HOME > NEWS
> US century-old brand Whirlpool is busy recalling home appliance business contraction or becoming the main cause
US century-old brand Whirlpool is busy recalling home appliance business contraction or becoming the main cause
As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of household appliances, the halo of "whirlpool" has faded in recent years.
High security incidents, frequent quality defects, shrinking global home appliance business, and a 107-year-old US Whirlpool are suffering from a crisis.
It is reported that at present, Whirlpool’s safety accidents caused by product hidden dangers frequently occur. Products recalled by Whirlpool or with quality problems involve several major home appliance business lines.
Safety incidents are highly recalled. Hidden danger products are still on sale.
Recently, the US home appliance giant Whirlpool has received industry attention because of its frequent product quality.
Not long ago, Whirlpool also had a recall incident, mainly involving electric kettles. Health Canada and the consumer divisions in the United States and Mexico, together with Whirlpool Corporation, announced the recall of a KitchenAid 1.7-litre electric kettle with a metal body and a plastic handle.
It is said that the problematic electric kettle handle has a chance to loosen, causing hot water to overflow and posing a risk of burns. It is reported that Whirlpool has received nearly 100 cases of this electric kettle handle falling off in Canada and the United States, four people suffered minor burns.
At present, Whirlpool is carrying out a recall of this kettle with safety hazards. Whirlpool claims that due to the quality problems of the product, there are potential safety risks to users, so 310,000 hot water bottles are recalled worldwide. These products were manufactured between January 2013 and June 2017, and in Europe. , Middle East and Africa sales.
KitchenAid is a Whirlpool brand that covers hot water bottles, blenders, juicers and more. "Securities Daily" reporter found that its product positioning is high-end, the price is high, in the mainstream mall, its food machine can sell for five or six thousand yuan, the kettle is basically a thousand dollars to start.
Although Whirlpool said that the recall was mainly for products sold in Europe and other places, the incident has also caused great impact in China.
A KitchenAid agent told reporters: "After the recall of the KitchenAid hot water was revealed, the hot water bottle has been difficult to sell. From January to now, only a few have been sold on Tmall."
The reporter called the KitchenAid’s maintenance hotline. An after-sales person said: "At present, all the kettles in the company are not repaired. If the kettle has problems during the warranty period, it can be replaced, but if the warranty period is exceeded, the consumer can make a depreciation."
"Securities Daily" reporter learned that there are only three types of kettles sold by KitchenAid at present, and the main 1722 series electric kettles are the products that have been recalled due to problems. At present, this series of products are sold in major online malls such as Tmall and Jingdong and some offline stores.
In this regard, the explanation given by KitchenAid customer service staff is: “The products recalled by Whirlpool were limited to one batch, and the same type of kettle currently sold in the Chinese market has been optimized. The screws that were easy to loose have been processed. The safety hazard has been reduced."
It is worth noting that although Whirlpool had previously announced the recall of the kettle, it did not clearly indicate that it would also implement a recall in China. However, the reporter found that KitchenAid issued a safety notice on the Tmall official website flagship store: the recent quality survey shows that the batch of 1.7 electric kettle from October 2016 to June 2017 (manufacturing time) has potential safety hazards. I am actively recalling. At the same time, it posted an English version of the product recall notice on the official website. In other words, Whirlpool also recalled defective products in China.
The above-mentioned customer service staff said that if the hot water bottle purchased by the consumer has a safety hazard, it needs to be sent overseas for processing. Some consumers responded: "This kind of treatment, one after another, increases the time cost and brings great inconvenience to Chinese consumers."
As a company that entered the “100-year-old” industry earlier, Whirlpool has achieved impressive results in the global market and once ranked among the top four in the world. However, in recent years, the quality of its products has been highly problematic and has been widely criticized in the industry.
Three years ago, Whirlpool recalled 442 food waste disposers because of fire hazards. In August 2016, Whirlpool recalled 15,200 microwave ovens due to fire hazards. In the same year, the British Consumer Protection Organization said that Whirlpool produced 58,000 Proline and Swan tumble dryers (also known as dryers) are at risk of fire; in 2017, the Guangdong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce had checked and determined that the two refrigerators of Whirlpool were unqualified. According to another report, when a woman in the United States washes clothes at home, the Whirlpool washing machine suddenly explodes; in 2017, she lost 71 lives in the London Glenfield Tower fire. The fire point is a faulty Whirlpool refrigerator...
An industry expert interviewed the reporter in an interview: "Hirth’s business philosophy is to be a household appliance brand trusted by thousands of families around the world, and its product safety story is high, the after-sales system is so imperfect, and how can consumers trust it?"
Hong Shibin, a marketing expert in the home appliance industry, said: "The frequent recall of Whirlpool in the United States is a prelude to the decline of the brand. Product quality is the key to success or failure of the company. We see that the quality problem lies above, and the enterprise value chain is below. Challenges, such as sales encounter bottlenecks, profit challenges, will lead to more challenging production and manufacturing, which is a chain reaction."
Global business shrinks, forced strategic adjustment
The frequent recalls are related to Whirlpool’s strategic adjustments in recent years.
Founded in 1911 and headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Whirlpool is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of large household appliances.
Founded in 107 years, Whirlpool has many legends that lead the times. In 1911, Whirlpool’s predecessor, Upton, invented the world’s first electric washing machine; in 1947 Whirlpool developed the world’s first fully automatic washing machine - a mixing washing machine, which confirmed its presence in white electricity. The special status of the field; in 1949, Whirlpool invented the world’s first open-door refrigerator.
It even customized the world’s first space kitchen for the Apollo 11 moon landing program. And in 2001, it won the first place in the world for white goods for the first time with $10.5 billion in annual sales. Whirlpool is known as the “White Power Giant” in the industry. After decades of development and expansion, it has been involved in 9 major home appliances series. Its brands include many famous international brands such as Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid and Amana. At peak time, its full-time employees Nearly 100,000 people.
recommend