Ray Isted has been appointed head of training at Whirlpool UK. Ray will be responsible for   all of the company's brands - Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Amana and Ignis. Ray previously held the position of group brand marketing manager and has over two decades of experience with Whirlpool UK.

Panasonic Europe has announced the appointment of Laurent Abadie as chairman and chief executive officer.  Laurent Abadie will be the first non-Japanese director to take up this role in the group's history.

Gorenje UK has made two appointments to the UK team. Jernej Hren (pictured) is the new managing director for Gorenje UK replacing Matej Cufer.  Jernej has worked with Gorenje in the Austrian and German markets. Ruth Ferguson has also been appointed marketing manager for Gorenje UK. Ruth brings marketing experience from the US and UK markets.