In the world of OEM refrigeration, product excellence is not enough. The real competitive edge today lies in our ability to design and implement production platforms that are both deeply differentiated and operationally optimised.

At Homa, we’re not just producing appliances — as Anthea Wang, VP and Head of Homa’s International Business Centre, puts it “We’re shaping industrial ecosystems that are modular, efficient, and built for scale.”

This requires more than good engineering. It demands strategic manufacturing thinking — the kind advocated in frameworks like Womack & Jones’ Lean Thinking, or in Michael Cusumano’s platform leadership studies at MIT, where the key to scalability lies in modularity, flexibility and orchestration across partners. It echoes what B. Joseph Pine II called mass customisation back in the 1990s: the art of delivering tailored value at industrial scale.

Today, it’s not a trend. It’s a mandate. As demand fragments, margins shrink, and sustainability standards tighten, we must rethink how platforms serve both our industrial model and our clients’ brand narratives.

Every client wants their own identity. Every factory wants flow.
Platform strategy is where these needs converge — or collide.

That’s why our platforms are designed — as our CEO Michael Yao puts it — “to scale like automotive, flex like fashion, and adapt like software.”

Or, to borrow the words of Federico Rebaudo, Head of Homa Europe: “Whether it’s a premium brand in Europe or a private label in Asia, they expect a cooling product that embodies their values, meets strict regulations, and lands on time — at the right cost.”

Behind that, we implement:

• Modular architectures, inspired by japane’s production systems and later adapted across industries,
• Zero-changeover logic, to enable ultra-short batches with no efficiency loss,
• Supplier integration models, similar to the “production campus” used by leading automotive firms,
• And real-time data feedback loops, key to Industry 4.0 resilience and predictive optimisation.

Because mass production is no longer about making one thing for everyone.

As Homa’s Vice President R&D and co-founder, Homa Appliances Simon Wu often says “It’s about building one system that can deliver many things to many people — without ever losing control.”

What follows is an exclusive look behind the scenes — into how flexibility meets precision, how platform logic meets emotional branding, and how the built-in segment is quietly redefining what industrial excellence looks like.

Copyright HOMA 2025- Issued By Homa Marketing dept. on June 2025
For further Information and Press Contacts: info@homaeurope.eu

BUILT-IN: THE FACTORY SIDE

Production technologies and processes involved in the manufacturing of refrigerators, in particular built-in, like for all white goods, has significantly evolved over the years. We talked to Manuel Rossi, a seasoned veteran of global scale manufacturing operations in the household appliances industry.

From the advent of lean manufacturing to digitalisation, to ever more stringent environmental and energy constraints, the production of white goods, in particular refrigerators, and even more specifically built-in models, has radically evolved since the times of “campaign production” with batches progressively shrinking from tens of thousands of units to just a few units, and ideally single- unit batches. Flexibility is the name of the game, with assembly lines instantly adapting, with “zero changeover”, to market demands. This is especially true for built-in refrigerators, since it is all about supplying every individual client with a product that’s different and unique. To make it work, manufacturers turned to the automotive industry for inspiration, and now production is very much organised around modules, common production platforms spanning across different models and even brands. While automation is increasingly gaining ground on the shopfloor, the human factor remains invaluable in instilling a soul into products that will shine in the heart of our homes.

In your opinion, in what ways did the manufacturing processes of refrigerators evolve in recent years?
From my point of view, I have witnessed two strands of transformation in that context.
One has to do with the principles of lean manufacturing, which nearly everyone is pursuing as an approach to getting rid of the non- value-adding parts of their processes.
This in order to improve the overall performance of their operations. It applies at different levels: productivity of course, in terms of costs, but also  quality, safety levels and environmental impact. This is something that all companies are doing.
The other strand has to do with what we call Industry 4.0, with the digital management of data and processes. So, on one side cleaner, leaner and better organised factories, and on the other side an increasing automation of production together with data gathering that will help management but also shopfloor in order to improve factory performance.

What about Built-in, so far the true cash-cow of the household appliances industry? Simple technology, simple design, and high margins. How did this segment evolve, if at all?
Built-in has always represented some sort of exception in our industry.
To start with, access to market is very different from all other white goods categories, typically going through relatively small kitchen manufacturers when compared to the large retail organisations other products go through. Human contact and personal relationships are important in this specific context. Take, for instance, a kitchen manufacturer having to sell a maybe 70K€ kitchen but is missing a 300€ cooktop to finalise the sale. The cost of the single appliance is not the critical factor in the overall picture, while what really counts here is the timeliness of delivery, the reliability of service, and the human rapport. This makes built-in very different from freestanding. Now, how does that translate back in the factory? With a higher level of quality, and a different level of service, which means supplying every individual client with a product that’s different from the others, in some way unique, and guaranteeing problem-free service. The more we can help clients achieve their own objectives, the more we will become their preferred suppliers.

In general terms, how does the inevitable imperative of sustainability impact your work, both from a process and product perspective?
Sustainability can be declined in many different ways, but they normally boil down to two main topics: CO2 emissions, with the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality, and zero- waste-to-landfill. This clearly has an impact on both product and processes.
People who design the products are ever more attentive to choosing materials that can be recycled. The legislation is also very much pushing in that sense. For instance by trying to ban EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene) packaging and replacing it by recyclable materials. In the factory, this has very much to do with the way we manage waste, and principally waste sorting, and there’s a lot more to it than we might think. When we started addressing the issue, we realised that 80% of the waste destined to landfill could have been sorted. It’s a matter of discipline and organisation. Regarding the factory itself, there are other areas of attention such as fumes waste water, noise, with the objective of minimising the impact on the environment.
In terms of CO2 emissions, or Carbon Footprint, energy consumption is the main topic. The issue is threefold: the first aspect is reducing our consumption by eliminating waste.
Some measures can be as simple as switching the lights off when not needed, or better managing central heating. Then there’s a more technological side, investigating production processes.
Factories that typically use gas for heating and for primary processes are now switching to electricity for those processes, which is more efficient and is also friendlier to the environment. The third aspect regards the sourcing of energy, which needs to be sustainable.
The world is becoming increasingly electrified, and today everything runs on electricity, so the way we generate it will become the critical factor in the future.

Does innovation on the shopfloor stem more from new technological possibilities, or from specific needs on the part of consumers as interpreted by designers?
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. In the world of household appliances there are several driving forces coming into play. One of them is certainly the pressing demand for ever more energy efficient products.
In the case of refrigerators, this led to constant innovations, such as better performing insulation foams, which in turn required new, innovative machinery.
Another example is the fact that appliances are becoming more and more connected, which brought an entirely new technology into the factories. Also, this industry is typically extremely competitive, so there is a constant focus on trying to improve factory performance in that sense. This very often brings on process innovation, which at times may reflect on product, too. We are continuously looking at processes and technologies that haven’t yet been used in our industry, but which may already have been successfully applied in more advanced contexts such as, for instance, the automotive.

How do you decline the concept of “mass customisation” into a factory , which concept is fundamentally that of “mass production”?
In effect, factories were originally born to do exactly the inverse of “customisation”, yet markets have immensely evolved since the industrial revolution, and nowadays consumers are ever more sophisticated and brands pay much attention to their precise positioning. This led to the need for variety. After all even Ford cars aren’t all black any more. Change here occurred both in product design and industrial process. To make it work, Product Design now tends to be modular, with families, platforms and other sub-groups that derive from the same principal industrial process. Customisation can then be introduced by adding differentiating elements, typically design features such as bodywork, colours, accessories, but also extra functionalities. The automotive industry led the way here, with makers typically using the same platforms for a variety of models, and even brands. We are applying the same principle of modularity to our industry. What we have observed is a drastic reduction of production batches.
We have moved from thousands or hundreds of units, all exactly the same, to batches of
10-20 units. To achieve this level of customisation we need, on one hand, more flexible assembly lines where changeover is lighter, ideally “zero- changeover”. Technology advances play a role, here. On the other hand, logistics is also fundamental: components must no longer come in their thousands or hundreds, but maybe 10-20 at a time, ideally even one. Carefully thinking out logistics within a factory is becoming increasingly important, starting from the assembly line and working backwards all the way up to the supplier.
Once again our role model here is the automotive industry, were factories now stand at the center of a “campus” of suppliers, ready to send in components in the exact sequence for a day’s scheduled production.

What was the impact, over the years, of the geopolitical problems that have affected maritime transportation, on your model of production?
In the past, I’m talking of the late 1980’s right up to the early 2000’s, bulk sourcing in “best-cost” countries was all the trend. The objective was to go for the lowest possible cost
of components, and these countries could offer much better prices than our suppliers at home. More recently, the Covid epidemics, together with the worsening of the geopolitical situation in some critical regions of the world have heavily impacted maritime transportation, hence a general increase in the costs of logistics for long-haul. Companies started calculating what’s known as the “total cost of ownership” of a component as part of the equation, adding up purchasing price, transportation costs, cost of capital, waste and losses, level of service, and anything relevant that can be measured in order to find the best solution. When the Covid epidemics broke out and it became objectively difficult to move goods around, the first reaction to that was to adopt dual sourcing, so alongside a company’s traditional best-cost partner from the other side of the world, companies would also have a local supplier to act as a back-up or safety net for flexibility.

Let’s now consider another trending topic: automation. What impact did it have on the human factor?
It is certainly a significant one. On one hand, machines can, and indeed do, replace humans in certain tasks, hence the disappearance of certain jobs. On the hand, machines are still stupid and need a human to tell them what to do, hence the creation of new jobs to manage machines. At the end of the day, the impact it has had was a redefinition, an upgrading of jobs with the need for human resources to develop new skills in order to use, manage and maintain machines, drawing precious information from them at the same time. In the field of household appliances, for what I know, this journey has only just begun.

What are the necessary skills to lead a factory, by all means a small community?
I can only give you my personal take on how I interpreted my role in all these years. Factories are made of people, who have the same intellectual potential as managers, only we must have the humility to engage them and make the most of this true treasure of experience. I often say that technology can be bought, or copied: anyone can buy the same machinery as the competition, and copy their products. What you can’t buy nor copy, is what people can achieve together: this you need to build day by day. It’s a question of trust, and respect. For me, the key priority has always been to engage people. Besides, I like talking to people, there’s always something new to learn, and I’ve always invested time and efforts in this.

How do you deploy a successful work/life balance policy in a production context?
It’s certainly a challenge in this particular environment. Workloads are undoubtedly heavy. So one needs to attentively look for ways to preserve the work/life balance. We try and make sure people get the breaks and holiday periods they need and are entitled to, sometimes almost forcing them to take some paid vacation. Often times it’s the small things: a simple “thank you”, or stopping over and engaging in a little chat, just to find out how things are going, maybe in front of an “aperitivo”. There’s no universal recipe apart from truly caring.

How do you build in emotions on the assembly line?
Emotions are what define people, and to me they’re fundamental. It’s the only true competitive advantage a company can build. All the rest someone will copy from you sooner or later. Motivated people, who go out of their way to achieve their objectives, who take pride in their work and who speak up when problems arise, maybe with a possible solution already in mind, is what really makes the difference.

Copyright HOMA 2025- Issued By Homa Marketing dept. on June 2025
For further Information and Press Contacts: info@homaeurope.eu