Whirlpool / Kenmore Washer Production 1969 - 16mm

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means... This week we take a peek behind the curtain at WP's washing machine production at their original St. Joe, MI plant, circa 1969.

Wow o Wow, I think this film was my favorite so far Cory. It is absolutely fascinating to see the assembly line of Whirlpool in '69. It is strange how they seem to be making one specific model of Whirlpool washer that day, but occasionally you see a lone Kenmore washer also coming down the line. In the middle of the film you see where someone pushes the Whirlpool and Kenmore washers down different paths for boxing up. I wonder if they ever messed up and pushed the wrong brand into the wrong box lol.

Thanks again Cory.

When Whirlpool was Whirlpool, before they started cutting corners in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

About the time every company began cutting corners. Actually about 1977.

Whirlpool has been cutting corner since 1926, every American manufacturer that survive learned how to reduce cost and improve quality they wouldn’t survive if they didn’t.

I can make a good argument today that whirlpool is making better appliances than they ever made certainly they’re more reliable and much better built than they ever were quality control is at an all-time high Product failures within warranty at the lowest point ever in whirlpools history since I was born at least.


John L

combo52 said:

Whirlpool has been cutting corner since 1926, every American manufacturer that survive learned how to reduce cost and improve quality they wouldn’t survive if they didn’t.

I can make a good argument today that whirlpool is making better appliances than they ever made certainly they’re more reliable and much better built than they ever were quality control is at an all-time high Product failures within warranty at the lowest point ever in whirlpools history since I was born at least.


John L

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Built better my butt, newer Whirlpools are having major issues from the get go. As for more reliable, that’s a completely false statement, there’s no way on earth these newer Whirlpools will be running in 20 years time, let alone 5 to 10 years time.

Here we go again by going with opinions and not facts.

In a thread cadman created awhile back on a open house tour back in 1953, you essentially mentioned the same thing on newer appliances be ‘more reliable’, meanwhile Robert witnessed those 1950’s machines were still being used 20 years later in the 1970’s on a regular basis.

Thanks Cory for the great video - when they built quality washers

Another good one Cory !!! Keep em comin, I really enjoy these.

Thanks again, Cory
That was very enjoyable.

I guess when we talk about quality we have to be specific. The machines made today certainly aren't robust like these were and the fact that these were built with US steel compared to some of the flimsy metal coming from Asia.

The Kenmore model looks like a Kenmore 600, cousin of our Kenmore 800.

Yes, thank you again Cory I forgot to add thanks this was a really cool video. It’s easy to see why there were so many warranty problems back in that time. When you see the haphazard way things were assembled completely different than today.

After I watched this, I went online and I watched a number of videos of the way whirlpool‘s assembling washing machines at the Clyde, Ohio plant now and it’s quite different much more organized much more efficient

Reply number 60 Sean I don’t know what can be done with you, you should get out in the real world and work with appliances. I have been selling repairing and installing new whirlpool appliances for over 50 years now I have sold five new whirlpool appliances this week so far that I’m going to personally install them tomorrow is delivery day in fact,we are not seeing problems with new machines. We don’t see problems with machines until they’ve been out in the field for years and people have done awful things are not installed them correctly, etc.

I have no doubt that many of the machines that were installing today will be around in 10 20 and 30 years or more time will tell stick around and see what happens, lol John

Thank you Cory—another exciting video…

Can’t believe all those washers made in a day’s work…

I liked the layout and the materials used, that’s to me what set those washers apart from the later ones…

Of which I wonder why went to more plastics and the instrument panel vastly more different and not as liked by me as how those were done!



— Dave

combo52 said:

Yes, thank you again Cory I forgot to add thanks this was a really cool video. It’s easy to see why there were so many warranty problems back in that time. When you see the haphazard way things were assembled completely different than today.

After I watched this, I went online and I watched a number of videos of the way whirlpool‘s assembling washing machines at the Clyde, Ohio plant now and it’s quite different much more organized much more efficient

Reply number 60 Sean I don’t know what can be done with you, you should get out in the real world and work with appliances. I have been selling repairing and installing new whirlpool appliances for over 50 years now I have sold five new whirlpool appliances this week so far that I’m going to personally install them tomorrow is delivery day in fact,we are not seeing problems with new machines. We don’t see problems with machines until they’ve been out in the field for years and people have done awful things are not installed them correctly, etc.

I have no doubt that many of the machines that were installing today will be around in 10 20 and 30 years or more time will tell stick around and see what happens, lol John

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Well John, maybe it's humans who took pride in their work back in the day. This was still the America where people could go to a manufacturing job that had medical insurance and vacation time and make a decent living and have a pretty good life. Now with continued automation of "lowly" blue collar jobs, where does it put them ?

Building new washers and dryers today in the USA

Good morning Patrick, I recommend googling as I did whirlpool Clyde, Ohio factory and watching some of the many videos that are online of the how the factory is running today. The biggest difference is it takes a 10th as many people to build a washing machine because much of it is automated and machines are much easier to assemble today.

The good news is the jobs are much better than they were in 1969 much better pay working conditions people aren’t standing around inhaling each other smoke because they were even smoking on the line you saw in 1969.

There’s also a great deal of enthusiasm for the jobs at Clyde Ohio. There are people that have been on the job for over 40 years there they love their jobs. They hope their kids get to work there, etc..

They have a union to help protect their job security. They get all kinds of retirement sick leave maternity leave educational opportunities that are paid for by whirlpool.

Yes, it’s really fun. I love seeing these videos about how the machines we all love were built back in the day, but the reality is things are just built better today. Look at the difference between an automobile from 1969. Most people kept the car three years today when people buy a car many people are intending to keep it for 10 or 15 years and can easily do so without having to rebuild engines, etc.


John L

The washer being boxed looks mor like a comparable Kenmore "70". Cycle timer, temp. dial, water level dial, or one was wash, and the other rinse temps. Some earlier 70's had sliding water level actuators with reset at the far right.

To quote Harry Wormwood from Matilda: “Of course it’s cheating, nobody ever got rich being honest”.

thank you for this video the canadien equivalent made in 1972 inglis superb washerthis brings back memorys

combo52 said:

Building new washers and dryers today in the USA

Good morning Patrick, I recommend googling as I did whirlpool Clyde, Ohio factory and watching some of the many videos that are online of the how the factory is running today. The biggest difference is it takes a 10th as many people to build a washing machine because much of it is automated and machines are much easier to assemble today.

The good news is the jobs are much better than they were in 1969 much better pay working conditions people aren’t standing around inhaling each other smoke because they were even smoking on the line you saw in 1969.

There’s also a great deal of enthusiasm for the jobs at Clyde Ohio. There are people that have been on the job for over 40 years there they love their jobs. They hope their kids get to work there, etc..

They have a union to help protect their job security. They get all kinds of retirement sick leave maternity leave educational opportunities that are paid for by whirlpool.

Yes, it’s really fun. I love seeing these videos about how the machines we all love were built back in the day, but the reality is things are just built better today. Look at the difference between an automobile from 1969. Most people kept the car three years today when people buy a car many people are intending to keep it for 10 or 15 years and can easily do so without having to rebuild engines, etc.


John L

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Sounds like you are one of those shills who always things newer is better, then start complaining when you have to work on the damned things because of quality control problems and crappy designs.

Again, it’s kind of ridiculous to make such statements when Robert and others have personally seen these machines back in the day that were still in service 20 to 25 years later in the 1970’s.

qsd-dan has probably acquired machines over the years that were manufactured in the 60’s/70’s that were used up into the late 2000’s, some even early 2000’s, even then they were still working decades later perfectly fine with only minor repairs done over the years.

maytag85 said:

To quote Harry Wormwood from Matilda: “Of course it’s cheating, nobody ever got rich being honest”.

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Explains a lot, another piece to the puzzle's. Cheat deflect, lie, burry, hide, blame, Hire, fire, never lose, never been, see, saw, knew or know. Don't do their own dirty work. Not you, but I think you know what I mean Sean. I have a few cosuins and friends who became very wealthy and never did those things. They weren't afraid of hard work either, and they had no generational wealth to inherit.

combo52 said:

Building new washers and dryers today in the USA

Good morning Patrick, I recommend googling as I did whirlpool Clyde, Ohio factory and watching some of the many videos that are online of the how the factory is running today. The biggest difference is it takes a 10th as many people to build a washing machine because much of it is automated and machines are much easier to assemble today.

The good news is the jobs are much better than they were in 1969 much better pay working conditions people aren’t standing around inhaling each other smoke because they were even smoking on the line you saw in 1969.

There’s also a great deal of enthusiasm for the jobs at Clyde Ohio. There are people that have been on the job for over 40 years there they love their jobs. They hope their kids get to work there, etc..

They have a union to help protect their job security. They get all kinds of retirement sick leave maternity leave educational opportunities that are paid for by whirlpool.

Yes, it’s really fun. I love seeing these videos about how the machines we all love were built back in the day, but the reality is things are just built better today. Look at the difference between an automobile from 1969. Most people kept the car three years today when people buy a car many people are intending to keep it for 10 or 15 years and can easily do so without having to rebuild engines, etc.


John L

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I think because the real reason people are keeping their cars longer is because cars now are far more expensive than in 1969. There's a much bigger gap today of what things cost and how much people are actually earning.

I would still take one of these 1969 Whirlpool washers over anything built today.... Including Speed Queen.

agiflow said:

I think because the real reason people are keeping their cars longer is because cars now are far more expensive than in 1969. There's a much bigger gap today of what things cost and how much people are actually earning.

I would still take one of these 1969 Whirlpool washers over anything built today.... Including Speed Queen.

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Even when you make a decent living, today’s vehicles are still out of reach for the average person. Reason why they are expensive as hell is because of the crap people demand, along with all the crap the government mandates as well.

A good way to sum it up is ‘BratFlation’ along with ‘BureaucracyFlation’.

Hi Cory! Thank you VERY much for sharing this video. I watched it twice in an hour. It is, for me anyway, thoroughly entertaining.

Back then, my father was selling the St. Joe factory chemicals to etch the metal on tops, baskets, and lids in preparation for the porcelain coatings.

If what I was once told is correct, the St. Joe plant (at least later on) made lower volume production runs, while Clyde made the high volume output. What I have seen myself in machines since hearing that, would seem to support this. 1980s belt drives with suds savers (not common) seemed to often have a J serial number. Not sure I have ever seen a J serial on the huge output KM 70 and 80 series non-suds models from 1984-1986, etc. Many low-end and BOL models (aka not huge sellers) often have a J serial also.

One of the many fascinating things in the video, for me, is the KM and WP models being made side by side. Most if not all of the Kenmores I saw were the 600 series models, as Bob/appnut pointed out. I see a few different WP models, one which appears to be Coppertone with the right sided control box, and another WP model with a different shaped console as compared to the rest. At one point a basket/agitator combo went by suspended on a conveyor with a Bakelite agitator, but none of the machines we see should have had this. We must have missed the machine that went into.

I was also surprised about the volume of round motors, and find it a bit ironic, for us anyway, that they were Delco motors. It was neat to see the push carts loaded with them — with the mounting brackets already installed I am not certain when the transition happened to the square motors, but it must not have been too far down the road. Maybe John knows?

Anyway, this was very fun to watch!

Gordon

VERY cool video-glasses,clothes,etc.are very 1969 everybody working steadily cranking out machines we would prize today.Too bad that early video camera needed a little more light for fine detail.Indeed interesting to see the Delco motors-WP A/Cs of same year also used Delco motors.Pumps of this era black or blue gray color.

In 1969 whirlpool was also using a lot of GE motors, by about 1971 they switched to the Emerson motors that were non-serviceable that were glued together.

GE also changed to a gray welded together steel motor. They were quite reliable, but the GE motors tended to have more 60 cycle hum in them.

Delco never really made the transition to non-serviceable motors and whirlpool quit using them by the early 70s. They did continue to make a round motor that could be serviced that was used in Frigidaire washers and dryers, but Frigidaire also switched to Emerson Motors by the end of the GM run of Frigidaire laundry appliances.

What a great look into assembly back then. I'm always curious how many units were shipped from WP, Frigidaire, GE, etc. per day.

Thank you again, Cory, I look forward to these restored films. What a great historical archive you're building.