Zanussi

For other uses, see Zanussi (disambiguation).

Zanussi logo

Zanussi is an Italian producer of home appliances that in 1984 was bought by Electrolux. Zanussi is a leading brand for domestic kitchen appliances in Europe. Products have been exported from Italy since 1946.

History

The Zanussi Company began as the small workshop of Antonio Zanussi in 1916. The enterprising 26-year-old son of a blacksmith in Pordenone in Northeastern Italy began the business by making home stoves and wood-burning ovens.

Antonio Zanussi’s, most spectacular stroke of imaginative insight came in 1933 when he launched REX – the company’s new trademark at that time and a well-known presence on the Italian market even today – to coincide with a huge media event of the day: this was the new record for a transatlantic crossing (Gibraltar to New York) with which the Italian liner “Rex” conquered the coveted Blue Riband. The linking of his innovative new “Model 503” oven to this spectacular Italian triumph was a supreme example of marketing genius at a time when the word was still unknown in Europe.

In 1946 Antonio Zanussi died and management of the family business passed to his sons Lino and Guido. Under the inspired leadership of Lino, the Company developed into a modern industrial concern and in 1951, with a workforce of over 300, the company began to diversify into gas and electric (and combined gas/electric ovens); and, with growing availability and popularity of gas cylinders, it brought out the first gas cooker – the legendary Rex 401.

1954 was a crucial year: the first fridges came off the company’s production line, a new factory was opened at Porcia (it is still one of the world’s most important in the field of household appliances) and a Study Centre was established to research and design new appliances.

At the end of the 1950s, Zanussi launched its “Tropic System” featuring a rounded style that was to dictate the look of Italian fridges for years to come.

1958 saw the production of the first Zanussi washing machines. With an avant-garde approach that created close interdisciplinary contact between designer and technical expert, the company developed appliances that were far ahead of their time in terms of compactness, functional efficiency and ergonomics. The same strategy underlay the creation, a year later, of the company’s Design and research Centre.

In 1959 Zanussi also launched the first “Supermarket” fridge with automatic defrosting and two compartments with separate temperature controls. Meanwhile the washing machines were already into the second generation, with front-loading, 5 washing programmes and numerous safety devices, developed particularly with an eye for the requirements of the important German market.

1960 was television year for Zanussi, not only because the company started production of TV sets but also because it marked the beginning of the series of amusing TV ads for Rex appliances featuring the famous French actor Fernandel.

In 1962 Italian overtook Germany in the manufacture of household appliances and Zanussi exported its products to 60 countries.

1964 saw the first appearance in Italy of a fridge with a –12C compartment that was suitable for the conservation of frozen food – the “Freezermarket” Rex – and at a price that was half what fridges had cost ten years earlier!

In the following year, 1965, Zanussi put its first dishwasher on the market.

The next decade was one of important purchases, with the Becchi, Castor, Zoppas and Triplex brands all joining the Zanussi Group, and of the start-up of manufacturing outside Italy. Zanussi advanced to leadership of the Italian household appliance industry with a 25% market share, and was amongst the foremost producers in Europe with 10% of sales throughout the continent.

The death of Lino Zanussi and his closest assistants in an air crash in Spain on 18 June 1968 inevitably affected the management of the company and marked a change of strategy.

In the meantime the economic situation in Italy had also changed and with ambitious plans for diversification undermined by the difficulties being experienced by Italian industry in general, Zanussi slipped towards serious financial crisis in the late ‘70s and the first half of the 1980s.

The rescue process began in 1985 thanks to Electrolux which, following the take-over completed in late 1984, injected new capital and cut all non-core business activities.

Innovation and design has and remains the cornerstone of success for Zanussi: a glance at products such as OZ, Zoe and Teo encapsulates this, while today's technologies and user-friendly designs continue to build on this heritage - for example, in the early 1980s Zanussi launched the Jetsystem washing machine range to great acclaim whilst at the same time running the “Appliance Of Science” advertising campaign in the UK. The campaign is acknowledged as one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time and still remembered by many today. The Jetsystem is still a leading technology.

History of Industrial Design Zanussi

In 1916 Antonio Zanussi founded his company, Officina Fumisteria Antonio Zanussi, based in Pordenone . In 1933 the brand-name REX was adopted. In 1946 following the war and after the death of Antonio Zanussi, his son Lino succeeded him. The entrepreneurial attitude, vision and passion of a product brought Lino Zanussi, in 1954,to call Gino Valle as a consultant for the design of products. Gino Valle who had already worked for years with the company for the design of factories and office buildings, then assumed the role as an external consultant for the design of their products. His philosophy could be summed up in the design of the appliance as a fundamental and integral part of the kitchen. Zanussi products were already known internationally for their high degree of innovation and quality, and designed by Gino Valle helped them to be appreciated even more. He was responsible, among many, for the design of the first washing machine produced at Zanussi ,the model “Rex 201”, which in 1958 marked the debut of the company in the production of washing machines (licensed Westinghouse). Only two years later, Rex was born with the automatic “Model 260”, designed and manufactured by Zanussi. Then, the design of the compact kitchen unit “UNIREX” was designed in which one single large appliance had more functions, from the conservation to the cooking phase. Gino Valle also designed the first television products produced by Zanussi. One of these in particular, shows it was already clear from those years of innovative research that the model was equipped with a wire remote control. This was in 1956. In 1958 Valle called Gastone Zanello from his architect’s studio Avon, based in Udine. Zanello was given the internal responsibility of the Zanussi Industrial Design until 1981 when he went to Seleco (Zanussi brand for electronics) as Head of Design. The company A.Zanussi Industries was one of the first to join the ADI (Italian Industrial Design Association) and by ADI in 1962 it received its first recognition in quality level: the kitchen, 700 series was awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1962. Not long after, in 1967, came the second Compasso d’Oro, with the famous P.5 compact washing machine and this appliance remained in production for almost twenty years. Gastone Zanello introduced the concepts of dimensional and aesthetic coordination between the products. "Coordinata 67" was the name of the project that involved the design and production of not only Zanussi technology for the appliances but also for cabinets, bases, wall cabinets and columns to form the entire kitchen environment. The project remained on paper and at a prototype stage, but it allowed Zanussi to deal competently with the growing market for Built-In appliances. In 1976 the internal Industrial Design Studio was flanked by the contribution of the Studio Andries Van Onck. The company Zanussi was suffering from an overcrowding of brands, due to its subsequent acquisitions, and in fact, during the Sixties and Seventies , the company absorbed important industries( Becchi, Stice, Castor, Zoppas, Triplex) and founded the Zanussi Group. With the joint work of Studio Van Onck and Zanussi, Industrial Design was responsible for the creation of the so called “Family Lines”, an element of order and at the same time distinguishing it among the many brands of the group. In collaboration with the Studio Van Onck , studies were made of the possibilities of typological and topological dashboards, the creation of basic rules for using the product graphics, expressed in designing families of symbols, use of lettering and use of color. From 1982, Roberto Pezzetta was responsible for internal Zanussi Industrial Design. He and his staff had the task of carrying forward the great tradition of Zanussi Design. In 1984 the Swedish multinational Electrolux acquired control of the company; the Industrial Design Office became one of the three major Design Centers that the Electrolux Group had in the world: Stockholm, Pordenone and Columbus (Ohio-U.S.). Above all, the size of its initial composition had changed, as Electrolux was a group that was characterized by a big dimension in the world, with 37 brands, 40 factories and 15 million units produced. The horizon then expanded; the complexity became the main element to manage. In this case one of the largest contributions came from the joint work between design and marketing to create the Family Lines of the Electrolux Group, a task facilitated by the work done previously by Zanussi. In terms of creating new models, the amount of work to manage the new complexity did not preclude Roberto Pezzetta and his staff from "inventing", in 1986, the first totally hidden dishwasher and other innovations both from a formal and conceptual point of view . In 1987 Zanussi presented "The Wizard's Collection" designed by Pezzetta and the Zanussi Industrial Design Center and was selected at the Compasso d’Oro in 1987 and1989. The family of refrigerators “Wizard” was a real small revolution in the so-called white appliances, the refrigerator was the revival of the object intended as the main character with its own form and color. The following year, it was joined by the completely black “Wizard” cooktops and ovens. From then on there were countless stories of success in the Industrial Design Zanussi, among other things, the creation of a set of "new characters": the prototypes “Zoe” (washing machine invented in 1989), “Teo” (electric cooker), and “Oz” refrigerator manufactured in 1998. “Input” was the electronic washing machine studied for the intuitive usability of the dashboard, while “Amie” was a washing machine designed especially for such users as the elderly, visually impaired and blind people. In the following years the design efforts of the Zanussi Industrial Design Center focused particularly on Built-In appliances, shown by the series of ovens and dishwashers Softech with the front surface of tempered glass deformed in three dimensions, in which case the color became a fundamental characteristic of the range. In 2000 two new products, the washing machine “IZ” (named “Jetsy”- Rex in Italy) and Rex hit series “QUADRO” for Built-in, both also awarded the GOOD DESIGN Award of Chicago (among other prizes). "IZZI" in 2002, was the dishwasher from the latest green technology as part of the so-called free-standing equipment. Then, the great tradition of designing Zanussi appliances for the kitchen environment continued with the "H-Boxes" series, a complete set of equipment aggregated in structural stainless steel. Meanwhile, the Zanussi Industrial Design Center, led by Pezzetta for two decades from 1982 to 2002, became Electrolux European Design Center based in Pordenone and Roberto Pezzetta ended the Zanussi cycle assuming the role of Creative Design Director of Electrolux Group (2002-2005).

Prizes obtained for the design of white appliances

Compasso d’Oro ADI in 1962 Cooker series 700. Compasso d’Oro ADI in 1967 Compact washing machine P.5. Compasso d'Oro ADI in 1981 for the Corporate Image and the entire production. Six products Selected at the Compasso d'Oro ADI in1987, 1989 ,1991and 2008. Three Honour Selections at the Compasso d'Oro ADI 1998, 2001 and 2004. Two Golden Medals at the Biannuals of Design in Lubiana BIO 12 e BIO19. SAMI du Design at Salon des Arts Menagers in Paris year 1990. Goed Industrieel Ontwerp in Holland in 1987,1991,1999 e 2001. Design Prestige in Brno 1997. Premio De Diseño MCMXCVIII. XVI Feria Internacional de L'Avana, Cuba1998. Ten "GOOD DESIGN " Award at l The Chicago Athenaeum in Chicago in 1999 ,2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.

Retail prices

Zanussi was originally marketed in the UK as very competitively priced with prices rising in line with the appliances rising as the marketing took hold and the popularity grew. Generally the Zanussi brand is regarded by most as a “mid-market” brand on a par with Hotpoint, Hoover and Bosch in the UK.

However in recent times there has been a noticeable increase in lower priced products bearing the Zanussi name.

Zanussi's headline products come from its freestanding range.

Aftersales service

Up until the end of the 1980s Zanussi service was run from Slough and was a network of independent repairers who gave an unparalleled service level. It is generally acknowledged within the industry that this service network was the best that there has ever been in the UK.

In the early 1990s Electrolux instigated amalgamating all its UK brands under one service entity. This entity was split, dependent on region, between the Zanussi service agents and the local Electrolux Service Centre. In general those in a high population density area where given to the Electrolux employed centres. Tricity Bendix, Electrolux and AEG as well as Zanussi were all to be serviced by the one network.

This was changed in the late 1990s and early 2000s as Electrolux sold or gave away the regional service centres, generally to the existing management or to area managers to run as independent businesses.

This service network was rebranded and became Service Force which still exists today but is, once again, all operated by independent service companies who repair and supply spare parts for all of the brands.

External links

• Zanussi Electrolux Website
• Zanussi Professional
• Electrolux Group Global Homepage
• Climelectric - Zanussi España