Whirlpool Corporation Continues its Global Expansion ... Products Become Energy Savers

Whirlpool Corporation continued its expansion in Latin America and Western Europe, established a presence in Central Europe, and aggressively pursued its Asian strategy. A rising tide of corporate revenues accompanied these decisions through the decade, as Whirlpool Corporation passed the $7 billion and later $8 billion mark for annual sales.

In the States, strong sales prompted Whirlpool Corporation to open two new manufacturing sites. The Greenville, Ohio, plant would manufacture small appliances for the KitchenAid brand, and the Tulsa, Oklahoma, plant would manufacture gas and electric ranges. A new Small Appliance Business Unit would manage the products in that segment, including KitchenAid stand and hand mixers, across the globe.

In 1993, Whirlpool Corporation won the $30 million Super Efficient Refrigerator Program (SERP) sponsored by 24 U.S. utility companies. The Whirlpool SERP refrigerator would have the best energy efficiency levels of any refrigerator of its kind in the market. Later SERP models would exceed Dept. of Energy standards by 40 percent.

In 1998, Whirlpool Corporation unveiled its Resource Saver® Wash System, a high-efficiency, top-loading washing machine with a spray rinse system and water temperature sensor that helped reduce energy consumption and water usage.

Throughout Western Europe, Whirlpool Corporation became a stand-alone brand, and the company became the exclusive supplier of major home appliances to IKEA.

Whirlpool Corporation was also active in the burgeoning Central and Eastern European market. During the 1990s, the company created two new subsidiaries to sell and service appliances in Hungary (Whirlpool Hungarian Trading Ltd.) and Slovakia (Whirlpool Tatramat). Later, Whirlpool Europe opened sales subsidiaries in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia.

Whirlpool Latin America grew as the company broadened its Brazilian market focus to enter a joint venture in Argentina and established the South American Sales Co. to handle regional sales in 35 countries.

Whirlpool Asia established a corporate headquarters and product development/technology center in Singapore, and opened regional offices in Hong Kong, New Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo. Later, the company purchased majority interests in five joint ventures across India and China to expand the Asian manufacturing base. By 1996, the company had consolidated its Asian operations, moving headquarters from Singapore to Hong Kong. In 2004, our headquarters were relocated to Shanghai.

Whirlpool India began promoting the Whirlpool brand in the 1990s, then an unknown name to Indian consumers.  Within five years, Whirlpool brand became a household name and the leading brand in washing machines and refrigerators.

Internally, Whirlpool Corporation implemented Operational Excellence, its own custom version of the Six Sigma program to improve quality, while lowering costs and shortening cycle times. The program helped Whirlpool Corporation leverage its global manufacturing experience to save $175 million in manufacturing costs in its first three years.

As the decade, century and millennium drew to a close, Whirlpool brand introduced its Catalyst® cleaning action, a laundry innovation that promised America's cleanest laundry.

In a sign of things to come, Whirlpool Corporation won the “Star of Energy Efficiency” Award from the Alliance to Save Energy, was named “Appliance Partner of the Year” by the U.S. Department of Energy, and took home the Climate Protection and Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Thanks to its energy-efficient SERP refrigerators, Resource Saver® Wash System and numerous internal and external conservation and education efforts, Whirlpool Corporation proved that being green is good for business and good for the world.

In addition, Whirlpool Corporation began its association with Habitat for Humanity, living up to company founder Lou Upton's belief that successful businesses can also be good neighbors.