Who was the largest and most advanced technologically in your opinion?

[gelaundry4ever]

largest factory

I think I see it that GE was the largest appliance manufacturer under a single roof. I wonder how big Whirlpool was in the 80s compared to now. I would assume GE was smaller than Whirlpool overall, but please correct me as I assume that GE was #2 at the time.
How big was the Clyde facility back then compared to now?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

timeframe

I would like to know the sizes of Whirlpool, GE, and Maytag starting from the 50s through today. I was always under the impression that Whirlpool was the largest followed by GE, but I could be mistaken.

 

[circlew]

Whirlpool made only laundry equipment until they acquired Seeger Refrigerator Co. and Estate Range Co. (from RCA) in 1955.

GE-Hotpoint had a full line of appliances many years earlier. In the 1930's they were making ranges, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, water heaters, furnaces and air conditioners.

Maytag only had laundry equipment most of the time. For short periods of time they sold ranges and refrigerators manufactured by others. Later they started making dishwashers. Other items were added when they purchased other companies, such as Admiral, Norge, and Magic Chef.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

clyde factory

When did Whirlpool's Clyde factory grow and become more automated? Did they close their St. Joseph factory and integrate operations? How were they able to fit Maytag later on? When did they surpass GE in terms of the volume of laundry and overall size?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

GE

GE was the only one who delayed the start of normal agitation when set to normal in my opinion. I had a filter-flo that did that.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool/maytag

I thought Whirlpool gobbled up Maytag as of 2006.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Whirlpool and GE

I remember when my babysitter had a Whirlpool direct drive washer that would clean anything when I was at her house during the day sometimes even after school. When I had a plastic tub GE, I thought of her due to how the agitation behaved. I never knew GE retooled their laundry line to take on Whirlpool and Maytag until I did a bit of research. Maybe that's why Whirlpool was the world leader because they came out with the direct drive before everybody else copied their agitation.

 

[washerlover]

And wasn't it Whirlpool who had the first U.S. top-loader perforated tub along with the neutral drain?

 

[norgeway]

Whirlpool

May have not been the largest manufacturer with their own brand, but when you consider what they built for Sears then they were by far the largest at least in laundry, When GE opened appliance park in Louisville and consolodated their production with Hotpoints in the late 60s early 70s then id say they had the largest factory.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool and GE

I thought whirlpool was #1 followed by GE due to their own and the Kenmore lines, considering GE/Hotpoint had only 15% in the laundry market especially when they came out with the plastic model T washer in 1995 which took on leaders like Whirlpool and Maytag.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

to washerlover

I believe so, since most of Whirlpool washers had neutral draining before GE did.