WASHINGTON and OTTAWA, Ontario-Steve Caldow, senior product manager of Miele Limited, has been named chairman of the Canada Council of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.

As chairman, Caldow also serves as voting member of AHAM’s board of directors. AHAM has opened its Canada Council to provide representation for U.S. and Canadian home appliance manufacturers with the federal and provincial governments in Canada, and to work closely with technical bodies that affect the industry north of the border.

Buying group Mega Group USA unveiled a Whirlpool Appliance Gallery at the Las Vegas Furniture Market.

This new gallery format gives furniture dealers the power to become a complete home furnishings resource to their customers, said Missy Hodges, Mega Group USA’s appliance manager. “Similar to a gallery concept for furniture, it’s a store within a store. It will bring customers into the stores more often.”

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.–LG Electronics has reset its U.S. organization with the appointments of Wayne Park as president of LG Electronics USA and Sam Kim as head of the U.S. division’s home-appliances business unit.

Both executives are long-standing veterans with LG. Park, whose LG career spans 28 years, had been head of LG Electronics North America since January. He succeeds James Shad, who is leaving the U.S. organization this month. Also since January, Kim—whose LG career began in 1988—had been North American regional business leader for refrigerators.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.—Whirlpool has introduced a rebate finder tool on three of its brand Web sites—Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid.

CLEVELAND–Electrolux has chosen Charlotte, N.C., for its new North American headquarters location, and will move a number of its U.S. corporate office operations to that city beginning next summer.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has appointed William D. Perez, former president of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., to its board of directors.
Perez began his career at S.C. Johnson in 1970, and served as that company’s president and chief executive officer from 1996 to 2004. From 2004 to 2006, he served as president and CEO of Nike, and from 2006 to 2008 he was president and CEO of Wrigley. In 2008, Wrigley was acquired by Mars. Inc.
Currently, Perez also serves as a director on the boards of both Johnson & Johnson and Campbell Soup Co.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has been selected to receive stimulus funds as part of the Smart Grid Investment Grant program of the U.S. Department of Energy.

WASHINGTON–Representatives of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers are accompanying a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission delegation to the third biennial United States-China Consumer Product Safety Summit.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool said it will produce 1 million Smart Energy clothes dryers by the end of 2011, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Grant program.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has been designated for the 2009-2010 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, an international stock portfolio that evaluates corporate performance using economic, environmental and social criteria.
This marks the fifth year in a row that the appliances giant has made this index. A company statement said Whirlpool has given back to the communities in which it operates since its founding in 1911. Nearly 40 years ago, the company established a corporate office for environmental control.

NEW YORK–Purchases of energy-efficient home appliances will rise at a compound annual rate of 13 percent over the next five years, thanks to U.S. government funding for energy-efficient home renovations, according to a new study from Specialists in Business Information (SBI).

ATLANTA–Whirlpool is joining forces with Habitat for Humanity for its fourth annual Whirlpool Building Blocks program, which will construct homes for eight families in this area.

DIAMOND BAR, Calif.-Dacor has reached a multi-year agreement with GE Money to provide consumer financing on the purchase of eligible Dacor appliances.
The new program will be available at participating Dacor dealers nationwide beginning on Aug. 1. It provides consumers with a variety of financing options when they buy an eligible Dacor appliance using their GE Money credit card.

INDIANAPOLIS–Two hhgregg stores have opened in the North Carolina communities of Asheville and Wilmington.
With the new locations, the retailer now has 16 stores in North Carolina and 113 overall. Hhgregg will conduct a grand-opening sale in the new stores of its televisions, home appliances and mattresses from today through July 25.
Aside from North Carolina, hhgregg has locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has opened a joint-venture facility with Hisense Kelon that will manufacture refrigerators and washing machines in China.

WASHINGTON–The U.S. Department of Energy has released program guidelines and funding for the Energy Efficient Appliance Consumer Rebate Program.

FRESNO, Calif.–Bankrupt department store chain Gottschalks is reportedly in talks with three potential bidders that could help the retailer avoid liquidation, according to a Bloomberg report.
Golden Gate Capital Corp., GK Development Inc. and El Corte Ingles, Spain’s biggest merchant, reportedly signed confidentiality agreements allowing them to view Gottschalks’ financial records, said Bloomberg.

CLEVELAND–Retail sales of appliances in the United States dropped significantly in February, according to a survey conducted by Longbow Research.
Based on responses by appliance retailers to the survey, Longbow said sales fell in the “mid-teens” in percentage year over year. The company also cited figures from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which cited a 13.9 percent drop-off in wholesale appliance volumes for February.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has been designated for the 2009 Energy Star Sustained Excellence award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The award recognizes the company’s leadership in offering energy and water efficiency in its appliance brands. It marks Whirlpool’s 10th Energy Star award and its fourth Sustained Excellence award.

NEW YORK—For the fifth consecutive year, Haier sponsored the Haier Shooting Stars competition during the National Basketball Association’s All-Star Game weekend.
The competition this year was won by Team Detroit, which consisted of the Detroit Pistons’ Aaron Afflalo; Bill Laimbeer, former Pistons player and now head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock; and Katie Smith of the Shock. Team Detroit took this year’s title over teams from Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Antonio.

DIAMOND BAR, Calif.–Dacor has unveiled a new promotion for consumers who are considering remodeling their kitchens.
The promotion offers free products and cash-back rebates on the purchase of qualifying products including Dacor Energy Star-qualified refrigerators, convection ovens and warming drawers. Selected gas and electric cooktops are also included.
The promotion runs through April 30.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Fourth-quarter net income for Whirlpool plummeted 76.5 percent to $44 million.
The bottom line for the appliances giant felt the impact of a 19 percent dive in fourth-quarter sales, to $4.3 billion; $77 million in restructuring costs, compared with $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2007; and a product-recall expense of $32 million. These offset a 14.4 percent reduction in costs of goods sold, and a 21.7 percent decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses.

CLEVELAND–A majority of North American and European retailers responding to a Longbow Research survey said their appliance sales fell in December.

FAIRFIELD, Conn.–Citing poor economic conditions, General Electric said yesterday that it is delaying plans to sell or spinoff its major appliances and lighting division.
GE officials said that the strategy was correct, but that it is the wrong time. The company did not predict when it might be the right time.
The company announced in May that it was exploring options for its major appliances, lighting and related businesses.

WASHINGTON–Joseph McGuire, president of the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers, has been elected to the board of directors of the American National Standards Institute.
McGuire will begin his three-year term on the ANSI board on Jan. 1. The institute is a private, non-profit organization that oversees the creation and use of standards and guidelines for a variety of industries. AHAM is a standards development organization accredited by ANSI and maintains 19 performance standards, most of which are also accredited by ANSI, according to an AHAM statement.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool will cut its global work force by about 5,000 by the end of 2009 as the company struggles with declining profits and rising costs.
The appliance giant’s third-quarter net income fell 7 percent to $163 million, driven by reduced unit sales throughout the world and higher raw-materials and oil-related costs. Global dollar sales actually increased 0.1 percent to $4.9 billion due to a rise in average selling prices. In North America, however, third-quarter sales took a 7 percent dive to $2.7 billion as shipments dropped 11 percent.

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio–North American sales of major appliances in September were down in the mid- to high-teen percentages, according to a new report from Longbow Research.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool will close its Oxford, Miss., and Puebla, Mexico, manufacturing facilities in its drive for greater efficiencies in manufacturing.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–David Szczupak has been appointed executive vice president of the Global Product Organization for Whirlpool.
The move puts Szczupak in charge of the company’s global product businesses and strategic sourcing. He reports directly to Jeff Fettig, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, and succeeds Mike Thieneman, who has retired.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–Whirlpool has been designated one of the world’s most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute, and one of the top 25 most respected companies by the Reputation Institute.
The Ethisphere Institute, a think tank dedicated to the promotion of best practices in government and business, named Whirlpool to its second annual ethical-companies list. The institute conducted a multistep evaluation of Whirlpool’s ethical practices, activities geared toward improving corporate citizenship and litigation and regulatory-compliance record.

WASHINGTON–Energy consumption by major appliances has decreased dramatically since 2000, according to a study of new-product shipments by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.

LOS ANGELES–Online shoppers today are notably more likely to purchase big-ticket home items, including furniture and major appliances, directly from a Web site than they were two years ago.
A study by PriceGrabber, a Web-based comparison-shopping service, found that “unease with online merchants’ customer service and the fear of making large online purchases have all decreased” since a similar survey was taken in 2006.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.–First-quarter net income from continuing operations for Whirlpool, the parent company of the KitchenAid brand off small kitchen electrics, fell 20 percent to $94 million.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.–Unit sales of black refrigerators, washing machines, clothes dryers and ranges all picked up in 2007, according to research by The NPD Group.
According to the research firm’s data, unit sales of black washing machines jumped 113 percent last year versus 2006, and sales of black clothes dryers rose 59 percent. Sales of black ranges increased 19 percent, and black refrigerators registered a 13 percent unit sales gain.

ORLANDO, Fla.–As the nation’s housing meltdown intensifies, architects are reporting a declining demand for recently popular high end features such as towel-warming drawers, double-sink vanities, and whirlpool baths.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.–Seven months after founder Peter Battersby bought housewares company Typhoon back from Mark Holden, Battersby has sold the U.S. division to Simon Kirby and Peter Carter, both formerly of Vacu Vin. The new company, called Typhoon Plus, will remain with its corporate offices here, though its warehouse will move to Haywood, Calif., starting in mid-January. In addition, typhoonus.com will become typhoonplus.com and be an information-only site, which will soon be remodeled.

RICHFIELD, Minn.–Best Buy logged double-digit sales and earnings gains for the third quarter ended Dec. 1, despite a volume decline in major appliances.
The retailer's total revenue for the quarter increased 17 percent to $9.9 billion from the year-ago period on a 6.7 percent same-store sales gain. This helped to drive a 52 percent net income gain to $228 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, from $150 million, or 31 cents per diluted share, for the same period last year.