Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States.

[2] In 2023, the Fortune 500 company had an annual revenue of approximately $19 billion in sales, around 59,000 employees, and more than 55 manufacturing and technology research centers globally.

To better compete with more diversified manufacturers, in 1955 Whirlpool acquired Seeger Refrigerator Company and RCA's air conditioner and cooking range lines.

The purchase made Whirlpool the world's largest manufacturer of major appliances, with annual sales of approximately $6 billion.

This expanded the company's portfolio on the Indian subcontinent to include washing machines, refrigerators, microwave ovens, and air conditioners.

It also closed plants in Newton, Iowa, Searcy, Arkansas, and Herrin, Illinois, resulting in the loss of 4,500 jobs in the affected communities.

[citation needed] In 2009, Whirlpool acquired WC Woods from bankruptcy[21] and closed the company's Evansville, Indiana plant.

[26] In August 2013, Whirlpool announced it would acquire a 51% majority stake in China's Hefei Royalstar Sanyo (a joint venture between Japan's Sanyo Electric Co, now a unit of Panasonic Corp, and Hefei State-Owned Assets Holding Company Ltd, the investment arm of the local state government) for $552 million and give the company leverage to expand in the Chinese appliance market.

[29] In January 2017, Whirlpool announced that it would cut about 500 jobs from its Europe, Middle East, and Africa dryer manufacturing units by 2018.

This decision provides the closure of the plant in Amiens, France,[30] which became an issue in the 2017 French presidential election, with both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron visiting the workers on strike before the second round.

The merger is expected to create value for European consumers by combining the companies' manufacturing expertise, distribution networks, and product pipelines.

[38] In 1962, the company's research laboratories won a contract from NASA to develop the food and waste management system for Project Gemini.

[45] Returning to work with NASA under the Johnson Space Center's Advanced Exploration Systems Logistics Reduction and Repurposing project in 2021, Whirlpool developed a zero-gravity refrigerator in partnership with Purdue University and Air Squared to investigate long term food storage for deep space exploration.

[46] According to The Guardian newspaper the Whirlpool Corporation was mired in controversy in the UK for its decision not to recall faulty items that have caused deadly fires.

Coroner Dave Lewis ruled that the cause of the fire was “on the balance of probabilities” an electrical fault with the door switch on the dryer.

He described the evidence presented at the inquest by Whirlpool as “defensive and dismissive” and stated the company's approach was an “obstacle” to finding steps to prevent future fires.

[48] Safety warnings about tumble dryers published on the Indesit and Hotpoint websites in 2015 advised customers that “In some rare cases, excess fluff can come into contact with the heating element and present a risk of fire.”[49] Condensers and vented tumble dryers sold under the brands Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline and manufactured over an 11-year period between April 2004 and September 2015 present a fire risk.

[53] Parliament discussed widespread difficulties with getting faulty machines fixed or replaced, including long wait times and poor service.

[58][52][59] The London Fire Brigade commented that they get called out to a fire started by faulty domestic appliances nearly once every day and issued a five-point notice concerning Whirlpool's advice on faulty appliances: In September 2016, Andy Slaughter, the MP for Hammersmith whose constituency includes Shepherd's Bush said the government had failed to stand up to the “powerful industry lobby” representing white goods manufacturers.

[60] He was reported to have urged ministers to instruct Whirlpool and other companies to change their advice to customers, and insisted that faulty appliances that may cause fires be recalled and replaced.

Thankfully there were no serious injuries in the Shepherd’s Bush fire but we may not be so lucky if it happens again.”[61] In October 2016, Margot James, the government's consumer minister, said: “Customer safety must be the number one priority for manufacturers.

I acknowledge that Whirlpool are making great efforts to modify and replace at-risk machines, but I believe additional action is required to reassure customers and the public.

I will be writing to the company to set out my concerns and expectations.”[61] In December 2016, the UK's largest customer advocacy group, Which?, who had previously produced a list of the 113 models of tumble dryer at risk, took the unusual step to seeking a judicial review of Peterborough Trading Standards - the agency named as responsible for handling of the faulty tumble dryers sold by Whirlpool - labelling the handling as a “fiasco” and claiming that it has failed millions of consumers across the UK by not enforcing product safety laws.

had made a formal legal move involving trading standards "in order to assess the lawfulness of its decision to allow householders to continue to use faulty machines, despite the risk of them bursting into flames".

[63] Leon Livermore, Chief Executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute was critical of Whirlpool not recalling faulty tumble dryers, urging "Whirlpool to recall the millions of potentially faulty tumble dryers in people's homes", but came to the defence of Peterborough Trading Standards, saying, "The whole system has been overwhelmed by the size of this, and it’s a bit unfair on a local authority such as Peterborough to have to take responsibility for what is a national issue.”[64][65] In response to the criticism, a council spokesman said: “An independent review, which began earlier this month, is currently taking place and we would expect the company to fully comply with the outcome.

Whirlpool was also required to publicise the changed advice to consumers through advertisements in national newspapers, through social media and in stores.

[66] On Wednesday 25 April 2018, BBC One television consumer show Watchdog broadcast further allegations regarding Whirlpool's safety recall of tumble dryers.