Gold medals at the autumn meeting

The industry organization APPLiA held its autumn and member meeting on November 16 in Solna and was able to establish, among other things, the operating plan and budget for the coming year. This was after Anette Norberg showed off her Olympic gold medals in curling from Turin and Vancouver and gave a very informative lecture on how winning teams are built – not just in curling.

Some meeting participants test how heavy an Olympic gold medal is; from left: Tarek Serraf – Gorenje, Johan Eklind – OBH, Maria Berglund – Electrolux.

APPLIA 2023

The business plan is the basis for the work of the trade organization and guides which issues we will drive forward to achieve our overall goal: to create the conditions for long-term, sustainable growth for the industry's companies. The measures we take today are made with the aim of building a better tomorrow. The pursuit of more efficient, environmentally friendly household appliances is what inspires our work. Below are some examples of areas that the organization will focus on in the coming time.

Training for service technicians

Everything indicates that the need for repairs will increase as a result of the societal trend towards increased reuse and reduced new purchases. This is also driven by the EU's ambitions for increased repairability and the Ecodesign Directive.

With this strong trend behind us, we can state that we are already experiencing a shortage of service technicians and are pointing to the recruitment problems the industry is having. This also applies not least to technicians with expertise in connected household appliances and their connection to networks. Therefore, we feel that the future must be secured when it comes to access to knowledgeable service technicians.

The APPLiA-initiated training program for service technicians with a connected-home focus in Lund currently has 20 students who will graduate next semester. No new cohorts have been accepted as the intake was previously stopped after the authority inexplicably withdrew its funding for this training activity.

This is of course not good and APPLiA has therefore once again submitted applications for continued course operations – also remotely – via the University of Applied Sciences to the authority. A response is expected by January 2023. A ”no” means that we must immediately find new ways to improve access to this important professional category.

Important market statistics

After APPLiA took over BMAB's statistical operations following the bankruptcy of the Industry Office this summer, we have worked hard to get Swedish market statistics back on track. It is now running satisfactorily and our members in Sweden have now regained this important planning and monitoring tool.

In parallel, APPLiA-Sweden is working together with our partner WestArt, who also operates our XPOS system for complaints and XREP for repair management, to develop a common Nordic statistics system for all four Nordic markets. Getting this to function flawlessly is a priority task in 2023 when this new system is to be launched on January 1, 2024.

Impact / electronics tax etc.

Contacts with authorities, legislators and political forums are made not only with a focus on what is best for the industry, but also what is best for society and our environment. Sustainability efforts are to be supported and innovations in the environmental field are welcomed.

In the coming years, our persistent fight will therefore continue to have an effect on the reduction of flame retardants containing chlorine, bromine and certain phosphorus compounds through more persistent work on the part of Swedish politics within the EU. There, the truly effective measures can be decided. This is especially important now that Sweden takes over the presidency of the EU at the turn of the year. The Swedish special taxation of electronics in white goods/vacuum cleaners, home electronics, IT and telephones – the electronics tax – has proven ineffective and must be abolished before it causes permanent damage in the form of false substitution and fuels further inflation.

… and much more

APPLiA's business plan of course contains more than these examples above. It provides, for example, guidance for establishing our delivery regulations in the industry, the authorization of service workshops, APPLiA's representation in the Swedish Consumer Complaints Board (ARN), producer responsibility and the communication plan that provides the framework and direction for the organization's communicative management.

We are now ready for next year!

Text: Kent Oderud, chairman APPLiA – Home Appliances Sweden

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