Household Appliances Industry

manufacture of appliances and machines designed for use in the home, for the facilitation and reduction of housework, and for the creation of household conveniences. In prerevolutionary Russia, simple household appliances were homemade. The production of Singer sewing machines, which were assembled from imported parts at a specialized factory in the city of Podol’sk (now Moscow Oblast), was the only exception.

A household appliances industry was established in the USSR and is constantly expanding. The industry is now geared for the mass production of sewing machines and various types of electrical appliances. Since the mid-1960’s specialized plants have been set up for the production of household refrigerators, washing machines, and other appliances. Shop sections of heavy-duty machine building and instrument manufacturing plants are also engaged in their production. The growth dynamics of products with the greatest volume output are characterized in Table 1.

By 1970 more than 300 enterprises, which manufactured over 100 product types, were engaged in the production of household appliances. In spite of the high growth rates in the output of household appliances in the USSR, consumer demand for some of these items (refrigerators, electric vacuum cleaners, and others) has not yet been completely satisfied. The following data indicate the distribution of basic household appliances in the USSR per 100 families in 1969: 21 refrigerators, 38 washing machines, 9 electric vacuum cleaners.

Household appliances are produced by large-scale series manufacturing. Specialization and cooperation are well developed—for example, four specialized factories manufactured refrigerator compressors in 1969. In accordance with the directives of the Twenty-third Congress of the CPSU (1966), much work has been accomplished toward raising the level of industrial production, existing factories are being modernized, and new factories are being built (in Samarkand, Ussuriisk, Minsk, Alytus [Lithuanian SSR], and other cities). Scientific research institutes (in Kiev and Kishinev) and special design offices for the development of new products (in Minsk, L’vov, Kishinev, Dushanbe, Pushkino [Leningrad Oblast], Riga, and other cities) have been established.

The primary goals for industry in the next few years are an increase in the technical level of production; the creation of high-quality, reliable, and efficient products designed to further lighten and reduce household chores, as well as for sanitary and medical purposes; the expansion of production capacity to fully meet consumer demand; the broadening of the range of goods and reduction of production expenditures; and the introduction of advanced technological processes with regard for recent scientific and technical achievements, including highly efficient automated equipment.

The production of household appliances has made considerable progress in a number of socialist countries. In 1968, 377,000 refrigerators and 327,200 washing machines were produced in the German Democratic Republic (17,300 and 18,400 respectively in 1955), and 300,600 refrigerators and 221,300 washing machines were produced in Czechoslovakia (30,500 and 206,000 respectively in 1955).

In the major capitalist countries (the USA, the Federal

Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, ana Japan) the production of domestic appliances and machines is very well developed (see Table 2). Production is concentrated in large enterprises.