Whirlpool invests in Cleveland

There’s nothing like an economic vote of confidence to promote pride and provide a bit of security for residents of a community. The Whirlpool Corp. provided that welcome boost to Cleveland, Tenn., and Bradley County last week. Whirlpool, already the county’s largest employer, announced that it would build a new $120 million plant in Cleveland. When completed, the facility will add 130 jobs to the appliance makers current workforce of 1,500.

Construction of the new plant, which will replace Whirlpool’s century-old Church Street facility, is expected to begin this year on a site at Benton Pike and Michigan Avenue. The 1-million-square-foot plant, which includes a 400,000-square foot warehouse, is expected to go on line early in 2012. The state-of-the-art plant will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and will manufacture products in Whirlpool’s premium cooking line, according to company officials.

The announcement is the latest in a series that confirms the continued viability of Southeast Tennessee as a locale for manufacturers. Volkswagen’s rapidly growing auto assembly plant in Chattanooga and a cutting-edge polysilicon factory to be built in Bradley County by Wacker Chemical — each representing an investment of about $1 billion are among the half dozen large manufacturing facilities Tennessee has landed in recent years.

The building of the new plant affirms both Whirlpool’s belief in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the reliability and ability of the Bradley County workforce. Al Holaday, the appliance maker’s vice president of manufacturing in North America, confirmed the former. “We’re [Whirlpool] looking forward. We believe in the U.S. economy.”

Matt Kisber, Tennessee commissioner of economic and community development, offered testament of the latter. “Clearly, Whirlpool believes the workforce in Southeast Tennessee and Cleveland can and does get the job done.” Whirlpool, like Volkswagen, Wacker and a host of other firms large and small, obviously agree.

Though construction has yet to begin and operations at the new plant won’t begin for more than a year, a plant official in Cleveland said hiring for it will begin in several months. They’re good jobs by any measure, paying, according to Whirlpool, between $10.15 and $22 per hour with full benefits. That type of job is increasingly rare these days. Whirlpool’s commitment to a new plant and providing jobs of that type reaffirms the company’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing and to the workers in the region.