Candy is an Italian domestic appliance maker and is a subsidiary of Chinese multinational home appliances company Haier. It is based in Brugherio, near Milan. Candy's appliances are better known through their continued marketing of the Hoover and Kelvinator brands. Over 80% of sales are outside Italy. Back in 1945, the Eden Fumagalli Mechanical Workshop in Monza, manufacturers of precision machine instruments, designed the Model 50, the first all-Italian washing machine, which was launched officially at the Milan Trade Fair in 1946. In that same year, the Candy company was established. The venture into household appliances began when Enzo, one of the three Fumagalli brothers, mailed from the United States, where he was a prisoner of war, rough drawings of a washing machine. His brother Niso, who had started the appliance operations with their father Eden, engineered the switch to the development and production of washing machines. Peppino, the younger brother, set up the administrative and management structure of the company. In 1950, Candy moved into a new factory in Monza and launched the Bi-Matic, the first Italian semi-automatic washing machine. It was a great success, which opened the international markets; Candy thus became the first Italian appliance company to go abroad. In the 1960s, the Automatic washing machine was launched: the first fully automatic one, designed and made in Italy. It had dampers, a thermostat, 550 rpm spin speed, and 10 programs. In 1961, Candy moved to Brugherio, midway between Monza and Milano, where the new company headquarters and a large industrial site were completed, including the company's Research and Development laboratories. In 1966, the Stipomatic was launched: an automatic dishwasher with two compartments; at the same time, the Superautomatic washing machine was launched. In those years, design became a strategic asset in product development: appliances were designed by key names such as Piero Geranzani, Joe Colombo, Marco Zanuso, Mario Bellini, and Giorgetto Giugiaro . Genoa University, in 1968, awarded Niso Fumagalli an honoris causa degree in engineering, acknowledging his pivotal innovations in the washing machine and the many patents he held. The year before, Enzo Fumagalli died, however Candy continued to grow under the guidance of his brothers Peppino and Niso. The latter died in 1990. Peppino Fumagalli was awarded the Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) honour by the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone in 1973; He was appointed as CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1998. At the end of 2013, the structure of the Group was organised into three Business Sectors: washing appliances, kitchen appliances and small domestic appliances, with full responsibility on relevant product lines. The commercial organization has been split in three geographical areas: Europe, Russia, rest of the world, with strategic facilities in China and Turkey. With the completion of the acquisition program, the international presence of the Group has been consolidated, while R&D and innovation capabilities are centralized in the Headquarters in Brugherio (MB), Italy.
