Making Canada a little colder.

• Author: Sword, Doug
• Position: Whirlpool Corp. increases investment in Evansville plant

For 36 years, Whirlpool Corp. has made refrigerators for Americans at its huge blue-green plant on U.S. 41, but by the beginning of next year, Evansville-built refrigerators will be shipped to markets throughout Canada as well.

By the end of 1991, Whirlpool plans to close its Port Credit, Ontario, plant that built Whirlpool, Kenmore, Inglis and other brand names to sell in the Canadian market. The transfer of Canadian production to Evansville is just part of the reason a renaissance is taking place at the plant, which has seen the addition of more than 400 workers this year and the promised addition of another 750 during 1992's second quarter.

The boost in employment at the plant also has added dozens of engineers and will push the work force to more than 4,300, allowing Whirlpool to reclaim its status as Evansville's largest employer, a position it held prior to the late 1980s, when massive layoffs were an annual event.

Whirlpool's restoration in Evansville single-handedly is lowering the area's unemployment rate and is a cornerstone in Evansville Mayor Frank McDonald II's campaign for re-election this year.

The constant flow of good news out of Whirlpool is in sharp contrast to the not-so-veiled threats from management, made just 21 months ago, that the plant would be closed if there were no contract concessions. Management said it was losing its competitive edge in both wages and engineering to the two other major U.S. refrigerator makers, General Electric Co. and White Consolidated Industries Inc.

While Evansville leaders have been pleasantly surprised by the dividend of 1,200 jobs, the capital investment is turning out to be a more aggressive one than promised. The company now says it will...