Maybe Whirlpool Will Preserve Samsung connection?
New York Times did a big article a little over a month ago. Gest of article was that Whirlpool was going against conventional wisdom in that it was having its (and Kenmore) big front loaders made - not in Mexico, Korea, China - but in Germany! According to the article, Whirlpool had done a cost benefit analysis and concluded that it would be better to use existing facilities in Germany to make the high end front loaders. That the higher labor costs were offset by the advanced equipment and facilities that already were in place there in Germany.
Article went on to explain that for other product lines, including smaller, cheaper front loaders, Whirlpool was going to Mexico to assemble them.
Article also touched on Maytag. Stated that Maytag was at a disadvantage in that so many of its products were made in the United States. They pointed out, however, that Maytag was countering this with its new front loader by having Samsung in South Korea do the manufacturing.
It will be interesting to see what Whirlpool does end up doing. I think if the new Maytag Samsung front loader develops any major glitches (in the same scope as the original Maytag Neptune), it will be history as Whirlpool will want to stick with its own proven technology. If the new Maytag proves to be successful, they might very well want to preserve if the production costs are less than what they can produce their Duet/Kenmore machines. Preserving the Samsung connection could be effective in helping curtail LG's gains in the market place if the Samsung machine is considered an equal to the LG machines in quality. They are both South Korean companies and I have read that Samsung even produces some of their washing machines.
I have had my Maytag Samsung for all of two weeks now and had to have a service call already. Happy to report to fix was easy (an access panel was rattling against the water pump and needed isolation material on it). I love its capacity (you really can wash a King Size comforter), but I know only time will tell how this machine will hold up.
