GE Appliances shifts more production to U.S., including Alabama, as part of a $3 billion investment
FILE – A General Electric washer (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
GE Appliances plans to shift production of refrigerators, gas ranges and water heaters out of China and Mexico as part of a more than $3 billion investment to expand its U.S. operations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina.
Six refrigerator models made in China will now be made at the GE Appliances plant in Decatur, Alabama.
The investment — the second-largest in the Louisville, Kentucky-based company’s history — is expected to add more than 1,000 jobs while increasing domestic production and modernizing plants in the next five years.
“Our long-term strategy is about manufacturing close to our customers,” said CEO Kevin Nolan. “With lean manufacturing, upskilling our workforce and automation, the math works for manufacturing in the United States.”
GE Appliances will relocate production of gas ranges from Mexico to a plant in LaFayette, Georgia. In June, the company said it would move production of clothes washers from China to its manufacturing complex in Louisville.
The announcements come as President Donald Trump tries to lure factories back to the United States by imposing tariffs on foreign goods.
The GE Appliances plant in Camden, South Carolina, will add production of electric and hybrid heat pump water heaters, doubling the factory’s output and employment once the project is complete, the company said. The plant now produces gas water heaters. Production of the company’s electric and hybrid water heaters — now made in China — will shift to South Carolina.
In Selmer, Tennessee, its plant will produce two new models of air conditioners.
The latest investment includes the June announcement that GE Appliances will pump $490 million into its Kentucky complex to produce a combo washer/dryer and a lineup of front load washers that are now made in China. In all, production of more than 15 models of front load washers will shift to the company’s Louisville complex — known as Appliance Park, it said.
Once its new plan is fully implemented, GE Appliances will have invested $6.5 billion across its 11 U.S. manufacturing plants and nationwide distribution network since 2016, it said.
GE Appliances is a subsidiary of the China-based Haier company.
Overall, GE Appliances says it contributes more than $30 billion annually to the U.S. economy and supports more than 113,000 jobs – both directly and indirectly – through its operations, suppliers and distribution network.
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