Word: moulinex
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Belamire is also likely to receive some kind of redundancy package from Marks & Spencer once all the suits are settled. Coming just a year before presidential elections in France, the waves of layoffs have trade unions and politicians trying their best to turn them back. When French appliance maker Moulinex-Brandt tried to eliminate 670 jobs at a factory in Lesquin in northern France last month, the regional director of labor found the company's restructuring plan inadequate and ordered the firm to restart negotiations with the union. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who seems likely to join the presidential race...
...Moulinex is counting primarily on the appliance market's still broad potential: 59% of French homes have no refrigerators, 63% no vacuum cleaners, 67% no hot-water heaters. Many of the smaller appliances in which Moulinex specializes - electric food grinders, mixers, blenders, peelers and juicers -are equally unfamiliar to most French kitchens. Behind its slogan, "Moulinex liberates the woman," the company is increasingly selling the French housewife on le confort. Its product line is also stretching beyond the kitchen, now includes electric heaters, vacuum cleaners and a $3.50 hair dryer that is one of the world's fastest...
Though under orders to make the products simple and inexpensive, Moulinex researchers have also come up with some important technological advances. The latest: an asynchronous motor for appliances that does not cause static interference in radios and TV sets...
Despite its rapid growth (1964 sales: $40 million), Moulinex remains a strictly one-man operation. Jean Mantelet, dapper and youngish-looking at 64, is president, general manager and principal (99%) stockholder. No longer the reluctant risk taker, he now plans to increase his factories from four to seven within three years, double production, triple sales and raise exports from 30% to 50% of total sales. One special target is the biggest appliance market...
...Beach products) bought a small Lourdes company that makes coffee grinders, miners' lamps and flashlights, and will now produce a broad line of appliances in France. "The government asked me to take it before the Americans did," says Mantelet, "but I refused." Scovill will not attempt to match Moulinex prices; it believes instead that the French are ready to trade up. Mantelet is betting that the majority of French housewives will continue to choose Brand...