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BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Whirlpool Corp. said Monday it would dismiss about 730 workers at an Arkansas plant once a replacement factory in Mexico is operational. The Michigan-based company recently built a refrigerator plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, to produce side-by-side refrigerator-freezer models, beginning in 2006. The Mexican plant will employ 1,000 workers. Once the Ramos Arizpe facility is operational, about 730 employees at Whirlpool's Fort Smith, Ark., plant will be part of a layoff, currently planned for October 2006. Some models now made in Fort Smith will be shifted to the new Mexican plant, Whirlpool said....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Haier Group, China's largest appliance maker, and its two private equity partners have dropped out of the $1 billion-plus bidding race for Maytag Corp., Maytag said on Tuesday. The prospect of a Haier takeover helped stir anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. over Asian companies gobbling up U.S. businesses. That concern has been stoked by a bid by China oil company CNOOC Ltd. to buy California-based Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion.

News to Gladden the Heart ?? Or something ! Remember that lonesome Maytag Repairman ? It looks as if he is going to have company pretty soon. Whirlpool – a major competitor – has made a whopping big offer , that will likely include a lot of debt exchange between the two giants , a REALLY big payday for shareholders , and a REALLY big boot in the tail for a lot of actual repairmen. In case that falls through, the People’s Liberation Army of China is also interested,and has made an attractive bid. (That’s not the actual name on...

Whirlpool sets $1.3 bln bid for MaytagSunday July 17, 11:36 pm ETBy Karen Jacobs ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. on Sunday proposed to buy smaller rival Maytag Corp. for more than $1.3 billion, topping an existing buyout offer for the maker of Hoover vacuums and possibly sparking a bidding war. The Whirlpool offer of $17 a share beats a $14 a share bid by an investor group led by New York private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings. The offer represents a 10 percent premium over Maytag's closing stock price of $15.45 on Friday. The offer could ignite a...

U.S. appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. (WHR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Sunday proposed to acquire smaller rival Maytag for $17 a share in a deal worth $2.3 billion, sparking a bidding war for the maker of Hoover vacuums. Maytag, whose products include Amana and Jenn-Air appliances, agreed in May to be acquired by Triton Acquisition Holding, an investment vehicle led by New York private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, for $14 a share. Maytag said on July 13 that the Triton deal was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, and set an Aug. 19 shareholder vote in Newton, Iowa, where it is...

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. A federal jury has ruled that Whirlpool was within its rights when it told a Muslim plant employee that he couldn't take time out of his workday for prayer. Ibrahim Farah sued after he was told he couldn't take a break to say his religion's required sunset prayers. Whirlpool argued in a three-day trial that allowing the practice for Farah and all other Muslim employees would be too disruptive at its La Vergne assembly plant. The jury agreed -- taking about an hour yesterday to reach its decision.

Whirlpool plant to outsource production to China company KSFM, Arkansas FORT SMITH - For the second time in as many months, news came Thursday from the Whirlpool plant in Fort Smith concerning another production line. The decision to outsource production of a line of icemakers to China comes after a component study the company had done, but a Whirlpool spokeswoman says no jobs will be lost as a direct result. Sometime next year, a line of icemakers currently being made at the Fort Smith Whirlpool plant, will be outsourced to a company called TTI, based in China. According to...

Whirlpool bringing some work back to Ohio from Mexico Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH MIKE MUNDEN | DISPATCH Ronald Jordan works on a Kenmore dryer at the Whirlpool factory in Marion. The company employs 2,700 at the facility. Ohioans weary of watching manufacturing jobs leave the state for Mexico and other countries got some good news yesterday: Manufacturing work has left Mexico for Ohio. Whirlpool said it has moved some production of top-loading washers in Mexico to its plant in Clyde, Ohio. The move is part of $100 million in upgrades to expand seven U.S. facilities,...

CHICAGO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE:WHR - News), the largest U.S. appliance maker, said on Monday that it may move production of some refrigerators currently made in Arkansas to a new plant in Mexico. Whirlpool said it will finalize details about the location, scale and costs of the new facility in early 2005. Whirlpool said the Mexico plant will make its next generation of side-by-side refrigerators for Mexico's domestic and export markets in 2005. The company, which makes Whirlpool, KitchenAid and other brands, said it was nearing completion of a $100 million investment in seven U.S.-based plants. Whirlpool...

FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Whirlpool Corp. is examining moving some of its facilities to Mexico and could make an announcement as early as October, Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker said Tuesday, citing a "reliable source" who told him of the plans. Baker, speaking at a Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting, said that the rumored move is a sign of the times as more manufacturing jobs move overseas. But he admitted that the relocation is just a rumor. "I hope that that is not true. Whirlpool is our largest employer," he said. "It means a great deal to us, this...

LAVERGNE, Tenn. (AP) - Sixteen Muslims have filed a religious discrimination lawsuit claiming managers at a Whirlpool plant yanked scarves off women's heads and followed workers into restrooms to make sure they weren't praying. The current and former workers at the factory sued Whirlpool seeking $310,000 in damages, along with a court order forcing the company to "reasonably accommodate" the workers' religious practices, as required by law. Tom Kline, a spokesman at Whirlpool's corporate headquarters in Benton Harbor, Mich., declined to comment. Hodan Hassan of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington said workers at the refrigerator and air conditioner...