On October 14, in order to accelerate Midea's global layout, seize the opportunity of carbon neutrality, and deepen the European central air-conditioning market, Midea Building Technology invested in the new production and R&D base in Europe in Feltre, northeast Italy, officially started construction. Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, Wang Jianguo, Vice President of Midea Group and International President of Midea, Cheng Lin, General Manager of Midea Building Technology Overseas Marketing Company, Stefano Bellò, General Manager of Midea Building Technology Clivet Central Air Conditioning, and Liu Ligang, Deputy General Manager of Midea Building Technology Clivet Central Air Conditioning, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
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The new production and R&D base is located at the Clivet plant of Midea Building Technology, a high-end commercial air conditioning brand owned by Midea Building Technologies in Feltre, Italy. According to Cheng Lin, general manager of Midea Building Technology Overseas Marketing Company, "Clivet is an important part of Midea's building technology business in the international territory, adhering to the concept of local for local and western for western, Midea has continuously increased its investment in talents and technology through the localization of production, research and marketing, and is committed to building it into a European R&D center and a mainstream brand in the pan-European HVAC industry." ”
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As a well-known commercial air conditioning company in Italy, Clivet's main products include chillers, heat pumps, air treatment and purification systems. The company has a production and operating area of more than 50,000 square meters in Feltre, a total of more than 700 employees, 35 sales offices, 260 retailer channels and 160 service outlets in Italy. It has branches in the UK, Germany, Southeast Europe, the UAE and India. According to the plan, the new production site will invest 60 million euros, including a heat pump production center and an R&D center, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 heat pumps, which is expected to start production in the second quarter of 2024. After completion, the key materials of heat pump products will be manufactured and sold in Europe, and the cycle from order to delivery of heat pump products will be shortened from the original 5 months to 1 month, which will further improve the production capacity and delivery efficiency of Midea's overall customized heat pump solutions in Europe, solve the security problem of the global supply chain of heat pumps, and comprehensively enhance Midea's influence and comprehensive competitiveness in the European market.
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In the context of carbon neutrality, heat pumps, as a renewable energy utilization device, are the most effective way to generate electricity for heating. Compared to coal-fired boilers, heat pumps can reduce carbon emissions by 60-80%. Its significant energy-saving and carbon-reduction characteristics have become the best technical solution to replace the production of low-temperature heat energy from fossil energy. In the context of rising fossil fuel prices and the gradual implementation of the EU's "RepowerEU" plan, Europe has begun to gradually replace traditional fossil fuel heating with heat pump heating. According to the estimation of Cinda Securities, the future European market residential heat pump market space will reach 37.73 million units, superimposed commercial and industrial heat pump demand, it is expected that the long-term market demand for European heat pumps in the future will exceed 40 million units, and the market size will exceed 400 billion euros. The European heat pump market is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of about 18% in the next five years, and the market still has room for growth several times.
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According to the data, with the steady advancement of the globalization strategy, overseas business accounts for more than 40% of the annual revenue of more than 300 billion yuan of Midea Group. Among them, heat pump products are also becoming an important growth pole for Midea Group. According to industry online data, in the first seven months of 2022, the overall export quota of Midea's heat pumps increased by more than 200%, ranking among the top in China's heat pump industry. In addition, in addition to Clivet, Midea Building Technology has created a series of products such as M thermal, heat pump water heater, pool machine heat pump, commercial heat pump and other products for overseas markets, realizing the four-legged development model of heat pumps in overseas markets, bringing more efficient and energy-saving integrated solutions to global users.
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Up to now, Midea's global business covers more than 200 countries and regions, with about 30,000 overseas employees. Midea's global supply chain layout is based on the idea of "focusing on Chinese bases for the world, supplemented by overseas bases for the local market", and has established production networks in different regions to support the group's global sales business. At present, Midea has 18 production bases in 9 countries, including Vietnam, Belarus, Egypt, India, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Italy and Japan, and has initially built logistics distribution and installation capabilities in more than 20 countries. In the next stage, Midea will continue to strengthen the layout of its bases in ASEAN, Africa, South America and North America in accordance with its established business strategy, and at the same time strengthen the proportion of parts and components in overseas bases, build a whole industrial chain that can be integrated into the local small cycle, and participate in the local economy more deeply.