Whirlpool’s financial director, Eduardo Alonso, stated that “the appliance market has been experiencing sustained recovery and growth,” and stated that the company’s new plant will be inaugurated in October, with an investment of 50 million dollars, which It will employ 400 people and will reach a production of 300,000 washing machines per year.
Of the total, 200,000 units will be exported and will generate a foreign exchange income for the country of 50 million dollars annually.
“With this new plant, we seek to make Whirlpool become the largest appliance exporting company in Argentina. It represents the beginning of a growth stage for the company and is the initial kick to become a company with a much more productive presence. bigger than what we had up to now,” Alonso told Télam.
The executive highlighted that “the home appliance market has been recovering and sustaining growth,” and advocated that “this trend continue for the rest of the year.”
“With this new plant, we seek to make Whirlpool the largest appliance exporter in Argentina”Eduardo Alonso, CFO of Whirlpool
The following are the main sections of the interview with Télam:
Télam: How is the construction process of the new plant that was announced last year coming?
Eduardo Alonso: In 2021 Whirlpool announced an investment of US$ 40 million for the construction of a new production plant in Fátima, Pilar district of Buenos Aires. After the announcement, we continued working to improve the competitiveness of the new plant, which is why we decided to internalize a greater part of the production process and the investment rose to US$ 50 million.
The work is in phase number two of three, and it is expected to be operational in the third quarter of this year. We are currently starting with the installation of machinery that has state-of-the-art technology and with the assembly of the assembly and production lines. The third and last phase, which will be the connection of the facilities and the completion of the offices, will be completed between June and July of this year.
T: How much will this new plant produce?
EA: The plant will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 high-capacity front-loading washing machines, between 8 and 12 kilograms. Production is estimated to be one washing machine every 40 seconds. On the other hand, it is expected that two thirds of the manufacturing will be exported to Brazil and other Latin American countries. The strategy aims to complement the regional portfolio with a new washing platform that is not currently manufactured in the region. Not only will we be able to increase domestic production, but we will also export, which will generate income of around US$50 million per year.
T: How much employment will the new plant generate?
EA: The plant will generate around 400 direct jobs, which will have a strong impact on the local community. This investment will also have other related benefits, since it will generate indirect jobs through the development of suppliers of components for production and the contracting of associated services such as transportation, security, maintenance, maintenance, food. In total, the company will generate around 1,000 jobs, both direct and indirect, which will have a positive impact on the Pilar area.
T: Will import substitution improve?
EA: With the new plant operating at full production capacity and exporting, we will be able to generate foreign currency that will allow us to complement our portfolios with the import of products that are not manufactured locally and that are demanded by our consumers. We are moving towards a regional integration that seeks productive complementarity to continue growing in a sustained manner, diversifying risk with the incorporation of new markets and increasing the scale to improve competitiveness.
T: What does Argentina represent for Whirlpool in relation to the rest of the region?
EA: With this new plant, we seek to make Whirlpool become the largest exporter of household appliances in Argentina. It represents the beginning of a stage of growth for the company in the country and is the initial kick to become a company with a much larger productive presence than we had until now. In addition, the plant will be Whirlpool’s most modern in the region, equipped with state-of-the-art technology and World Class Manufacturing (WCM) manufacturing standards, which implies a positive impact for Pilar, for the province and for the country.
“The plant will generate around 400 direct jobs, which will have a strong impact on the local community. This investment will also have other related benefits, since it will generate indirect jobs”Edward Alonso
T: What are the expectations for this year?
EA: Our expectation is set on the inauguration of the new plant to continue growing in the country with the national production of innovative products and to start exporting to the region. The home appliance market has been experiencing a sustained recovery and growth and we expect this trend to continue for the rest of the year. It is going to be very important that access to the foreign exchange market for production inputs is normalized, otherwise we see risks that could have a negative impact on recovery and growth.
T: How do you evaluate Now 12?
EA: Our products are characterized by being semi-durable goods, which means that they are acquisitions with a high average ticket, which represent a significant investment in home improvement made by users. In this sense, all the measures that seek to accompany and facilitate access to credit for these purchases, such as Now 12 and its variants, are more than welcome, considering that, in addition to consumers, they are also policies that help promote and sustain the demand of the sector.
