Research conducted as part of the company’s global operating strategy indicated that the consolidation of built-in ovens and cook-tops currently made at Oxford into the Cleveland facility will better leverage the scale and size of that operation, according to the company.

The Oxford plant is 450,000 square feet, while the Cleveland plant is 1.1 million square feet, and both plants have been operating beneath capacity, according to the company.

Whirlpool will add 500 jobs to the Cleveland facility. By next year, the company should have a work force of nearly 1,700, including manufacturing, engineering and call center employees, the company said.

“The jobs created by this announcement represent the type of higher skilled, good paying positions [we] believe are essential to Tennessee’s economic progress,” said Matt Kisber, commissioner of the state’s Economic and Community Development Department. “We’re grateful to Whirlpool for the company’s continued investment.”

Meanwhile, about 750 employees will lose their jobs in Oxford by the middle of next year.

“This is a great loss, not only economically, but for the community as a whole,” Lloyd Oliphant, president of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors, told the Daily Mississippian. “[We] have done all we could to keep the plant open in Oxford by working and meeting with Whirlpool officials, but it unfortunately comes down to the size of the facilities. We express our regret to the employees and the community affected by this decision.”

In addition, Whirlpool will close its production facility in Puebla. Mexico, and expand operations in Celaya, Mexico, resulting in an additional 140 jobs there.

Al Holaday, vice president of manufacturing operations in North America for Whirlpool, said the consolidation will help ensure that the company maintains its leadership position in a changing global marketplace.

“These kinds of decisions are never easy, and we make them only after comprehensive evaluation of alternatives,” he said. “This is in no way a reflection on our Oxford or Puebla employees, who by all accounts have performed very well.”

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