1. areas and professional profiles

Areas and professional profiles

The Company’s lean organisational structure gives equal strategic weight to the sales and technical/industrial areas and is supported by the main corporate functions: Administration, Finance & Control, Marketing, Supply Chain, IT, Human Resources and Quality.
The technical/industrial area is divided into production areas (plants), four product technical departments and the Innovation team.
The sales structure is divided by geographical region: the Italian market, UK & Ireland, West Europe, East Europe, Russian Federation & Asian Republics, Export Markets (North and South America, Middle and Far East, Africa).

• Marketing
  General product strategies for all markets are developed and planned by the product marketing department, with a strong focus on innovation and a pan-European approach. The process of product development moves through planning and the allocation of investments in products to the creation of a unique value proposition linked to the needs of the consumer and brand image and the management of marketing information. The brand marketing structure manages and promotes our brands (Indesit, Hotpoint-Ariston, Scholtès) and develops and promotes our corporate identity both internally and externally.
• Commercial: sales & after sales
  Products are distributed through a network of subsidiaries throughout the world. There are two main businesses: built-in, aimed mainly at kitchen producers, and free-standing, for the retail trade. Depending on the market, the sales focus will be more on one or the other of these two businesses. Sales activities centre on planning and development of sell-out and depend on successful cultivation of relationships with the distribution network. After-sales (Service) is another area of great strategic importance. Marketing, sales and after-sales work closely together to foster and defend consumer loyalty.
• Finance
  The finance area manages all the Company’s income, equity and financial business and relative reporting for fiscal, financial and industrial accounting purposes and also for investor relations (Indesit Company being a listed company). The area also includes the planning and control team, which provides analysis, planning and control of all areas of the organization (industrial, commercial, supply chain) in support of management decision making processes.
• Supply Chain
  The main supply chain functions are procurement and logistics, which are based in headquarters at Fabriano and network with operations offices in all the principal markets and industrial areas. Procurement covers direct sourcing (raw materials and components) and indirect sources (services), while logistics is organized around production planning, replenishment and distribution. The supply chain is fully integrated with both the technical-industrial area (R&D and production plants) and with markets (especially customer service).
• Manufacturing
  Manufacturing plants are located across four regions (Italy, the UK, Russia and Poland) and operate in collaboration with the product technical departments to define and develop new products and industrial processes. All these plants manage entire industrial processes from raw materials to finished products, each specializing in a particular product line (cooking, cooling, washing [laundry] and dishwashers).
• Innovation and development
  This comprises the four product technical departments and the innovation team.
  The product technical departments (cooking, cooling, washing and dishwashers) conduct research & development and design the Company’s four product lines. Each department supports its respective manufacturing plants, in Italy and abroad, and has its own R&D, engineering, product quality and cost of product functions.
  The innovation team develops the know-how needed to generate ideas and test their applicability to innovative concepts, features and processes. This is done in collaboration with the marketing and product development departments to track the development, delivery, quality and costs of software installed in products. As a centre of excellence, the team uses state-of-the-art technologies.
• Quality
  The Company’s quality function works on two levels - corporate and product. The corporate level covers all areas of the organization, its task being to develop and implement the quality system. The product level manages activities relating to the quality of individual products and manufacturing processes in the various plants.
• Information systems
  This area plans and implements short-, medium- and long-term projects to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes by improving the management of knowledge.
• Human resources
  This area provides recruiting and human capital development services, definition of the organization’s functional structure, administration of personnel, industrial relations management, definition and implementation of HR policies and the design, implementation and co-ordination of all internal communication activities. Each business area has its own HR manager and policies are applied internationally and in line with Group strategy.
• Internal audit
  Internal Audit provides analysis and control of business processes and of the achievement of business objectives. It also monitors procedural compliance and works on projects to improve the processes that it monitors.
• External Communication & Press Office
  This structure manages and co-ordinates all corporate communication activities, from the press office to PR services and the communication and promotion of corporate social responsibility policies and activities.
• Legal
  The legal department supports all the Company’s functions in contractual relationships, corporate affairs and corporate governance.
• Technical affairs
  The department interprets and communicates European directives and local legislation on technical and industrial matters and makes sure that the Company’s interests are adequately respected, defended and promoted.