Electrolux to Close Anderson Facility in July after Merger

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Editor’s note: This is a breaking story and will be updated today.

Electrolux Group will phase out refrigerator production in Anderson in July leaving its 1,200 employees without a job, at least for now. The plant will then be retooled to produce fabric care appliances, with new production expected to begin in the first half of 2027.

The company announced Thursday a sweeping new partnership with China-based Midea Group that will significantly reshape operations at its Anderson manufacturing plant, bringing a mix of job losses in the short term and new hiring over the next two years.

The agreement creates a long-term strategic alliance between the two global appliance makers, including a joint venture that will convert Electrolux’s Anderson facility from refrigerator production to a laundry manufacturing hub.

The shift is expected to impact workers this year, as the company anticipates restructuring tied to the transition. Electrolux said the broader partnership will affect about 1,500 employees across North America in 2026, mostly in Anderson, and primarily through severance-related cuts.

However, the company says the announcement also signals a longer-term investment in Anderson. The new joint venture — majority-owned by Electrolux — is expected to hire up to 1,200 employees here between 2027 and 2028 as the facility ramps up its new operations.

“We've been working with Electrolux and others for some time to try to prevent the plant from closing,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns, “Now that they have received approval from the federal government, they will now merge 55 percent Electrolux, 45 percent Medea.”

Burns confirmed the plant will close for approximately six months starting in July.

“Those people who are laid off will receive a severance package,” said Burns. “At the end of retooling, going from refrigeration to washers, dryers and home appliances, the people who wish to return will be hired back and it will be approximately the same 1,200 jobs.”

Burns said such announcements highlight the need for the county to be constantly recruiting new business and industry to Anderson County.

“This is the very reason why we continue to recruit new industries because you never know when something like this will happen,” said Burns. “The minute that you stop, you have an event like this. And to us, these are not 1,200 jobs, these are at least 1,200 people with families and children and responsibilities. It is not some abstract number, it is people that we're dealing with.”

Burns said there are current job opportunities around the county, and the state and county will be working to help those impacted by the closing, and, if they so desire, to find new employment.

Electrolux has been in Anderson County for nearly four decades and has become one of the area’s biggest manufacturing employers. The company first expanded into Anderson in 1988, and over time the plant grew into a major refrigeration operation with thousands of jobs and repeated reinvestment.

Electrolux’s Anderson facility at 101 Masters Blvd. has been described as one of the cornerstones of the local industrial base, with the plant producing refrigerators and freezers for North America. By 2014, the company was already investing additional millions into the site, and state officials said Electrolux had been in South Carolina for 25 years at that point.

The biggest recent growth came in 2017, when state officials announced a more than $200 million expansion in Anderson County that added manufacturing and warehousing capacity. That expansion was later tied to a larger $250 million investment to modernize and enlarge the Anderson plant, including an 800,000-square-foot addition. The plant has also served as a major R&D and engineering center, with a local team working on refrigeration design and product development.

The latest Electrolux-Midea partnership marks a major shift for Anderson because the current refrigeration work there is expected to be phased out by July 2026 and converted into fabric care production beginning in 2027. The company emphasized the new operation could eventually add up to 1,200 jobs gradually in 2027 and 2028, but the transition also brings restructuring costs and short-term disruption.

“This is a major transformation of our North American business,” Electrolux CEO Yannick Fierling said in a statement, calling the partnership a step toward “accelerating profitable growth” and expanding innovation.

The Anderson plant will be jointly operated by Electrolux, which will hold a 55 percent stake, and Midea, which will hold 45 percent. The partnership is set to last at least 15 years.

For Anderson, the announcement signals both disruption and reinvestment. The phaseout of refrigerator manufacturing marks the end of the plant’s current production line, while the pivot to laundry appliances aligns the facility with a growing segment of the home appliance market.

The company plans to invest heavily in the transition, including new equipment and production platforms. Globally, Electrolux expects to spend the equivalent of about $100 million over the next three years to support the Anderson conversion and related projects.

Local economic leaders have long viewed the Electrolux plant as a cornerstone of Anderson County’s manufacturing base. The coming changes will likely raise concerns about near-term job losses while offering cautious optimism about the promised hiring wave beginning in 2027.

The partnership itself builds on a more than 20-year relationship between Electrolux and Midea and is designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and expand product offerings across North America.

Electrolux said the agreement will not change its overall financial outlook for 2026, though it expects to report significant one-time restructuring costs tied in part to the Anderson transition.

The joint venture is scheduled to take effect in the third quarter of 2026.

In a release from Electrolux, the move is positioned as “one of our three joint ventures, the Anderson site will be transformed into a laundry facility, creating 1,200 skilled manufacturing jobs and indirectly creating 1,800 additional jobs in the community, contributing nearly $3 billion in economic benefits for the state of South Carolina.”