Appliance maker Whirlpool has posted third quarter results that managed to beat Wall Street estimates, even though these estimates were conservative predictions based on Whirlpool’s timid guidance. Even then, Whirpool’s increase in profits came together with a decrease in revenue, which can only mean that cost-cutting measures created the profit.
In the last quarter, Whirlpool was forced to shut down an Evansville, Indiana plant, eliminating 1,200 jobs as part of its cost-cutting measures. It may have come as no surprise to the plant’s employees, though, as Whirlpool announced last year that it would need to cut around 7 percent of its …read more

Those who missed out on cash for clunkers will have their chance to cash in on a new government program, assuming that they have old, inefficient appliances that they want to trade out for new, energy-efficient appliances. The Department of Energy will put $300 million into their “cash for refrigerators” rebate program, which will take effect in the next several months.
Although the premise is similar to the Cash for Clunkers program, this new federal rebate program will not require customers to trade in their old appliances to secure a rebate on the new appliances. Customers will receive rebates for their …read more

After the success of the Cash for Clunkers program in getting Americans to trade in their old, fuel-inefficient vehicles for newer, cleaner models, the Obama administration has now turned it sights toward old household appliances. The federal government will begin doling out money from the economic stimulus package to help customers replace their household appliances with Energy Star qualified appliances.
So far, California has received $35.2 million in federal money specifically designated for the task of updating California’s appliances in an attempt to reduce pollution. In addition to being easier on the environment, switching to more efficient household appliances will also …read more

Appliance giant Whirlpool Corp. has decided to shut down operations of its Evansville, Indiana manufacturing plant by the middle of 2010 as part of a larger effort by the company to restructure its manufacturing. Unfortunately for Evansville, a total of around 1,100 jobs will be shed as part of the closing of the plant.
 
The factory’s production, which consists primarily of Whirlpool’s most popular freezer refrigerators, will be transferred to a factory in Mexico, while its production of icemakers at the same factory will be moved to an undisclosed location. According to Whirlpool, the company has been looking at ways to …read more