GE Appliances Plans $200M Investment In Kentucky

The expansion of the company’s Louisville manufacturing facilities will create 400 new jobs and boost dishwasher and laundry production.

GE Appliances, a Haier company, will create 400 new jobs with a more than $200 million investment in its laundry and dishwasher production facilities in Louisville, KY.

“Kentucky has been a great place for GE Appliances to thrive and grow,” said Kevin Nolan, GE Appliances president and chief executive officer. “Initiatives such as Gov. Bevin’s programs to promote manufacturing career opportunities and his support of tax reform efforts to help us better manage our costs are important to our business’s ability to compete and create new jobs. We also welcome his voice in support of attracting foreign investment, including from China, and his support of trade policies that help us maintain access to components we need to manufacture here in Kentucky and the U.S.”

GE Appliances
(Photo: GE Appliances)

The appliance manufacturer will expand its laundry manufacturing facilities, adding new topload washer and dryer platforms and increasing production capacity for existing models by about 20 percent. GE Appliances also plans to grow production capacity for its new plastic and stainless steel tub dishwasher models by 35 percent. Work has already begun and is scheduled to be complete at the end of 2019.

“GE Appliances has long been an exemplary corporate partner for Louisville and the commonwealth,” said Gov. Matt Bevin. “This iconic company has employed many thousands of Kentuckians for generations, and we are grateful for their most recent investment in the Bluegrass State. As GE Appliances continues to adapt to a changing marketplace, we are confident that they will remain a perfect fit right here in Kentucky—America’s center for engineering and manufacturing excellence.”

To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) had given General Electric Co. preliminary approval in September 2014 for a performance-based incentive agreement through the Kentucky Jobs Retention Act program. The agreement could provide up to $40 million in tax incentives over 10 years based on a $277 million investment and the retention of 5,263 Kentucky resident, full-time jobs. Last week KEDFA – at GE Appliances’ request – transferred the incentive agreement to Haier and gave the agreement final approval.

“Louisville prides itself on its long-standing tradition of manufacturing excellence, and GE Appliances’ latest expansion underscores that our city remains a global leader in manufacturing,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “This tremendous achievement is possible because of the innovation, dedication and teamwork of the working men and women of GE Appliances. Our city applauds GE Appliances on this milestone, and we look forward to their continued commitment to manufacturing the best home appliances in America.”

Haier Group Corp., based in Qingdao, China ranks as one of the world’s largest appliance makers. It purchased GE Appliances from General Electric Co. in 2016. With the current announcement complete, Haier will have announced the creation of 1,000-plus jobs in the U.S. and more than $400 million in major U.S. investments across facilities in multiple states this year alone.

Appliance Park in Louisville is GE Appliances’ largest manufacturing facility, with more than 5 million square feet for production of washers, dryers, dishwashers and bottom-freezer refrigerators. The campus is GE Appliances’ headquarters, and includes marketing, sales and support functions. Appliance Park also houses the company’s technology and engineering center, industrial design, distribution center and warehouse operations.

In 2014, GE Appliances became employer partner in the Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (KY FAME), which brings together employers and local Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges to train the next generation of manufacturing technicians through an apprenticeship-style, earn-and-learn associate degree program.

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