A slowdown in its mainline white goods business has the new owner of GE Appliances, Haier Group, looking for fresh paths to growth.

“At the core of its revitalization push is a program to create in-house venture businesses that take advantage of talent and ideas that otherwise might not have seen the light of day,” says Nikkei Asia Review.

China’s biggest consumer electronics and home appliance company has established 180 such ventures over the past three years, the Review says. One of those ventures created through Haier’s incubation program makes Hello Kitty-themed washing machines.

Haier completed its $5.6 billion purchase of Louisville-based GE Appliances last week. The deal included 6,000-employee Appliance Park in the city’s South End. Another 6,000 work at other worksites.

Related: Japan’s Sanrio produces and licenses all things Hello Kitty. There are numerous blogs about Hello Kitty, some less reverential than others: Kitty Hell. And counterintuitively, she’s not a cat.

Photo, top: Hello Kitty Junkie.