Whirlpool Corp. is shuttering its Fort Smith, Ark., facility and laying off more than 970 employees as the company cuts 10 percent of its North American and European work force.
Whirlpool’s announcement came Friday morning as the company reported $177 million in third-quarter earnings but pledged to cut costs.
The company said the closure is due to the decrease in demand for side-by-side refrigerators because of the weak economy.
The plant will be closed by mid-2012.
The facility also manufactured trash compactors and built-in refrigerators.
“While the Fort Smith location certainly has produced top-quality products consistent with our long-standing strategy, we have not been cost competitive due to the extremely low production volumes at the facility,” said Al Holaday, Whirlpool’s vice president of integrated supply chain and quality, in a statement.
The closure is the latest in a string of bad news from Whirlpool for Fort Smith. The company has been consistently cutting positions since 2006 when it employed 4,600.
Work will be moved to other facilities in Ohio, Iowa and Arizpe, Mexico
The factory has 884 hourly and 90 salaried employees. Another 800 employees were waiting for callbacks from recent layoffs.
Whirlpool’s cuts in North America and Europe account for about 5,000 employees.
It is unclear if any of the company’s cuts will reach Tulsa’s Whirlpool manufacturing facility.
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