Latest news with #KevinNolan
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Northampton sign Oxford defender Thorniley on loan
Northampton Town have signed Oxford United defender Jordan Thorniley on a season-long loan 28-year-old began his career at Everton and has also had spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Blackpool."He will add balance to us and bring with him a good amount of knowledge and experience," Cobblers boss Kevin Nolan told the club's website., external"He had lots of offers so we're delighted he has decided to join us and I'm looking forward to working with him."Northampton begin their League One campaign on Saturday, 2 August with a trip to Wigan Athletic (15:00 BST).
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why GE Appliances says it's ready to bring 800 jobs back to the U.S.
GE Appliances is accelerating a plan to move production of its washers and dryers from China to the U.S. in order to avoid having to pay President Trump's tariffs. The company, which has long planned to reshore manufacturing to the U.S., said that high levies on imports from Beijing under Mr. Trump have impelled the household appliance maker to "accelerate the decision-making," Lee Lagomarcino, GE Appliances' vice president of clothes care, told CBS MoneyWatch. "Any time we decide to move a factory or redesign a platform, it's an expensive endeavor, so we have to think through the strategy and trajectory of market," Lagomarcino said. "This was the right time to strike on the business opportunity given the environment with tariffs," he added. GE Appliances on Thursday announced it would invest $490 million in a laundry care manufacturing plant in Kentucky, through which the company would create 800 new American jobs. In a statement last week, GE Appliances President and CEO Kevin Nolan said the reshoring effort "aligns with the current economic and policy environment." Once the plant is fully up and running, the company, a Haier subsidiary, will cease manufacturing in China. "That factory will turn off when the factory in Louisville, Kentucky turns on," said Lagomarcino, adding that he expects the Kentucky plant to be operational by early 2027. What jobs is GE creating in the U.S.? The company is looking to fill research and development, engineering and supply chain positions at the Kentucky plant, openings for which it's already started posting on its careers site. "We anticipate a lot of hiring for some skilled trades, and technically advanced manufacturing roles," Lagomarcino said. "Our research and development team leader will need to hire more engineers, and our supply chain leader will have to hire to fill jobs." Why now? The investment in domestic manufacturing comes as a host of U.S. companies announce plans to reshore operations as they face added costs from Mr. Trump's tariff agenda. But the main force behind the production move to Louisville is GE's "zero distance" philosophy of building appliances where they are sold, the company said in the announcement. "U.S. manufacturing allows us to be closer to the consumer and the team that designs and markets the products and is involved in the whole product development lifecycle," said Lagormarcino. "Philosophically, and from a manufacturing and design standpoint, it makes sense." That said, the move makes even more sense with tariff increases in place, according to Lagormarcino. "With tariffs or without tariffs, we think it's a good long-term strategy. But when you add tariffs, they introduce costs to the situation, and it does accelerate those actions," he said. Saving money vs. saving lives Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Trump budget bill specifics Senate puts taxes on solar and wind energy projects in Trump budget bill Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
CBS News
30-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
GE is reshoring 800 jobs to the U.S. Here's why, according to the company.
GE Appliances is accelerating a plan to move production of its washers and dryers from China to the U.S. in order to avoid having to pay President Trump's tariffs, the company announced on Thursday. In a statement last week, GE Appliances President and CEO Kevin Nolan said the reshoring effort "aligns with the current economic and policy environment." The company, which has long planned to reshore manufacturing to the U.S., said that high levies on imports from Beijing under Mr. Trump have impelled the household appliance maker to "accelerate the decision-making," Lee Lagomarcino, GE Appliances' vice president of clothes care told CBS MoneyWatch. "Any time we decide to move a factory, or redesign a platform, it's an expensive endeavor, so we have to think through the strategy and trajectory of market," Lagomarcino said. "This was the right time to strike on the business opportunity given the environment with tariffs," he added. GE Appliances on Thursday announced it would invest $490 million in a laundry care manufacturing plant in Kentucky, through which the company would create 800 new American jobs. Once the plant is fully up and running, the company, a Haier subsidiary, will cease manufacturing in China. "That factory will turn off when the factory in Louisville, Kentucky turns on," said Lagomarcino, adding that he expects the Kentucky plant to be operational by early 2027. What jobs is GE creating in the U.S.? The company is looking to fill research and development, engineering and supply chain positions at the Kentucky plant, openings for which it's already started posting on its careers site. "We anticipate a lot of hiring for some skilled trades, and technically advanced manufacturing roles," Lagomarcino said. "Our research and development team leader will need to hire more engineers, and our supply chain leader will have to hire to fill jobs." Why now? The investment in domestic manufacturing comes as a host of U.S. companies announce plans to reshore operations as they face added costs from Mr. Trump's tariff agenda. But the main force behind the production move to Louisville is GE's "zero distance" philosophy of building appliances where they are sold, the company said in the announcement. "U.S. manufacturing allows us to be closer to the consumer and the team that designs and markets the products and is involved in the whole product development lifecycle," said Lagormarcino. "Philosophically, and from a manufacturing and design standpoint, it makes sense." That said, the move makes even more sense with tariff increases in place, according to Lagormarcino. "With tariffs or without tariffs, we think it's a good long-term strategy. But when you add tariffs, they introduce costs to the situation, and it does accelerate those actions," he said.
CNN
27-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
Why GE Appliances will make more washing machines in Kentucky instead of China. It's not what you think
Source: CNN Some of President Donald Trump's steepest tariffs are on products like washing machines, and on Thursday, GE Appliances said it would spend a half a billion dollars to make even more of them in the United States. Tariffs, however, weren't the driving factor behind the decision, the company's CEO says, but they did serve as an accelerant. GE Appliances announced it would spend $490 million to move some washing machine production from China and build a high-tech clothes care operation at its massive industrial park and headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, where it already churns out washers and dryers for the US market. The move of more than a dozen front-load washer models comes as US trade policy uncertainty has reached a high-stakes fever pitch as Trump's July 9 tariffs deadline approaches. GE Appliances move that is expected to be complete in 2027 and add 800 jobs, has been in the works for six years — shortly after a new line of front-load washers launched in 2019 — and follows a several-year stretch of high-dollar investments made to bolster the company's US manufacturing footprint, CEO Kevin Nolan told CNN. 'We've had a strategy that making appliances in America makes sense; it's an economic thing, and it's also how we can serve our customers in a better, more efficient way,' Nolan said, adding that GE appliances is 'not a company that was saying, 'Hey, we're going to outsource everything, and oh my God, now we've got to bring it back.'' '[The trade policy] makes the payback for these things much, much greater,' Nolan added. 'And with that, of course it's going to accelerate (plans), because the quicker we can do these things, the quicker we can realize those benefits.' The emergence and threat of tariffs also are influencing future decisions, Nolan said, noting that plans to reshore other components and parts are moving up the pecking order. Earlier this week, an expansion of Trump's 50% tariffs on steel extended to 'derivative products,' including consumer appliances such as dryers, washing machines, refrigerators, ovens and garbage disposals. The US currently has a minimum 30% tariff on Chinese exports; however, it has soared as high as 145% in recent months. 'The current trade policy is the most dynamic thing anyone's ever seen in their business career; I mean, it can change in a day, it can change in a week, it can change in a month,' Nolan said. 'These investments are strategic, and you've got to look at the long term and what makes sense. You can't do these just for trade policies.' The move follows similar reshoring efforts made by GE Appliances in recent years, Nolan said. The company, which has been a subsidiary of China-based Haier Group since 2016, has invested $3.5 billion in its US manufacturing facilities during the past decade, he said. Still, in recent months, the dramatic shifts in US trade policy and the Trump administration's tumultuous tariff rates have loomed large over manufacturers like GE Appliances and its parent company's appliance-making affiliate Haier Smart Home. Earlier this month, Haier Smart Home executives told investors that the company's localized supply chain in North America could help reduce its tariff exposure, according to translated company filings from June 4. Haier also flagged opportunities in 'tariff-driven competitor weakness,' according to the filing. In 2019, GE Appliances wanted to move quickly to market after developing what it believed was an innovation in the clothes care space: Making a less stinky front-load washer. 'To get this washer out fast, we said we're going to tackle building the dryer plant (in Louisville) to make those and we'll share the load and have the washer made in China,' he said. 'We always had a forward-looking view that this thing was going to come back to America, but to get the things in the market quick, we did it that way in China first.' The high-tariff environment 'definitely made the numbers on this look very good; so, we said, 'OK, let's pull this thing in; let's get this thing done now,' because it just makes sense. The engineering work's been going on; there's a reason we can move fast on this,' he said. 'But these tariffs could go away tomorrow, and once we make these decisions, we don't back off. So that's where you've got to make sure it's the right thing to do.' The half-a-billion-dollar investment announced Thursday will bring over more than 15 models of front-load washing machines, including a washer-dryer combo, to the 750-acre, multi-plant Appliance Park, where the company already manufactures top-load washers and clothes dryers. The latest addition — which is expected to heavily feature automation, including robotics, automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots — is expected to bring the company's clothes care production at the site to 33 football fields in size. Still, when it's complete in 2027, the new production lines are expected to result in the addition of 800 full-time jobs to the 8,000-person campus. 'It'll definitely be our flagship plant from a technology standpoint, so a lot of opportunities for upskilling employees,' Nolan said, referring to efforts for employees to learn new skills. 'In order to be able to successfully manufacture in the United States, we have to be efficient.' In recent years GE Appliances has touted a 'zero distance' strategy to be closer to customers from a physical and design standpoint. To that end, the company's 11 US plants include maker spaces and microfactories aimed at innovation and small-batch production. The approach is a far cry from that taken in the 1980s and 1990s, when then-General Electric CEO Jack Welch leaned heavily into outsourcing and offshoring. GE Appliances declined to share specifics as to what percentage of its manufacturing is now domestic versus overseas; however, the intent is to continue the reshoring efforts and expanding US manufacturing operations, Nolan said. Trump, like presidents Obama and Biden before (and after) him, has long stated a desire to revive the US manufacturing industry and sought to wield tariffs to make that happen. However, economists and supply chain efforts have questioned the effectiveness in broad-based tariffs to that approach. Several companies in recent months have announced plans to make investments in US manufacturing in recent months — with the White House taking credit — however, not only were these decisions already longer term in nature, any kind of large-scale rebound in domestic manufacturing will take time, said Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. 'Right now, given all the profound uncertainty about tariffs, folks are not going to take action until some clarity emerges,' he said. Companies that are able to announce or make moves now, he added, likely have existing capacity currently in place. To build a factory from scratch not only would take many months, if not many years, and then companies would run up against another challenge: finding enough skilled workers, he said. About 22% of US plants have cited a lack of labor or labor skills as a key reason for their facilities running below full capacity, Miller said, citing his analysis of recent Census Bureau data. GE Appliances has a waitlist of folks for jobs at its plants, but there's still a huge need for a stronger pipeline of skilled workers, Nolan said. 'That's just a national shortage,' he said. 'When you look at us versus other countries, how many engineers are graduated, we're way underrepresented. And then when you look at out of those engineers who are skilled in the art of manufacturing, it's even worse. That's the thing as a nation we've got to really grapple with.' See Full Web Article
26-06-2025
- Business
GE Appliances moves some production from China to Kentucky with $490M investment
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- GE Appliances announced a nearly half-billion-dollar project Thursday that it says will create 800 new jobs and shift production of clothes washers from China to its massive manufacturing complex in Kentucky. The $490 million investment positions the Kentucky home appliances company to rank as the biggest U.S. manufacturer of washing machines, it said. 'We are bringing laundry production to our global headquarters in Louisville because manufacturing in the U.S. is fundamental to our 'zero-distance' business strategy to make appliances as close as possible to our customers and consumers,' CEO Kevin Nolan said. 'This decision is our most recent product reshoring and aligns with the current economic and policy environment.' The announcement comes as President Donald Trump attempts to lure factories back to the United States by imposing import taxes — tariffs — on foreign goods. He has slapped 10% tariffs on imports from most countries and put 30% levies on Chinese goods. GE Appliances says nearly all the steel used in its U.S. manufacturing for its appliances comes from American steelmakers. GE Appliances said the project will move production of a combo washer/dryer and a lineup of front load washers from China to the Bluegrass State. In all, production of more than 15 models of front load washers will shift to the company's sprawling Louisville production complex — known as Appliance Park, it said. Once the added production is in place, the total area devoted to clothes care production at the Louisville complex will equal 33 football fields, it said. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has criticized Trump's tariffs, hailed the company's deepening commitment to the state. 'Today's announcement brings more appliance manufacturing back to the United States and solidifies Kentucky and Louisville as the global headquarters of GE Appliances,' the governor said. The redesigned factory will become its most advanced manufacturing plant for clothes washing production, the company said, featuring the latest in automation, robotics and material-handling technologies including automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots. The new manufacturing lines will open in 2027, the company said. Next door at the complex's Building 1, the company produces top load washers and front load dryers. GE Appliances handles product design and engineering work at its Louisville headquarters but lacks overall production capacity to make all of its products at its U.S. plants. So it contracts with other manufacturers, including in China, for some of its production. The company said its core business strategy is to base production in the United States, and the investment announced Thursday is another step toward achieving that goal. 'Manufacturing in Louisville puts production closer to our designers, engineers and consumers so that together we can create our most innovative laundry platforms,' said Lee Lagomarcino, vice president of clothes care at GE Appliances. The $490 million infusion into Appliance Park is the latest round of investments in recent years as part of the company's growth strategy. It builds on the company's previous investments of $3.5 billion in U.S. manufacturing in the past decade, with more than one-third of the amount going to Appliance Park. Appliance Park in Louisville employs about 8,000 workers and is home to five plants that produce washers, dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators as well as parts and components. GE Appliances also has manufacturing plants in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Connecticut.
