On a blustery, cold February morning, with political and corporate dignitaries on hand, General Electric officially opened a new water heater assembly plant at its famous Appliance Park manufacturing complex in Louisville, KY. Just six weeks later, GE opened the doors on a second new assembly plant at Appliance Park, this one dedicated to a new line of refrigerators.
The two facilities—the first new assembly lines at Appliance Park since 1957—are the vanguard of a five-year, $1 billion investment to boost GE’s appliance division and create more than 1,300 U.S. jobs by 2014. In May 2008, GE publicly considered selling off the division. Less than four years later, GE Appliances & Lighting was featured in a Super Bowl XLVI ad, and politicians, union leaders and executives are calling the company a case study for the future of U.S. manufacturing.