WHIRLPOOL FRANCE

Whirlpool has been the world leader in household appliances for 100 years. Its success comes from the design of intelligent, energy-efficient devices. The brand has obtained the Origine France Garantie label for its range of clothes dryers produced at the Amiens factory.

History. It all began in 1911 in Michigan, USA, when Lou and Emory Upton developed their first electrically driven washing machine. An agreement with US distribution giant Sears, Roebuck & Co, allows The Upton Machine Company to quickly succeed. The company then began to develop new household appliances and became the world's leading producer of washing machines in 1941. After the Second World War, The Upton Machine Company was the first company in the world to market a top-loading washing machine. This washing machine is signed Whirlpool (the "tourbillon"), a name that became the company's official name in 1950. A leader in the American market since the 1960s, Whirlpool has consolidated its American positions and established itself on new continents in order to expand internationally. Whirlpool was the first household appliance manufacturer to globalize the manufacture of its products and use the same know-how and components worldwide, buying a large number of manufacturers and distributing its products and skills internationally. In 1989, globalization passed through Europe. Whirlpool decided to buy Philips' major household appliances division and, three years later, the Philips-Whirlpool brand became Whirlpool. Only fifteen years were enough for the "whirlwind" from the other side of the Atlantic to become one of the emblematic brands in the household appliance sector in Europe.

The products. Ovens, microwaves, hotplates, hoods, washing machines, refrigerators....

Employment. In 2017, the Amiens site received a lot of media coverage, causing Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to move to Poland between the presidential elections, in the face of the prospect of relocating the site to Poland and the subsequent dismissal of the 282 employees. A year later, the buyer, Nicolas Decayeux, had secured the future of the 162 employees taken over. But the thinning will have been short-lived, because in June 2019, the company is placed in receivership, with a six-month observation period. No impact on short-term jobs... but until when?