Another round of layoffs has been announced at the Whirlpool Amana plant as the company says it will soon discontinue all second-shift production.
Second-shift production will end starting July 5, which the company has cast as part of a multi-year modernization plan meant to ensure its Amana operations remain “competitive and viable for the long term.”
An estimated 288 jobs will be affected by the move — which is in addition to the 341 layoffs announced there earlier this year.
Before those layoffs, the Middle Amana facility employed roughly 2,000 workers to assemble refrigeration products under the Amana, JennAir, KitchenAid, Maytag and Whirlpool brands.
“The difficult actions we are taking today are necessary to position the plant for stability and growth,” a company statement reads. “We understand the impact that the continued evolution of the Amana plant has on our employees and the community, and we are committed to supporting affected employees through this transition.”
Calls to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents union workers at the plant, were not immediately returned Friday.
Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer last year said the company is working to transform the Amana facility by shifting some of its operations toward warehousing, parts production and subassembly work while continuing refrigerator manufacturing.
He attributed the change to a difficult market environment caused in part by a slow housing market and increased competition from foreign manufacturers that necessitated changes to domestic operations.
The layoffs, posted Thursday on the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act website, are the largest layoff announcement made in Iowa so far in 2026. The second largest reduction was from UnityPoint Health, which next month will eliminate 203 IT and revenue cycle jobs statewide.
www.thegazette.com
Second-shift production will end starting July 5, which the company has cast as part of a multi-year modernization plan meant to ensure its Amana operations remain “competitive and viable for the long term.”
An estimated 288 jobs will be affected by the move — which is in addition to the 341 layoffs announced there earlier this year.
Before those layoffs, the Middle Amana facility employed roughly 2,000 workers to assemble refrigeration products under the Amana, JennAir, KitchenAid, Maytag and Whirlpool brands.
“The difficult actions we are taking today are necessary to position the plant for stability and growth,” a company statement reads. “We understand the impact that the continued evolution of the Amana plant has on our employees and the community, and we are committed to supporting affected employees through this transition.”
Calls to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents union workers at the plant, were not immediately returned Friday.
Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer last year said the company is working to transform the Amana facility by shifting some of its operations toward warehousing, parts production and subassembly work while continuing refrigerator manufacturing.
He attributed the change to a difficult market environment caused in part by a slow housing market and increased competition from foreign manufacturers that necessitated changes to domestic operations.
The layoffs, posted Thursday on the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act website, are the largest layoff announcement made in Iowa so far in 2026. The second largest reduction was from UnityPoint Health, which next month will eliminate 203 IT and revenue cycle jobs statewide.
Whirlpool to lay off hundreds more in Amana, citing ‘modernization’
The layoffs are related to the reduction of all second-shift production that will occur in July.
