Hotpoint

Infobox Company
company_name = Hotpoint
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1911
location = Morley Way, Peterborough, UK
key_people =
area_served = United Kingdom
industry = Home appliances
products =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent = Indesit
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.hotpoint.co.uk Hotpoint]
footnotes =

The Hotpoint Electric Heating Company is a British brand of home appliance and dental supply makers which was recently acquired by Italian competitor Indesit (Merloni Elettrodomestici) and merged with its Ariston brand into Hotpoint-Ariston.

Product range

Hotpoint was formed in 1911 in the United Kingdom, and they are well-known for their refrigerators and washing machines. They make their washing machines at Kinmel Park on "Abergele Road" in a town called Bodelwyddan on the A55 in Clwyd, north Wales, UK. The site made around 800,000 washing machines in 2007 with about 1,000 people working there. The company, including Creda and Indesit, produces the largest amount of kitchen appliances in the UK. The headquarters is in Woodston near the A1260 "Nene Parkway" with about 1,500 people based there making fridges and freezers. The fridge plant is closing in 2008.

History

Hotpoint was founded in 1911 in England; in 1920 it established a joint venture with US competitor General Electric, forming the Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company Limited (HEAC) to market GE branded goods in the UK. Their first recognised product was a toaster. In 1929, HEAC joined the Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) group and became a part of The General Electric Company or GEC group (not to be confused with General Electric).

GEC

Hotpoint continued as a subsidiary of GEC until 1989, when it was merged into a new division of GEC called General Domestic Appliances (GDA), 50% of which was purchased by General Electric. In 1998, the Redring and Xpelair brands also joined GDA, and Hotpoint was categorised as part of GDA Applied Energy. The company had a site in Llandudno Junction near Conwy which is now the north Wales base of the Welsh Assembly.

GEC was eventually transformed into Marconi plc, from which Indesit (then called Merloni Elettrodomestici) bought 50% of GDA in December 2001. At the beginning of 2007, Indesit completely took over Hotpoint and merged it into its own historic brand Ariston, creating a single entity known as Hotpoint-Ariston. Indesit had been based at Peterborough since June 1 2003. Indesit's Creda plant in Blythe Bridge closed in December 2007. There is a plant in Yate that makes tumble dryers, now owned by Indesit.

External links

* [http://www.hotpoint-ariston.eu Official European website of the new merged Hotpoint-Ariston]
* [http://www.hotpoint.co.uk Official British website of Hotpoint]
* [http://www.indesitcompany.com Official Indesit website]

News items

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7403375.stm Closing Peterborough fridge plant in May 2008]
* [http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/business-news/2007/12/13/bodelwyddan-factory-jobs-axed-55578-20242102/ Welsh factory in December 2007]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4446656.stm Girl dies in Hotpoint tumble drier in June 2005]

Video clips

* [http://www.youtube.com/user/HotpointCrazy Many Hotpoint videos]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/crushu2D More videos]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FV6gjlOz9w Aquarius Ultra Persil advert]