X Marks Success

Jean Mantelet was running a small plant that made hand-operated kitchen utensils when he decided ten years ago to try his luck with electric appliances.

He had his doubts. In fact, he labeled the first electric coffee mills off the assembly line "Moulin X" -- literally, Mill X -- to protect the reputation of his established firm, Moulin-Legumes, in case the venture did not work out. It did, and Mantelet's firm has since become France's largest manufacturer of electrical appliances, proudly bearing the name Moulinex. Last week at Paris' 34th International des Arts Menagers, where 1,800 appliance makers from 26 countries showed their wares, Moulinex took another step forward by announcing plans to add ten new household appliances to its present 24 products.

Moulinex is counting primarily on the appliance market's still broad potential: 59% of French homes have no refrigerators, 63% no vacuum cleaners, 67% no hot-water heaters. Many of the smaller appliances in which Moulinex specializes -- electric food grinders, mixers, blenders, peelers and juicers --are equally unfamiliar to most French kitchens. Behind its slogan, "Moulinex liberates the woman," the company is increasingly selling the French housewife on le confort. Its product line is also stretching beyond the kitchen, now includes electric heaters, vacuum cleaners and a $3.50 hair dryer that is one of the world's fastest-selling models.

Though under orders to make the products simple and inexpensive, Moulinex researchers have also come up with some important technological advances. The latest: an asynchronous motor for appliances that does not cause static interference in radios and TV sets.

Despite its rapid growth (1964 sales: $40 million), Moulinex remains a strictly one-man operation. Jean Mantelet, dapper and youngish-looking at 64, is president, general manager and principal (99%) stockholder. No longer the reluctant risk taker, he now plans to increase his factories from four to seven within three years, double production, triple sales and raise exports from 30% to 50% of total sales. One special target is the biggest appliance market of all, the U.S.

The competition cuts two ways. Last year Connecticut's Scovill Manufacturing Co. (Hamilton Beach products) bought a small Lourdes company that makes coffee grinders, miners' lamps and flashlights, and will now produce a broad line of appliances in France. "The government asked me to take it before the Americans did," says Mantelet, "but I refused." Scovill will not attempt to match Moulinex prices; it believes instead that the French are ready to trade up. Mantelet is betting that the majority of French housewives will continue to choose Brand X.

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