Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JULY 2020 50 Alan Wolf Appliance Trends A ppliance manufacturers have spent the spring and early summer contending with intermittent plant closures due to sporadic outbreaks of coronavirus. The shutdowns, which affected factories in the U.S. and Mexico, prompted vendors to thoroughly cleanse their manufacturing facilities and retrofit them with acrylic barriers, sanitation stations and wider spacing on production lines. While the safety protocols protected employees, they led to supply chain delays that left retailers scrambling for inventory. The most impacted categories continue to be freezers and refrigerators – consumers snapped them up at the height of the pandemic, as they stockpiled groceries as a hedge against food shortages and limited trips to the supermarket. Closures included Whirlpool's dishwasher plant in Findlay, OH and its Amana, IA, manufacturing facility that assembles French door, bottom freezer and built-in refrigeration for the Amana, JennAir, KitchenAid, Maytag and Whirlpool brands. The latter was shut at least twice in spring after workers tested positive for COVID-19. Also halting production was Electrolux, which closed its Frigidaire refrigeration factory in Anderson, SC, at least two times – the second shutdown followed the death of an employee who succumbed to the virus. In a statement to local media, Frigidaire announced, "We began taking safety actions [in] early-March and have taken many more since then including closing the campus, professionally fogging and disinfecting the full campus numerous times, [and] spacing out the production line and cafeteria. We have added outdoor cafeteria seating, new protective personal equipment such as facemasks, and Plexiglas safety barriers between workstations. Social distancing is mandatory." Plant closings were particularly common in April, when Samsung ordered an extended shutdown of its laundry facility in Newberry County, SC; LG Electronics suspended operations for two weeks at its massive washer assembly plant in Clarksville, TN; and BSH Home Appliances shut its U.S. factories in New Bern, NC, and LaFollette, TN, for about three weeks. In a letter to trade partners, BSH CEO Christofer von Nagel said the action was taken to mitigate the spread of coronavirus under federal, state and local guidelines. Similarly, GE Appliances voluntarily stopped or limited operations for two weeks at its factories in four states, including laundry lines in Louisville, KY; Roper production in Lafayette, GA; and Monogram manufacturing in Selmer, TN. It used the downtime to implement such safety measures as no-touch temperature screenings; spacing workers apart by six feet or more on production lines; installing barriers between workstations; and providing hand sanitizers, wipes and other disinfecting supplies throughout its facilities. Alliance Laundry Systems, makers of Speed Queen brand washers and dryers, also suspended production at its Wisconsin factories, albeit due to component shortages. President and Chief Commercial Officer Rick Pyle said the company made the decision in May in response to "supply chain constraints and demand patterns" for its products. Component shortages also led to the temporary shutdown of a Whirlpool manufacturing plant in Ramos, Mexico that assembles side- by-side refrigerators for the company's full brand family. David Cichocki, Whirlpool's V.P. of U.S. sales, attributed the late-April closure to "a recent parts supply issue." Also south of the border, Electrolux's manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico, was closed due to restrictions imposed by the government after Mexico declared a national public health emergency. According to AVB Merchandising Vice President Chad Evans, the plant produces Electrolux laundry products and side-by-side, French door, and top- and bottom-mount refrigerators under the Frigidaire badge. Although the facility reopened ahead of schedule, the action put additional supply pressure on GE, Whirlpool and other brands, he said. More problematic, Evans noted, was the closure of Mexican factories that manufacture and assemble wire harnesses (a key appliance component) that impacted a wide swath of the industry. While vendors expect the pipelines to reopen this month, Evans anticipates inventory tightness to continue through the summer, particularly in refrigeration and opening price-point top-load laundry. To manage the shortages, he advises dealers to "Focus on the manufacturers' promotional road maps; those products on promo are the products that vendors feel will be available." He also urges dealers to work closely with their vendor/distributor reps to secure product, and to "Keep a close eye on local RDC inventory, as products can become available and be gone very quickly." He added, "In categories that are constrained (like refrigeration), get what you can get wherever you can to fulfill your needs." Alan Wolf, Senior Communications Specialist AVB/BrandSource RO APPLIANCE VENDORS NAVIGATE THROUGH ROUGH WATERS The appliance market has been buffeted by COVID-related factory closures that have left product in short supply

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