Antonio Merloni will launch a plant to manufacture Ardo washing machines in Ivano-Frankivsk in October
Following years of delay, Antonio Merloni, a major Italian manufacturer of home appliances, has announced that it will in October launch a plant to manufacture Ardo washing machines in Ivano-Frankivsk, western Ukraine.
To date, Merloni has invested about $70 million into the plant and recently announced plans to invest an additional $262 million by 2017. The plant’s projected production capacity is 1 million washing machines per year.
The company has previously said the plant, to be located at a Soviet-built appliance factory acquired by Merloni in 2003, would employ about 800 Ukrainians. About half of the plant had been previously controlled by Donetsk-based home appliance manufacturer Nord.
Merloni’s investment into the Ukrainian economy is in line with the company’s cost-cutting strategy. Costs for production of washing machines in Ukraine will be lower than in Europe, since overhead expenses will be less.
Merloni originally planned to invest its money into the plant and launch production earlier, but bureaucratic barriers and red tape slowed the project down.
