Pierluigi Petrali has been working Whirlpool Europe since 1989. He started his career in Information Technology, working at introduction in Whirlpool of CIM, MES and Fault Tolerant Networks. He has then worked in innovation projects, contributing to the spread and growth of TRIZ methodology in Italy and Europe and to the development of product/process design support approaches. Presently he coordinates manufacturing research and development activities for EMEA region. Directly involved as technical and main partner in more than 10 funded research projects under FP7 and H2020 program in the last five years, he’s currently working in definition and implementation of Whirlpool Industry 4.0 strategy.

He’s the inventor of five patents and author several technical papers and public speech on TRIZ, Technology Forecasting, Manufacturing Quality, Internet of Things and Industry 4.0.

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) is the world’s leading major home appliance company, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 92,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2017. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit, Hotpoint and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. In Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) it has approximately 22,000 employees, a sales presence in more than 30 countries and manufacturing sites in seven countries. Whirlpool EMEA is an operating segment of Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corp.’s EMEA Headquarters are located in Pero (MI), Italy. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com or find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Medium.