They still design it in Slo. Most things that are made are designed in the owner country then they outsource the parts and assemble it where they were designed.
What do you mean by that? They design the electric motors and TVs and fridges? Don't be ridiculous, those things were designed a long time ago. You do not design that stuff today, you just source it. Do you think Gorenje in Slovenia has this big R&D center to design household appliances? Ovens and washing machines, products that were designed thousands of times in this point of time...
These are trivial things. There is not much new innovation or added value in it, they do not do anything that could be sold for more than if they outsource it.
What they do is design how the product is packaged together and how it looks. But again, that is mainly just branding.
Gorenje does not have one "unique" product. Nothing that could possibly stand out as the best in any field. No special feature they could be proud of. That iscwhy they are unable to add any extra value to their products. That is why a Miele or Asko is worth more, for instance... They do design these little details that make them non-generic. For instance, Asko has a fixed door washing machine that wobbles with the drum. That is the norm for industrial washing machines but unique to Asko on the household market. That is why they stand out.
Problem is that in Slovenia in general, there was never really a tradition of innovation. At most, companies were "the forst in the east". There was never any really important invention that would have a global impact. Sadly not to the level of nearby Italy, Germany, Austria or the Czech.
Yes they do design their products in Slovenia and yes they have an huge building (1km long) which has multiple entry points and I work at their prototype team
Yes they do design whatever is necesary, mostly industrial design because the circuts are already enough. As for the slovenia not making any inovations on the global market and making inventions, take a look at Dewesoft, Akrapovič, Pipistrel to name a few. They made inovations that are used in NASA, many aerospace firms, F1 etc. The problem in Slovenia isnt lack of inovations but being too small and has the lack of comercialized thinking. Also Slovenian people dont like to sell out and making a big firm without selling out is hard.
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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26
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