This is an important step as until last year, Hisense Gorenje had only been developing products for factories in Europe.

Executive vice president for R&D at Gorenje, Boštjan Pečnik, noted the company had access to advanced technology for smart appliances as part of the Hisense group and would also be looking for "new young technical talents".

Hisense Europe employs some 360 experts in R&D, 290 of whom in Slovenia.

A key R&D activity at Gorenje is the development of new platforms of products for the US market, including cooking appliances that will be manufactured in Hisense's new factory in Mexico, and dishwashers.

The team that will be in charge of these projects was set up in September 2019 and the planning phase was concluded in January.

At the end of June, Gorenje started producing Hisense dishwashers for the US market, and the team developing the cooking appliances is already ordering tools and equipment.

Gorenje plans to launch eight new products by the end of the year. It also plans to launch a new generation of built-in ovens by March 2021, a new generation of dishwashers at the end of 2021, and a new generation of products for the US market this year and in the second half of next year.

Nevertheless, the Chinese owners of Gorenje announced lay-offs in April. In early June, 46 of employees from the company Hisense Gorenje Europe in Ljubljana were dismissed but the most lay-offs are planned in the Velenje production, where more than 300 people are to lose their jobs. The final figure should be known next week.

Meanwhile, Hisense decided in June to launch production of TV sets in its production facilities in Velenje. TV production is scheduled to start in early 2021, so a part of the laid off workers could be employed there.