GE Appliances unveils $450 million upgrade to manufacturing plant in KY

White goods manufacturing powerhouse GE Appliances on Wednesday unveiled two new dishwasher manufacturing lines that complete a $450 million transformation first announced in 2021 for its facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

The “Appliance Park” site, which also serves as the company’s headquarters, now features the results of an investment which drives digital transformation in design and manufacturing, improving craftsmanship and creating better jobs for employees, the company said.

GE Appliances was acquired in 2016 by Chinese multinational home appliances company Haier, and has since then invested more than $2 billion in its U.S. manufacturing and distribution operations.

As a result of that investment, three of the five major plants at the Louisville site have now received significant upgrades over the past two years, with new topload washer models and four-door refrigerators added, as well as new assembly lines and fabrication equipment. The dishwasher expansion alone positions the plant to be the largest plant of its kind in the U.S., GE Appliances said.

The upgrades will also pay off by improving supply chain resiliency through vertical integration, the company said. For example, GE Appliances’ manufacturing facilities, like the featured dishwasher plant, are vertically integrated starting from rolls of coiled steel. New fabrication equipment produces millions of tubs, doors, racks and other components made onsite. And the plant produces five brands of dishwashers on the new lines.

The investment also includes a “digital transformation,” which uses tools such as 3D scanning, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and control tower technology to drive end-to-end visibility of inbound parts and of parts flowing through the plant, the company said.