Whirlpool To Close Benton Harbor Plant; 216 Jobs Cut
June 01 2010 - 3:21PM
Dow Jones News
Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) plans to close a parts
plant in Benton Harbor, Mich., eliminating 216 jobs by early
2011.
The washing machine parts produced at the plant will be
transferred to a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio. The plant closing
is the latest in a series of moves by Whirlpool to lower its
expenses by consolidating production and distribution at efficient
plant sites.
"New innovations have eliminated many of the traditional
components produced at the Benton Harbor facility," said Al
Holaday, vice president of North American manufacturing operations,
in a written statement. "The new streamlined internal components
will be machined at the Clyde Division."
The Benton Harbor plant is the last of Whirlpool's manufacturing
operations left in its home town. The company closed all of its
factories in nearby St. Joseph in the late 1980s and has spent the
past 20 years organizing economic redevelopment programs in
southwest Michigan.
Whirlpool, whose appliance brands include Maytag, Kitchen-Aid
and Amana, has overhauled its manufacturing and distribution
operations in recent years to compensate for a prolonged decline in
domestic appliance sales beginning in 2005. The company intends to
close its Evansville, Ind., assembly plant for refrigerators and
freezers this year, idling about 1,100 workers. Production at
Evansville plant will be moved to a plant in Mexico. The company
also closed plants in Mississippi and Tennessee.
The plant closings and the revamping of Whirlpool's warehouse
distribution network have helped the company lower its costs by
$500 million since 2008. Even with the plant closings, Whirlpool
has been bolstering its production capacity elsewhere. In the past
year, the company said its U.S. manufacturing workforce has grown
by 12%. About 30% of the company's 67,000 workers reside in the
U.S.
Whirlpool, the world's largest appliance maker, predicts
industry sales of refrigerators, washing machines and other
appliances will rise by 2% to 4% this year. It would be the first
year-over-year increase in industry sales since 2005.
Whirlpool's stock was recently down 3.2% at $101.06 a share.
-By Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129;
robert.tita@dowjones.com
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