{"id":46577,"date":"2021-07-23T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/?p=46577"},"modified":"2024-04-01T13:48:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T17:48:37","slug":"your-energy-efficient-water-saving-washing-machine-built-by-david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/your-energy-efficient-water-saving-washing-machine-built-by-david\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Energy Efficient, Water-Saving Washing Machine, Built by David"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know your Samsung washing machine may have come from a state-of-the-art facility tucked in the scenic Midlands of South Carolina?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right. In 2017, Samsung Electronics Home Appliances America (SEHA) opened its doors in Newberry, South Carolina. In the last four years, SEHA, which is Samsung\u2019s first U.S.-based home appliance manufacturing facility, has assembled well over a million washing machines in a 1.5 million square foot building that houses more than 1,200 employees, many of which are local to Newberry County or the immediate surrounding area. SEHA has not only grown exponentially, but it has also become an important part of the Newberry community and a hub for manufacturing innovation.<\/p>\n

We recently sat down with David Crumley, Customer Satisfaction Group Leader from SEHA, to learn more about the manufacturing process \u2013 and the people behind it \u2013 of Samsung\u2019s energy-efficient washing machines.<\/p>\n

Q: David, as someone who builds washing machines, can you please explain how they work? How does my washing machine actually clean my clothes?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Of course. There are four main factors that go into cleaning your clothes. There’s time<\/strong>, temperature<\/strong>, mechanical force<\/strong>, and detergent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To explain this simply, let\u2019s use a smartphone as an example. I think everybody in the world has a smartphone now. Almost every washing machine is controlled by similar electronics.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say time is one of your key factors in cleaning clothes. Well, if I put in 20 items of clothing versus two items, I need more time to be able to make sure that the clothes are clean. Depending on the capacity of the load, our washing machines will weigh themselves to calibrate and see how many minutes they need to get the clothes clean. Our new machines even have a special feature called OptiWash that not only weighs your clothes and determines cycle time, but also leverages a unique-to-Samsung turbidity sensor to determine the ideal amount of water and detergent to use in the cycle. It\u2019s the best way to get your clothes clean.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Our new machines even have a special feature called OptiWash* that not only weighs your clothes and determines cycle time, but also leverages a unique-to-Samsung turbidity sensor to determine the ideal amount of water and detergent to use in the cycle. It\u2019s the best way to get your clothes clean.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>

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Q: How cool is that! A \u201csmart\u201d washing machine.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s amazing. You know, everyone says that their phone is a \u201csmart\u201d phone. You don’t hear people going around saying this is my \u201csmart\u201d washing machine. But that\u2019s what it is.<\/p>\n

Q: That also means so much less water and energy used, right?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Absolutely. For customers, when you start talking about energy efficiency, power consumption, amount of water saved – that\u2019s all great, especially because these are also all the things that customers have to pay for. Everybody has to pay an electric bill. Everybody pays a water bill. The more sustainable that we can make each machine, the more we\u2019re also saving the customers on their bills, which immediately matters to them. These are all things that we look at and consider when we’re designing new products.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Q: What does your washing machine production line look like?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

We have two main production lines. We build both the top load washing machines and the front load washing machines here in Newberry, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

One production line is set up for nothing but front load washing machines. That line produces several different models. You should know that it’s not like \u201ctoday we build this model, and tomorrow we build a different model.\u201d We can go through multiple model changes a day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One day, we might be building one model, and let\u2019s say it\u2019s the white color version, and then all of a sudden, we switch to our champagne color, and then we switch to the black color version.<\/p>\n

It’s very interesting to see how quickly we can change from model to model, and produce that day’s production demand.<\/p>\n

And on our top load production line, it\u2019s the same thing. We’ve got several different models, different colors. Every day we just do model changeovers and we produce what the market has requested.<\/p>\n

Q: Impressive. Is it fun constantly seeing new improvements with each new model?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

We’re always comparing the previous model to the new model, and doing verifications to see how much the new design has improved. We analyze the data to be able to say, \u201cWell, we have not only reduced our power consumption, but now we’ve also reduced our vibration in the material, and reduced our noise level.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s amazing how you can achieve this through such small changes. A lot of people think, and I was one of them once, that to be able to make that much improvement, we’ve got to really make a drastic design change. But with home appliances, you can make a minor change and be able to get results like that.<\/p>\n

\"Newberry-Plant-3\"<\/p>\n

Q: Constant innovation. Have you ever encountered one of your washers out in the real world?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

All the time. Sometimes I\u2019ll walk into a hardware store to grab something quick for the house and I’ll always take a second to walk through the home appliance section. When you look at the line up of those machines, you\u2019ll see ours that we assembled right here in Newberry.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, about seven months ago I was walking through a hardware store and there was a lady standing there looking at one of our top load washing machines. I asked her, \u201cdo you know where that washing machine came from?\u201d And she said \u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u201d and I said, \u201cIt came from Newberry, one county over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Samsung<\/p>\n

Q: Can you please paint a picture for us of life in Newberry, South Carolina?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

If you like small towns, it’s really nice.<\/p>\n

We’ve got about 10-12,000 people, so it\u2019s a very small, rural county. South Carolina is a small state, but we do actually have a whole lot of farming.<\/p>\n

There is so much potential in Newberry. Not only as a rural county with rolling hills, forests and pasture, but also as a vibrant small-town hub for business. This is a place where companies set up their operations and find a lot of hardworking, dedicated people, who love their community.<\/p>\n

Q: Sounds like a beautiful place for Samsung\u2019s Home Appliance Manufacturing Plant. How exactly would you describe your job?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I\u2019m in the CS group here at Samsung. CS stands for \u201cCustomer Satisfaction.\u201d I’m responsible for everything \u201cquality\u201d basically – from incoming material that we purchase from our vendors and suppliers, and then all the way to the market. I’m responsible from the beginning to the end.<\/p>\n

I have four different groups that work for me. I\u2019ll give you a brief overview – there\u2019s a lot<\/em> that these folks do.<\/p>\n

One is my Incoming <\/strong>quality group. They’re responsible for incoming inspection – verification of materials, and making sure that the incoming material meets the expectations and the specifications of our product.<\/p>\n

Then there is our Quality Management <\/strong>group. They’re responsible for auditing our manufacturing process. They oversee the calibration of our tooling and equipment. They also verify our processes and procedures, and make sure that they are being followed, and provide corrective and preventative actions throughout the process to improve quality.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\n\t\t\"Laundry\"\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n

Then I also have our Outgoing<\/strong> quality control group, which is responsible for performing final testing of the finished product. They also do verifications and validations around things such as vibration, power consumption, etc. before the product ships to our customers.<\/p>\n

My fourth group is our QA, that’s our Quality Analysis<\/strong> group. They’re also responsible for the validation of our product performance, such as energy efficiency and noise, and validation of design changes. The QA team additionally does transportation testing, to make sure that our products can withstand transportation across the United States.<\/p>\n

On transportation testing – there are a lot of potholes on our roads , and so we test whether or not our product will withstand those types of environments. Also, when you\u2019re transporting your product throughout different regions of the United States, you can get all four seasons in about two to three days. For example in the winter season, in the north, they can have snow, whereas here in the south we can have 50-degree weather. That variation in climate conditions means that we have to verify and make sure that our products can withstand those significant changes within our climate.<\/p>\n

There’s a lot of testing, evaluation, and validation that goes into the products that we are responsible for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

4\/27\/18 Samsung Home Appliance Manufacturing Facility in Newberry, SC. Photos by Renee Ittner McManus with RIMPhotography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Q: You\u2019re interfacing with a lot of different groups there on a day-to-day basis. How would you describe the people you work with in Newberry?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I would say \u201cpowerful.\u201d My team is powerful.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned, Newberry is a very small town. There are not a whole lot of people here. The majority of South Carolina jobs are in manufacturing throughout the state, from automotive to home appliances now. In this small area of South Carolina, there aren\u2019t that many companies that can provide what Samsung has provided. To have a company as big as Samsung in this local area is very empowering for people here in Newberry. To see that our washing machine says \u201cAssembled in the USA\u201d brings out pride in us. We built that.<\/p>\n

It’s also very interesting to see how many different backgrounds that our employees have, the different places and work environments that they come from, and then to see them come together and do this.<\/p>\n

We’ve only been in operation for almost four years now. We\u2019re getting ready to start our fifth year…<\/p>\n

I’m just glad to say that I get to work with every single one of them.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Q: Special people.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Yes. They are. You wouldn’t believe the different levels of knowledge that the people have here.<\/p>\n

For instance, you may be talking with a worker on the assembly line. If you get to know their background, you’d be amazed at what they’ve done, what areas they’ve worked in, and the amount of knowledge that they have.<\/p>\n

This team is so dedicated, professional, and driven.<\/p>\n

Q: Thanks so much for chatting with us, David. Last question – What are you all up to in Newberry when you\u2019re not on the production line? Any time out in nature?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Oh yeah – many people in Newberry enjoy fishing on the lake and ponds, camping, riding four-wheelers, horseback riding\u2026 pretty much anything outdoors, we have it around here. It\u2019s a great place to call home. \u2022<\/p>\n

* Samsung\u2019s \u201cOptiWash\u201d feature is available only on new 8800 Series Smart Dial<\/a><\/em> front load washers and dryers.\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know your Samsung washing machine may have come from a state-of-the-art facility tucked in the scenic Midlands of South Carolina? That\u2019s right. In 2017, Samsung Electronics Home Appliances America (SEHA) opened its doors in Newberry, South Carolina. In the last four years, SEHA, which is Samsung\u2019s first U.S.-based home appliance manufacturing facility, has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29719,29734,29718,17570],"tags":[866,28728,49,30005,50],"blue-badge":[],"class_list":["post-46577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate","category-product-home-appliances","category-product","category-corporate-sustainability","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-home-appliance-manufacturing-facility-seha","tag-home-appliances","tag-samsung-electronics-home-appliances-america-seha","tag-sustainability"],"acf":{"turn_off_retargeting":false},"fimg_mobile_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/20124641\/SamsungPlantCC-274-scaled.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/20124641\/SamsungPlantCC-274-scaled.jpg","primary_category":{"term_id":29719,"name":"Corporate","slug":"corporate","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29719,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1026,"filter":"raw","term_link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/category\/corporate\/","term_path":"corporate"},"badge":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46577"},{"taxonomy":"blue-badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blue-badge?post=46577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}