LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 27, 2023) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear joined local and state officials as well as executives from GE Appliances, a Haier company, to celebrate the opening of two new dishwasher manufacturing lines at Appliance Park in Louisville. The move marks the completion of the company’s transformative $450 million investment announced in October 2021, creating over 1,000 full-time Kentucky jobs.
“Manufacturing will always be a key industry within Kentucky’s economy and plays a vital role in Louisville and throughout the state, employing over 250,000 Kentuckians,” said Gov. Beshear. “The culmination of this incredible investment by GE Appliances will not only create thousands of job opportunities but will further strengthen the commonwealth’s manufacturing sector and booming economy. With Manufacturing Month kicking off next week, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than being here today at GE Appliances. I want to congratulate the Louisville community on this important investment and thank the leaders at Haier and GE Appliances for their commitment to the commonwealth.”
The two new dishwasher manufacturing lines are the final pieces to significant upgrades at three of the park’s five major plants over the past two years. Other improvements include new top-load washer models and four-door refrigerators added as well as new assembly lines and fabrication equipment. The dishwasher expansion alone positions the GE Appliances plant to be the largest plant of its kind in the United States.
“We are committed to U.S. manufacturing and Louisville, Kentucky,” said Kevin Nolan, president and CEO of GE Appliances. “From design to production, our team is always finding a better way to bring the latest appliance technology to homes and families across America. Together, with our state and local partners, we are building a stronger state economy and community.”
Since 2016, GE Appliances has invested more than $2 billion in its U.S. manufacturing and distribution operations and created more than 4,000 new jobs. The 2022 economic impact analysis released by the company earlier this year reported that GE Appliances’ investments, supplier base, customers and payroll contributed $7.46 billion to Kentucky’s GDP last year. More than $517 million is spent by GE Appliances annually with more than 640 Kentucky suppliers.
Louisville’s Appliance Park is GE Appliances’ largest manufacturing operation, with more than 6 million square feet for the production of washers, dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators.
Appliance Park sits on 750 acres in southern Jefferson County, where GE Appliances began production in 1953. The campus serves as the company’s headquarters, and includes marketing, sales and support functions. Appliance Park also houses the company’s technology and engineering center, industrial design, distribution center and warehouse operations. GE Appliances employs more than 8,000 people full-time at Appliance Park and a nearby call center.
GE Appliances is among the nearly 5,000 manufacturing-related facilities in Kentucky, which employ more than 250,000 people across the state. Kentucky excels as a national leader in manufacturing, with about 12.5% of its workforce holding a job in the sector compared to the U.S. average of 8.1%.
“Louisville has an international reputation as a leader in advanced manufacturing because of great companies like GE Appliances that continue to invest in our city,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. “GE Appliances’ corporate investment comes in various forms, including major capital improvements that grow our economy, its industry-leading FirstBuild partnership and the thousands of hours that GE Appliances’ employees spend volunteering across our community each year. Louisville is the proud home of such an innovative company, and we thank Kevin Nolan and the entire team for their continued commitment to Louisville!”
GE Appliances’ investment and job creation builds on recent economic momentum in the commonwealth.
Last month, Gov. Beshear reported that General Fund receipts for July 2023 totaled $1.1 billion, marking the 11th straight month with revenues over $1 billion. The Governor also recently announced that his administration secured the largest General Fund budget surplus and Rainy Day Fund, as well as the most jobs filled in state history.
The General Fund budget surplus at the end of fiscal year 2023 was more than $1.55 billion. Nearly all of the $1.55 billion surplus will go into the commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing the fund to a record balance of $3.7 billion – a 2,700% increase since Gov. Beshear took office in 2019.
This year, the Governor announced that Kentucky set the record for the longest period with the lowest unemployment rates in state history.
Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has announced more than 880 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling approximately $27 billion in announced investments, creating 47,600 jobs. This is the highest investment figure for any governor in state history.
The robust job creation has been accompanied by rising wages across the commonwealth. The average incentivized hourly wage in 2022 was $26.78 before benefits, the second-highest mark since 2010 and an 11.5% increase over the previous year.
The Governor also secured the best two-year period in state history for economic growth and announced the two largest economic development projects in state history. In September 2021, Gov. Beshear and leaders from Ford Motor Co. and SK On celebrated a transformative $5.8 billion investment that will create 5,000 jobs in Hardin County. In April 2022, the Governor was joined by leadership at AESC to announce a $2 billion investment that will create 2,000 jobs in Warren County. These announcements solidify Kentucky as the EV battery production capital of the United States.
That position was strengthened even further in May 2023, when the Governor and leaders at Toyota announced a $591 million investment across multiple projects as the company’s largest manufacturing operation in Georgetown introduced its first battery electric vehicle. Growth within the EV sector continued into June as Gov. Beshear joined INFAC North America to break ground on the company’s $53 million investment to support EV-related production in Campbellsville.
Over a two-month period this year, Kentucky secured two credit rating increases from major agencies. On May 12, Gov. Beshear announced that his administration obtained the first state-level credit rating upgrade in 13 years and the first-ever upgrade from Fitch Ratings. On June 29, Gov. Beshear announced the commonwealth received its first-ever rating increase from S&P Global Ratings. Today, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Kentucky’s credit outlook from stable to positive.
Site Selection magazine recently placed Kentucky first in the South Central region and top-5 nationally in its 2023 Prosperity Cup ranking, which recognizes state-level economic development agencies for their success in landing capital investment projects. The publication also placed Kentucky second nationwide and first in the South Central region for its annual Governor’s Cup ranking for 2022, which recognizes state-level economic success based on capital investments.
Gov. Beshear recently announced a new “Supply Kentucky” initiative with the goal of boosting job growth, reducing costs and providing more security in the supply chains of our Kentucky companies.
To encourage investment and job retention in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in October 2021 approved a supplemental project to an existing Kentucky Jobs Retention Act (KJRA) program agreement with the company. The performance-based agreement can provide tax incentives based on the company’s total cumulative investment across the original and supplemental KJRA projects with an annual job target requirement over the term of the agreement.
By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.
In addition, NEO Industries can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers. Those include no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job-training incentives.
For more information on GE Appliances, visit GEAppliancesCo.com.
A detailed community profile for Jefferson County can be viewed here.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at CED.ky.gov. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion at facebook.com/CEDkygov, on Twitter @CEDkygov, Instagram @CEDkygov and LinkedIn.
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