It was formally filed on December 7, 1984. The proposed subzone will be at General Electric's Appliance Park plant, which covers 942 acres on Fegenbush Lane in Jefferson County. The facility employs 14,000 persons and is used to produce household appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, electric ranges and room air conditioners. Of the thousands of parts used in the production process, some 370 are purchased from foreign sources, including drive tubes, shafts, brake bands, solenoids, and springs.
Raw steel is sourced domestically.
Most of the products are sold domestically, though GE plans to increase its export activity. Zone procedures will allow GE to avoid duty payments on the foreign components used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company would be able to take advantage of the same duty rates available to importers of the finished products, who have doubled their share of the U.S. market in the past 4 years to 12 percent. The duty rates on the components mentioned above range from 6.2 to 7.1 percent whereas the duty rates for washing machines, dishwashers and electric ranges are 4.4, 4.3 and 1.5 percent. These savings will help GE improve its cost competitiveness in relation to production facilities abroad.