Posted on 06/01/2010 6:14:35 PM PDT by Paul46360
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) Whirlpool says it will close a machining facility in Benton Harbor, Mich. and eliminating 216 jobs as a result.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsbt.com ...
Whirlpool made most Kenmore white goods for many years. Probably still do.
Back in the early 80’s when I did contract design work for them, I had a chance to talk to one of their marketing managers.
He showed me the coming-year Kenmores and Whirlpools in the same room. The lineups matched up model-for-model, with differences in the cosmetics and a few small features.
They definitely planned their products in conjunction with their biggest private label customer (Sears Kenmore), so that they could have a rationalized product line with minimum overall manufacturing cost.
A lot like a car company with several marques.
Seriously they are moving production there? I had read that all production of the large appliances was moving to Mexico and thought that all Ohio had was corporate offices?
I bought a new Kenmore set in 1996 and had to replace the first part a little over a year later on the washer. It seemed like we were placing somethign every eyar so when it finally went out and the pump was gone 4 years ago last december (almost 5 now) we decided to replace it. At the time I did not know that Kenmore and Whirlpool were made by the same people or I’d probably not bought it. My sister owns an LG and she has had really bad luck with it. It’s broke down nearly every year since she bought it and the bad part for her is that few repair people know how to work on the brand so repairs take a long time.
Granholm’s legacy continues.
Michigan, are you blown away, yet?
Hope & Change....Had Enough Yet?
In west Michigan it's referred to as Benton Harlem.
At least parts of the real Harlem are being gentrified (the Eurotrash love the brownstones up there). Benton Harbor has about as much chance of being gentrified as I do of bedding Scarlett Johanssen.
The sad thing is that, there should be no reason for a city on a crown jewel like Lake Michigan to have gotten in that bad of shape. Muskegon Heights is also bad, but that's not on the lake.
Had no idea who your Scarlett was so did a bing image search. She’s okay I guess.
What do Benton Harlem and Muskegon Heights have in common?
Michigan
Water, Winter, Welfare Wonderland
Both are West Michigan’s version of the Southeast Michigan ghetto. Whites and middle class blacks don’t live there.
I bought a Whirlpool refrigerator last year and it crapped out in one day. Menard’s had it back on the floor within the week. Never again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.