LOUISVILLE, Ky. — GE Appliances on Thursday touted wide-ranging ripple effects from shifting production from China to Kentucky as it announced more than $150 million in new contracts awarded to U.S.-based suppliers.
The supplier contracts range in value from $330,000 to $41 million, span 10 states and cover crucial segments of the supplier chain for the appliance maker’s washer and dryer production — from plastics and castings to steel and aluminum, the company said. The suppliers range in size from U.S. Steel to family-owned companies.
With the new contracts, GE Appliances said it is increasing domestic spending on suppliers by 3.3%.
The suppliers will support production of a combo washer/dryer and a lineup of front load washers, all of which GE Appliances is moving from China to its sprawling Louisville complex known as Appliance Park. The company says it’s investing $490 million to retool a plant for the project, which will create 800 new jobs.
Production is scheduled to begin in early 2027, it said, and will expand the total footprint devoted to clothes care production at Appliance Park to the equivalent of 33 football fields.
“When we invest in U.S. manufacturing and our people, it drives growth far beyond our own walls,” Lee Lagomarcino, a GE Appliances vice president, said Thursday in a news release. “These new supplier contracts represent what ‘Built for America’ is all about — investing in U.S. manufacturing, creating more