As a worldwide company, with almost 50 manufacturing and engineering facilities in 14 countries and sales in more than 170, Whirlpool Corp. faces competition worldwide.
“We can’t take any competitor for granted, and we don’t,” said David Whitwam, whose last day after 17 years as Whirlpool chairman and chief executive officer is today. “We compete with them all over the world, not just the U.S.” Whitwam was responding to a question about Asian appliance makers, such as China’s Haier and Korea’s LG Electronics, entering the United States market.
They’re joining such longtime Whirlpool competitors as General Electric, Maytag and Frigidaire (owned by Electrolux AB, a Swedish company).
Some of Whirlpool’s American competitors are moving more production to Mexico. General Electric has moved production of some low-end models to its joint venture partner in Mexico; Maytag is shifting some refrigerator production from a factory in Illinois, which will close, to a new one in Mexico; and Electrolux will close its refrigerator plant in Greenville, near Grand Rapids, to move production to Mexico.
Whitwam said it’s not practical from a cost standpoint to ship large appliances long distances, and for that reason, they are made in the region where they are sold.
Indicative of that, LG has a factory or factories in Mexico and is building another there and Haier has a factory in South Carolina, and may build more.
“You really can’t manufacture full-size appliances, for example, in China, and ship them to the United States and be competitive, and we know that, because we manufacture full-size appliances in China (for sale in that region of the world),” Whitwam said. “…. The vast majority or bulk of our manufacturing for the U.S. market is here in the United States, and I suspect it always will be.”
But, he added, “We envision that likely we will have opportunities to build some sub-assemblies in some low costs parts of the world … then the final assembly .. will take place in the U.S. marketplace.
“What the management of this company has to do for the long-term health of the company enterprise is to make sure wherever we build this product, we’re the most competitive manufacturer in the world.”
He pointed out that foreign competitors entering the United States market face the same challenges Whirlpool faced when it started in some foreign countries, that is, developing dealer and service networks and brand identity among consumers.
From The Herald Palladium