page W-3

Whirlpool Special Section

page 102
Assembly & Fastening
Putting It Together
Lisa Bonnema, Managing Editor
As product cycles get shorter and the word "inventory" becomes taboo, manufacturers are looking for new options when it comes to appliance assembly, hoping to find a synergy between the two crucial aspects of a quality appliance - its design and how it's made.

page 111
Consumer Electronics
Relevance: The Key to Consumer Electronics Brand Survival
by Dan Ashcraft, Creative Director and Principalle, Ashcraft Design
For years, technology reigned supreme in consumer electronics. Brands successfully wooed customers with new technical developments and ever-increasing advances in performance.

page 22
China Report
Rare Product Recall in China
by Clint Stevens, China correspondent, APPLIANCE magazine
A Chinese appliance maker has voluntarily recalled defective food processors in the first product recall since Shanghai enacted a regulation protecting consumer rights last October.

page 31
Home Comfort - IAHR 2003
The Climate Within
by Linda Abu-Shalback Zid, Associate Editor
An aging population, energy efficiency concerns, and the desire for comfort conditioning products to be more compact means that consumers are relying on their HVAC products to do a lot more than maintain indoor temperatures.

page 111
Consumer Electronics
Relevance: The Key to Consumer Electronics Brand Survival
by Dan Ashcraft, Creative Director and Principalle, Ashcraft Design
For years, technology reigned supreme in consumer electronics. Brands successfully wooed customers with new technical developments and ever-increasing advances in performance.

page 114
Engineering Compressor Motors for Energy Efficiency
Striving for a Greener Environment
Michael Cui, senior engineer at the Trane Company in LaCrosse, WI, U.S.
An HVAC manufacturer digs deeper and searches wider to improve energy efficiency and reduce impact on the environment.

page 119
The Open Door
Greater Chip Integration Drives Down System Costs
by Scott Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Transportation & Standard Products Group, Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector
Semiconductor chips that combine microcontroller (MCU) and digital signal processor (DSP) capability, along with flash memory and other peripherals, are rapidly driving advanced features and functions into appliances.

page 120
Engineering: Dryer Technology
Microwave Clothes Drying - Technical Solutions to Fundamental Challenges
by John F Gerling, president, Microwave FabriCare Technology, a division of Gerling Applied Engineering, Inc.
The following discusses the use of microwave heating technology in laundry appliance applications, and recent solutions that address the technology's historical challenges.

page 124
Technology Report
Flash Memory Cards with Wi-Fi Connectivity
SanDisk Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.) has introduced a line of wireless Wi-Fi (802.11b) cards that are said to be the world's first to include both memory and wireless communications technology.

page 125
Motor Technology
Efficient Refrigeration Fan Motors
An electric motor system and fan from ebm Industries, Inc. (Farmington CT, U.S) are said to benefit refrigeration equipment due to their relatively long on-cycles.

page 126
Electronics Report
1-MHz Operational Amplifiers
Microchip Technology, Inc.'s new family of 1-MHz operational amplifiers reportedly reduce supply voltage demand, making them an ideal solution for extending battery life in portable devices, security systems, and other appliance applications.

page 9
APPLIANCE Line
An Issue on the Floor
Editorial from Diane Ritchey, Editor, APPLIANCE Magazine
Manufacturers of floor care appliances may soon have to choose between two trade associations.