Whirlpool Opens $200 Million Production Facility
Home appliances company Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) officially opens its new manufacturing facility in Cleveland, Tenn., for production of premium cooking products.
The $200 million project includes a state-of-the-art production facility and distribution center and will be the largest premium cooking plant in the world, according to Whirlpool.
It expects the project will add about 130 new jobs to its existing Cleveland workforce. Each year Whirlpool Corporation spends more than $7.4 billion to operate its nine U.S. plants and keep its approximately 15,000 manufacturing employees at work.
Whirlpool Corporation Chairman and CEO, Jeff M. Fettig, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce, John Bryson, were key speakers at Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Federal, state and local officials, including Deputy Governor Claude Ramsey and Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty, also attended.
This new, 1 million square foot production facility and 400,000 square foot distribution center, will be for cooking products. The plant includes energy efficient and technologically advanced manufacturing processes and is expected to obtain LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, says the company.
Located at Benton Pike and Durkee Road, the new facility is replacing a 123-year old plant just a few miles away on King Edward Avenue. The full transition to the new facility is expected to be complete by mid-2013.
In the picture above: CEO Jeff Fettig, U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson and local officials open new 1 million square foot production facility in Cleveland, Tenn
