There are approximately 50 major players in the $120 billion global home appliance industry. The top seven Whirlpool, Electrolux, Haier, BSH Bosch & Siemens Hausgeraete, Panasonic, LG Electronics, and General Electric hold 55% of the global market share. Plastics have assisted in developing the major appliance end uses that include cooking systems (50% of global shipments annually), home laundry (25%), refrigeration (15%), dishwashers (6%), and home energy devices (4%). Roughly 2 billion pounds of plastics annually find their way into appliance applications globally, with both North America and Europe at 750 million pounds each and Asia at 500 million pounds.
Innovation is the life-blood of Whirlpool Corporation's brands. Global Consumer Design is dedicated to developing projects that promote a diversity of ideas, independent thinking and above all, innovation. The appliance industry has become a full-on consumer goods industry. It is more like the electronics industry than the white goods industry of ten to twenty years ago. Rapid prototyping refers to a host of related technologies that are used to fabricate physical objects directly from CAD (computer aided design) data sources. Rapid prototyping processes include stereolithography (SL), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), 3-dimensional printing (3DP), and laminated object manufacturing (LOM). Industrial design is the professional service that creates and develops concepts and specifications to optimize function and value and determine the interaction qualities, form and appearance of manufactured products, packaging and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer, achieving the 'Wow and Cool' or 'The Power of Design.'