GE Appliances moves washing machine production from China to Kentucky
with $490 million investment
[June 27, 2025] By
BRUCE SCHREINER
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — GE Appliances announced a nearly
half-billion-dollar project Thursday that it says will create 800 new
jobs and shift production of clothes washers from China to its massive
manufacturing complex in Kentucky.
The $490 million investment positions the Kentucky home appliances
company to rank as the biggest U.S. manufacturer of washing machines, it
said.
“We are bringing laundry production to our global headquarters in
Louisville because manufacturing in the U.S. is fundamental to our
‘zero-distance’ business strategy to make appliances as close as
possible to our customers and consumers,” CEO Kevin Nolan said. “This
decision is our most recent product reshoring and aligns with the
current economic and policy environment.”
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump attempts to lure
factories back to the United States by imposing import taxes — tariffs —
on foreign goods. He has slapped 10% tariffs on imports from most
countries and put 30% levies on Chinese goods. GE Appliances says nearly
all the steel used in its U.S. manufacturing for its appliances comes
from American steelmakers.
GE Appliances said the project will move production of a combo
washer/dryer and a lineup of front load washers from China to the
Bluegrass State. In all, production of more than 15 models of front load
washers will shift to the company's sprawling Louisville production
complex — known as Appliance Park, it said. Once the added production is
in place, the total area devoted to clothes care production at the
Louisville complex will equal 33 football fields, it said.
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has criticized Trump's
tariffs, hailed the company's deepening commitment to the state.
“Today's announcement brings more appliance manufacturing back to the
United States and solidifies Kentucky and Louisville as the global
headquarters of GE Appliances,” the governor said.
The redesigned factory will become its most advanced manufacturing plant
for clothes washing production, the company said, featuring the latest
in automation, robotics and material-handling technologies including
automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots.
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In this June 26, 2018, file photo the General Electric logo
appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
 The new manufacturing lines will
open in 2027, the company said.
Next door at the complex's Building 1, the company produces top load
washers and front load dryers.
GE Appliances handles product design and engineering work at its
Louisville headquarters but lacks overall production capacity to
make all of its products at its U.S. plants. So it contracts with
other manufacturers, including in China, for some of its production.
The company said its core business strategy is to base production in
the United States, and the investment announced Thursday is another
step toward achieving that goal.
“Manufacturing in Louisville puts production closer to our
designers, engineers and consumers so that together we can create
our most innovative laundry platforms,” said Lee Lagomarcino, vice
president of clothes care at GE Appliances.
The $490 million infusion into Appliance Park is the latest round of
investments in recent years as part of the company’s growth
strategy. It builds on the company's previous investments of $3.5
billion in U.S. manufacturing in the past decade, with more than
one-third of the amount going to Appliance Park.
Appliance Park in Louisville employs about 8,000 workers and is home
to five plants that produce washers, dryers, dishwashers and
refrigerators as well as parts and components. GE Appliances also
has manufacturing plants in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia,
Tennessee and Connecticut.
GE Appliances is a subsidiary of the China-based Haier company.
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