Washers/Dryers and Dishwashers in BRAZIL

After reading the comment in yellow bold italic below at RACHEL'S RANTINGS IN RIO, I decided to educate myself on the subject of Washers/Dryers and Dishwashers in Brazil.
This information will definitely be useful to me once we are getting ready to move back to Brazil, so I decided to share my findings with you.
Keep in mind every appliance sold in Brazil is MADE IN BRAZIL, which makes them a little bit more expensive than your American counter parts for obvious reasons. Most appliances sold in the United States today are indeed cheaper, but they are MADE IN CHINA and contribute very little to the job situation in the US.
It doesn't bother me too much to buy a MADE IN BRAZIL appliance for more money when I know jobs to make this appliances are employing Brazilians and helping improve the economy.
Brazilian workers have many benefits their Chinese competitors don't have, Brazilian workers enjoy several months paid time off when they have babies, both the mother and the father of the new born, They have a 13th salary, "Fundo de Garantia" which is a hefty amount saved by the company for the employee, sort of like a 401 K, Brazilian companies have to pay "Ticket Refeicao" which means a voucher for lunch. Brazilian workers have the right for transportation to and from work paid by their employers.
The benefits are hefty and they add to the absurd amount of taxes charged by the Brazilian government to keep their fat salaries and pensions and other projects that increase the price of appliances made in Brazil.

So, here we go:
The word for DRYER in Portuguese is SECADORA, for WASHER is LAVADORA and for DISHWASHER is LAVALOUCAS.

LG Washer/Dryer combination to be produced in Paulinia-Sao Paulo

GE-Dishwasher-MADE IN BRAZIL

Brazilian Brastemp-Dishwasher

Zoe said...

...Ray, really? I've lived in Sao Paulo for nearly 4 years and my Paulistano husband has lived here since he was born (and we both do pretty well financially) and we only know of one person who has a dryer. And that person (who does happen to be the American wife of a Brazilian) begged for the dryer and then rarely used it because it took 6 hours to dry a few towels. I would like to have a dryer sometimes, but then I remember that I'm being a lot better to the environment by hanging everything up. I'd love a tumble dryer, something I've never seen here. The dryers that work with condensation that I've seen for sale for a small fortune (and that I used to see when I lived in Europe) just don't cut it for me.

This was my reply to Zoe:

Dear Zoe,

Maybe your husband is trying to save some money and is pulling a fast one on you ;)

Visit some appliance stores or just look online, there are all kinds of appliances for all tastes and all budgets too and they are ALL MADE IN BRAZIL, no CHINESE CRAP WILL BE FOUND.
I don't even know where to begin, you really are living in a different reality.

Let me try...
My father was a Quality Control Engineer for a Whirlpool Factory in Sao Paulo in the late 60's all the way into the late 80's when my father changed jobs. That factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo closed and moved to Sorocaba, Sao Paulo interior.
That factory is called Brastemp today! Have you heard about it? Brastemp makes Tumble style Dryer just like the American ones that dry your clothes in about 50 minutes. You can buy several other types of clothes dryer, some more efficient, some less efficient, some expensive, some cheap, there are all kinds of Dryers to choose from. Bosh, Electrolux, Whirlpool, GE, Prosdocimo and Brastemp among others all have appliances factories scared all over Brazil and you can buy Dryers, Washers, Dishwashers, Stoves, Microwaves, Freezer and Refrigerators at stores all around the country.
Some people who live in small apartments in big cities just don't have the space for dishwashers or washers and dryers, but that is not a Brazilian thing. It is a real LUXURY to have a WASHER or a DRYER in your apartment in New York city, Chicago downtown or Boston for that matter, among many other large American cities.
The same thing might happen to Brazil, I don't know if you live in the Dryer twilight zone, that sounded really funny by the way. But please, What are you trying to prove by saying BRAZIL doesn't have WASHERS or DRYERS anywhere? Really?
You can find absolutely everything in Brazil nowadays, you certainly won't pay the same price as things cost in the US because of the simple fact that things you buy in BRAZIL are MADE IN BRAZIL. I just recently found out our Kenmore Dishwasher was MADE IN CHINA!!! That is why appliances here are so affordable.
Countries make choices! The US choose to buy goods MADE IN CHINA and let the AMERICAN factories and JOBS go to Hell in a hand basket. Now we all can buy everything super cheap here, but there is a HUGE price! Slums are forming all over the US, homeless population is at an all time high! Where are the jobs? CHINA!


To be continued...

March 29, 2011 12:34 AM

Gil and Ray said...

Dear Zoe ( Cont... )

I think I would rather pay a little more for things and keep my factories and jobs around.
My mother grew up in Sao Paulo, at IPIRANGA Region. She told they had HUGE GE Industrial type Washers and Dryers at her School. The Catholic nuns used the machines to wash the girls basketball and volleyball uniforms and the gym's towels.
My grandmother in Sao Bernardo do Campo had a GAS dryer in the late 1950's. Her street was one of the first in her town to have piped underground natural gas installed. Most her neighbors already had dryers back then. I don't know if you are aware, but Sao Paulo had HUGE SEARS stores all over the city until the early 90's when Sears was in trouble and left Brazil.
My grandmother bought her washer/dryer and dishwasher at Sears in the 50's, my grandmother also worked at a material factory and needed those appliances to make her life as a single mother possible.
My mother always had all appliances like dishwasher, washer and dryer, my mother was a teacher and also worked hard all the time and needed the appliances to make her life easier.
You probably live in a part of town where people live in small apartments and just don't have these type of appliances. In these areas, you will see lots of laundromats, you know, just like the ones we see all over Manhattan and Boston, where a lot of people don't have apartments that can fit a Washer or a Dryer for that matter.
My brother lives in a small/ NEW apartment downtown Sao Paulo, 2 blocks from avenida Paulista, he has a set of Bosh Washer and a Gas Dryer and also a Brastemp dishwasher, all made in Brazil.
My sister lives in Santo Andre, in Sao Paulo metro, also has a Washer, a Dryer and a dishwasher. My sister actually has my mother's old Kenmore Dryer, bought at Sears in the early 70's, made in Brazil, great quality gas gas/dryer. My mother gave it to her and she gladly took it because it still works great.
I will be sure to take pictures of all my family's dryers/ washers and dishwashers to show you proof, as soon as I visit them.
I guess I will have to write a post about this appliances controversy so folks thinking about moving to Brazil have their expectations in the right place. :)

Ray

I have moved to the United States back in 1998, so I thought perhaps a few things might have changed regarding Washers/Dryers and Dishwashers for example, so I decided to do a little research.
A quick Google search brought me the list below, it is a list of ALL the appliances manufactures established in Brazil.
Just to mention a few Washer/Dryers and Dishwashers manufacturers:

1- Electrolux was founded in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1926 and it halted production temporarily during WWII in 1940 to produce air filters exclusively for the war effort, it returns to regular production in 1948 producing Washers and Dryers and vacuum cleaners among other household appliances.
Frigidaire, Gibson, Kelvinator e White-Westinghouse have also operated in Brazil in the past but their factories and operations were purchased and incorporated by Electrolux do Brasil in 1986.

2- CONTINENTAL  is also listed and have recently jointed forces with the German Bosch. However Continental was founded back in 1920 and it grew to be the largest Brazilian appliance manufacturer, it was originally called "Fundicao Brazil", they used to make iron cast wood burning stoves before that, their history goes a long way back. On their website you will find all products available today.

3- BOSCH  do Brasil was founded in 1933, recently jointed forces with the Brazilian "CONTINENTAL". "Bosch" concentrated the production of certain appliances carrying their brand while "Continental" kept others. Bosch has two factories in Brazil, one in the city of Sao Paulo and one in the city of Hortolandia, Sao Paulo state.

4- BRASTEMP is probably the best known appliances manufacturer in Brasil. My father worked at the Brastemp factory in my hometown of Sao Bernardo do Campo when I was growing up. The factory had many plants in my city and closed the largest of them to move production to Sorocaba, Sao Paulo in the late 80's, the executives wanted to move production away from the strong UNIONS in Sao Paulo and prevent the constant strikes for better wages... sounds familiar? The old factory became our town's first Walmart Superstore in the early 1990's.
HERE you can read about Brastemp's History. They produced the first automatic Brazilian Washer in 1959.

5- MAYTAG offers Washers and Dryers in Brazil under the "Tecnowash Brasil" brand and it only has commercial appliances for laundromats or coin operated applications.

6- CONSUL  was founded at the end of WWII, in 1950, at the city of Joinville, Santa Catarina, by Rudolfo Stultzer and his two friends Guilherme Holderegger and Wittich Freitag, yeah, that is how German south of Brazil is, I made sure to write their names here to show you just that :)
The first appliance made was a refrigerator. A few years later they were making 30,000 Refrigerators per year and exporting appliances to other countries.
Stultzer and his friends borrowed money from one of Joinville's richest businessman, Mr. Carlos Renaux, who was also a Consul for Brazil, in Arnheim, Holland, so the three friends decided to name their new appliance brand "Consul" in honor of Mr. Renaux.

7- GE do BRASIL  long story short, GE joined Brazilian DAKO and formed MABE BRASIL, with two factories in Brasil, one in Campinas, Sao Paulo and one in Itu, Sao Paulo and a third factory in San Luis, Argentina, which formed MABE Mercosul, after the purchase of the Argentinian Kronen. The 3 plants in Brazil and Argentina employ 3000 people and produce 2,7 million appliances per year which are exported to 50 different countries around the world.

8- Samsung do Brasil  is somewhat new in Brazil, it sure wasn't there when we still lived in Sao Paulo back in 1998, but it is there now, they actually entered Brazil in 2000, HERE is a historical brief of Samsung Brasil.

9- LG do BRASIL is also new to Brazil. It arrived in 1995 with two factories, one in Manaus, Amazonas where LG makes Cell phones, Laptop computers and notebooks and one in Taubate, Sao Paulo where they make LE and LCD TVs besides Blue Ray DVDs.
LG is now investing 500 million dollars in a new factory in Paulinia, Sao Paulo, where our fellow blogger Nina from NINA DIASPORA OF THE SKY lives.
HERE is the report from a Sao Paulo Newspaper, the new factory will employ 4000 workers and will surpass Petrobras as that town's main employer, the new Paulinia factory will be dedicated to the production of appliances such as Refrigerators, Stoves, Freezers, Microwaves, Washers/Dryers and Dishwashers.

Below is a link that lists all the appliances manufactures present in Brazil, not only the ones that produce washers and dryers and dishwashers but also all sorts of other appliances for your home, the beauty of it, ALL MADE IN BRAZIL:  :)

http://www.eletrodomesticosforum.com/fabricantes.htm

Now, I have to make a special mention of my favorite appliance of all. It is a miniature WASHER, the add says "Underwear Washer", now, how cool is that, a Washer only for your underwear.
The site says it is formulated for delicate materials like women lingerie and silk, socks and such. It is portable and you can place it over your bathroom sink.
MINILAV 's web site is here.
Below is a picture:



Portable Mini Lingerie Washer-MADE IN BRAZIL

 I really don't understand why some people are under the impression that Washers/Dryers and Dishwashers are not very common in Brazil. They have always been a common presence at my parents house. Our neighbors, friends, relatives, not a big deal at all.
My mother's neighborhood has piped natural gas, my parents have lived in the same place since 1976, it was already there when they bought the place, all our neigbors had gas dryers and most had dishwashers.
Perhaps, the folks who say they haven't seen Washer/Dryers or Dishwashers around live in areas where they are not very common, like near downtown of big cities, where apartments are smaller/older and Washer/Dryers and Dishwashers are somewhat rare, the exact same thing happens in New York city or Boston for example and let me tell you, you won't find Washer/Dryers and Dishwashers in Europe that easy either. Same goes for Toronto or Tokyo for that matter, where these appliances are just a rare luxury.
Sao Paulo and Rio are no different.
You go out to the suburbs and it is a completely different story.
Middle class Brazilians have the same appliances at their suburban homes as American, Canadian or European house holds.