Production increases possible at Whirlpool’s Fort Smith plant
by October 13, 2009 7:00 am 60 views
It’s not much, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.
Whirlpool officials have partially confirmed a production change at its Fort Smith refrigerator and icemaker production plant.
A reliable source recently told The City Wire that shifts at Whirlpool would be extended to nine-hours with some weekend work and with worker call backs possible. The source also said limited refrigerator production from Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, might return to Fort Smith. A lack of consistent production quality in Mexico was cited as the reason for moving some production back to Fort Smith.
What’s more, the source said there is a “growing consensus” that ice-maker production from Whirlpool’s Evansville, Ind., plant will move to Fort Smith.
Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool announced Aug. 28 it would close its Evansville plant, eliminating about 1,100 full-time jobs by mid-2010. The Evansville plant primarily makes top freezer refrigerators, with that production being moved to the company’s plant in Mexico. However, the company said its icemaker production and Refrigeration Product Development Center (PDC) in Evansville will “be relocated to a company-owned site yet to be determined.” Whirlpool recently announced it would keep the PDC operation in Evansville.
A Whirlpool official said shifts will be extended, but did not address the possible move of production from Mexico.
“As the economy remains very fluid, many of our plants, including (Fort) Smith, continue to experience fluctuations. Plant management has indicated that it is evaluating the possibility of instituting nine-hour shifts, though no announcement has been made as of this morning,” Jill Saletta, director of external communications at Whirlpool, noted in an Oct. 8 e-mail. “I can tell you that plant leadership announced yesterday (Oct. 7) that five down days that had been scheduled for later this month have been cancelled.”
Saletta also said no decision has been made about where the company will move the Evansville icemaker production.
The future of Whirlpool’s Fort Smith plant has been a cause for concern by area business and civic leaders since November 2003 when the company announced a major global reorganization plan. The news in the past 3.5 years has been troubling, with Whirlpool announcing numerous production cuts and layoffs that has seen employment in Fort Smith drop from about 4,600 in early 2006 to around 1,050 today. The last hit came in August, when the company cut about 40 salaried and about 250 hourly jobs.
Manufacturing employment in the Fort Smith metro area has fallen from 29,100 in January 2006 to 22,600 in August 2009, down 22.3% in the less than four-year period.