.
By effectively leveraging and developing Whirlpool’s brands, trade
relationships and unique global platform, our operations turned
in record revenues and a strong improvement in the company’s
productivity performance.
In 2003, our brands continued to apply deep insights about our
customers to the ongoing development and introduction of relevant
consumer innovation. Popular products with unique features and
solutions, like the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer pair in the United
States, helped improve the average sales price of our products,
despite significant price pressures in each of our global markets. The
growing consumer interest in Whirlpool’s brands and products also
reflects the success of the company’s ongoing efforts to embed
innovation as a core competency.
Today, more than 500 employee innovation mentors have trained
more than 10,000 employees to create and commercialize new
products and solutions for our customers. These employees have
contributed more than 7,500 ideas, with 500 potentially viable concepts
currently in the company’s innovation pipeline at various stages of
evaluation and development. To date, Whirlpool has funded and
conducted more than 360 consumer-based innovation experiments
following a customer-focused, 90-day commercial evaluation process.
Our innovation process also is creating new and important business
opportunities for Whirlpool. For example, the company’s Gladiator
GarageWorks—a complete modular storage and appliance line that
transforms the garage into a functional space—is becoming a
significant revenue opportunity. Whirlpool innovation will continue to
be a vital, strategic source of value creation for the company, and an
important element of building and strengthening the relationships
between our brands and customers.
The company’s strategic trade partner relationships are another
important source of growth and customer loyalty. In each region,
Whirlpool has built strong relationships with winning value-added
trade partners whose strategies complement our own. In the United
States, Whirlpool has the leading position with the top three national
retailers and appliance buying groups, which combined represent 84
percent of the appliance retail market share. Whirlpool also
strengthened its position in the new home building industry last year,
as shipments of Whirlpool and KitchenAid products surpassed
previous records.
Whirlpool’s unique global operating platform of integrated
manufacturing, product development and supply chain resources is the
foundation for competitiveness that drives our brands and our
distribution activities in every region of the world. The company
continually applies these resources in ways that allow us to serve our
regional customers around the world with innovative products,
produced at the best cost for each market.
Whirlpool’s global platform also provides an excellent means to
continually speed new innovations to our customers, while lowering
our ongoing investment costs. Through our global product development
and design resources, innovation and technology are shared and