Nazarje - BSH Hišni Aparati, a Slovenian subsidiary of the Bosch group, was this week declared the winner of the Factory of the Year competition in the category of best large-scale mass producer in Europe.

The competition is a collaboration of A.T. Kearney and the German business magazine Produktion, which was launched in 1992.

It is considered a benchmark competition for manufacturers in Europe, with more than 2,000 companies from more than 30 countries having so far taken part.

The Nazarje-based producer of small household appliances, which took part for the third time, will receive the award in June 2021 in Germany's Essling.

Back in October, BSH Hišni Aparati also received the title of Factory of the Year as the best manufacturer in Slovenia, for its successful application of digitalisation.

According to Matija Petrin, director in charge of technology, the title proves that the company has applied digitalisation in the right manner.

"With our strategy, not only have we preserved the location in Europe, we also became the largest manufacturer of small household appliances in Europe and a competence centre for the production of top quality products which have a future on the European market," he said.

BSH Hišni Aparati has been recording scores of orders in recent months despite the pandemic and expects a record-breaking year.

Its plans are expected to be exceeded by more than 10%, and similar growth is expected in 2021.

The company expects to manufacture more than eight million small household appliances in 2020, a rise of around 1.1 million over 2019.

Last year, it generated EUR 339.3 million in revenue, 9% up from 2019, with its profit up 14% to over EUR 13 million.