Signature Associates

Whirlpool announces $60M Perrysburg factory, addition of about 150 jobs

Signature Associates’ Rob Keleghan and Zack Liber are proud to have represented the seller in this amazing deal.

Posted By: Toledo Blade on April 10, 2026.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

Whirlpool Corp. is adding a factory in Perrysburg, investing $60 million over the next two years and creating as many as 150 jobs.

The facility will act as a “vital hub” for the company’s domestic operations, according to a news release, supplying Whirlpool’s nearby production plants in Clyde and Marion with parts for washers and dryers.

In an announcement during a visit by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Friday, the company said it plans to renovate a former solar-panel factory in Perrysburg to produce appliance components and subassembly work for laundry machines.

The factory will rely on a mix of traditional labor and advanced-manufacturing technologies, like automation, the company said. Whirlpool expects to spend about $60 million to outfit the facility with the new equipment — an investment in the company’s focus on domestic production.

“Whirlpool Corporation is leaning into our commitment to U.S. manufacturing,” said Marc Bitzer, the company’s chairman and CEO.

“When there is a level playing field, our American workers can out-compete anyone in the world. This investment is proof of our confidence in that work force and our determination to win by producing high-quality, innovative products in the U.S.”

Whirlpool’s Perrysburg factory will be located on Progress Drive near State Rt. 25 in a 252,600-square-foot facility previously occupied by Toledo Solar.

The project is expected to receive incentives from JobsOhio and the state that have yet to be reviewed. JobsOhio is a private, nonprofit corporation funded by the profits from its lease of the state’s liquor franchise.

“Today’s investment by Whirlpool Corporation demonstrates how an America First trade policy can strengthen the country’s manufacturing base, create jobs, boost domestic production, and support local economies,” Mr. Greer said in a news release.

Regional growth

Perrysburg Mayor Mark Weber said the factory will help stimulate industrial growth along State Rt. 25, an area the city is targeting for development.

“We’ve been looking for something like this for a long time and fortunately Whirlpool came to us,” Mr. Weber said. “This kind of manufacturing is exactly what we’ve been looking for, because that’s what we want to do all the way down the State Rt. 25 corridor.”

The company’s expansion into Perrysburg comes on the heels of a $300 million investment in the nearby Clyde and Marion plants, which produce washers and dryers under the Whirlpool, Maytag, and Amana brand names.

In that announcement, the company’s leaders similarly touted its commitment to American manufacturing. Whirlpool said the investment in those facilities would add between 400 and 600 jobs to ramp up production of its next-generation washers and dryers.

Components and assemblies created at the Perrysburg factory will be used at the Marion and Clyde factories and are part of the company’s efforts to vertically integrate its manufacturing process, the CEO said.

The Clyde facility has been in operation since 1952 and is the largest washing machine plant in the world. It currently employs more than 3,000 workers. The Marion dryer factory marked its 70th anniversary in September and employs nearly 2,000.

In addition to its Clyde and Marion plants, the company manufactures dishwashers in Findlay and freezers and other refrigeration appliances in Ottawa, Ohio. Whirlpool has its headquarters in Benton Harbor, Mich.

Trade policy

Talk of the Trump Administration’s tariff and trade policies dominated Mr. Greer’s visit to the facility. Addressing the crowd of Whirlpool employees and dignitaries, Mr. Bitzer said Trump’s tariffs have helped Whirlpool pull ahead of its competitors that manufacture in other countries — even if it was rocky at first.

“The tariffs do create a level playing field,” he said. “At first it didn’t always help us economically, but we always believed ultimately [the administration’s] aspirations were to complete it and bring it into a stable environment.”

However, he also said tariffs alone cannot restore American manufacturing. Mr. Bitzer said the company is focusing on advanced manufacturing and automation technologies to make workers more efficient and is working to vertically integrate its supply chain. However, more still needs to be done to allow that integration to happen, he said.

“We pay a lot of costs for components which we can’t get in the U.S. … And when we import them, we pay a tariff,” Mr. Bitzer said. “When a competitor puts it in appliances, it doesn’t pay a tariff. So we almost want to get an offset benefit for basic components which are being used here.”

Whirlpool currently has 10 manufacturing facilities in the United States, four in Mexico, and six in Latin America. The company says about 80 percent of the appliances it sells in the United States are produced domestically.

However, not all of its plants are growing. Last month, the company laid off 341 workers at a longstanding facility in Amana, Iowa, citing a “slow housing market and intense pressure from foreign competitors” in a letter to concerned lawmakers.

Senator Bernie Moreno (R., Ohio) attended the Whirlpool tour and said he plans to continue targeting foreign companies that are displacing U.S. manufacturers, starting with a bill he’ll introduce next week to prohibit Chinese cars from entering the U.S. market.

He said that bill could be a model to help other industries that have suffered from foreign competition and credited Trump’s policies with keeping the Whirlpool factory in Clyde open.

“The Chinese are building industries with the sole intent of destroying U.S. companies,” Mr. Moreno said. “If President Trump had not been elected in 2016, this factory would not be here — this community would absolutely be leveled to the ground.”