New item is adding 40 jobs at Whirlpool

Whirlpool Corp. is gearing up for a new product – one that will add about 40 jobs to the plant’s payroll.

The new product, known as the “freezerator” among Whirlpool’s Evansville plant workers, is a combination refrigerator and freezer designed for the consumer’s garage, or basement.

Meant as a backup to a consumer’s regular appliance, the product is part of the company’s Gladiator Garage Works lineup that includes work benches, cabinets, shelving and other units designed for the garage, said Debby Castrale, the spokeswoman for Evansville’s plant.

A similar unit designed for the kitchen will be made by the Evansville plant under Sears’ Kenmore brand name, Castrale said.

The Evansville plant plans to start making the “freezerator” Monday, Castrale said.

The plant will also add 16 new jobs soon to allow it to make stainless-steel refrigerator doors. Formerly these doors had been “out-sourced” to another company, Castrale said.

Adding the new products, the plant will employ about 2,370, Castrale said.

Castrale said the idea for the Garage Works units grew out of a program Whirlpool has to encourage innovation. It attempts to train employees to come up with ideas for products, which are then explored by the company. “They don’t all make it to fruition, of course,” Castrale said.

But this one did, and Whirlpool’s research department, which is also based at the Evansville plant, designed the new unit along the same platform as the top-mounted refrigerators that the Evansville plant now makes.

The idea for the freezerator is that many people have, or would like, some kind of refrigerator or freezer in their garage or basement that serves as backup storage to their regular kitchen appliances.

In most cases, this is simply an old refrigerator, which often uses energy inefficiently, is environmentally unsound and looks old-fashioned, Castrale said.

These units are designed to replace the old, inefficient garage refrigerator, Castrale said.

The freezerator is the same size as a refrigerator. The bottom part, which takes up about two thirds of its space, is a freezer. The top part, or upper third, can be either a refrigerator or freezer, depending on how the owner sets the controls.

It is built on large casters, or swivel wheels, so that the unit can be easily moved around. It has a sturdy look, with a stamped-metal “treadplate” exterior.

The Kenmore model will have the white exterior of normal kitchen appliances and smaller casters. It will be marketed for kitchen use, Castrale said.

The Whirlpool Gladiator model will be sold at Lowe’s stores. The Kenmore unit will be sold through Sears, Castrale said.

Castrale said she didn’t know what the units would cost and could not say how many the plant will be making. Evansville is the only plant making the unit, Castrale said.

The new products should go on sale shortly after the Evansville plant begins production.

>From MyInky.com