Miele continues growth trajectory with first production plant in the US

To continue its expansion, Miele is increasing its production capacity with a first plant in the US where it will manufacture ovens for the USA, Canada and Mexico

The German high-end domestic appliances maker Miele is set to open its first production facility on the American continent. The new plant, the firm’s eighth outside of Germany, is part of the company’s strategy to reinforce its most important growth driver, its cooking appliances unit.

Cooking, the company’s top business unit

As the maker of premium quality ovens, hobs, steam cookers and cooker hoods, the company’s cooking business unit has propelled much of its growth in recent years, most recently generating more than € 1.1 bn in sales, representing an increase of almost 13%. “We are planning for further increases in unit sales in the coming years,” says Uwe Brunkhorst, Senior Vice President Business Unit Cooking. “This means that our current production sites in Arnsberg, Bünde and Oelde are approaching the limits of their capacities”.

According to the firm, the decision to produce its cooking appliances in the United States is based on the fact that the US is Miele’s largest market outside of Germany. The firm also sees manufacturing locally as a logical step that will not only send a strong signal to customers in the US, but will also dispense with the need to ship appliances across the Atlantic.

In addition, producing appliances locally has other advantages. “This reduces delivery times from currently up to 10 weeks to only a few days, whilst at the same time protecting the environment”, says Stefan Breit, Executive Director Technology. To further reduce CO2 emissions, the majority of the supplier parts involved in manufacturing the company’s appliances in the US will also come from within the country.

Initially, Miele will manufacture 30-inch ovens and large range cookers at the new American plant, both of which have been designed specifically for North America, and eventually add large-format cooker hoods. While the appliance maker has not revealed the exact location of the new facility, it says that production is scheduled to start at the end of 2024.

Miele plant in the US
Continued expansion with new plant in the US | Credit: Miele

Distributed manufacturing

Currently, production within the company’s cooking unit is distributed between its Bünde, Arnsberg, and Oelde manufacturing sites in Germany. Specifically, hobs and steam ovens as well as warmer drawers come from the Bünde plant, cooker hoods are manufactured in Arnsberg, and conventional ovens and dialogue ovens in Oelde, while steam ovens are produced in both Bünde or Oelde. The firm claims that relegating the production of its large-format series to the new American plant will enable it to become more efficient, and free up capacity for future growth.

With the new plant, the Miele Group’s international production network will comprise a total of 16 plants, eight in Germany and one each in Austria, China, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and the USA. The firm also has two plants belonging to its Italian medical technology subsidiary, Steelco Group.

The high-end manufacturer, who produced more appliances than ever before in 2022 and reached sales of some €5.43 billion for that business year, is present in almost 100 countries around the world, either through its own sales subsidiaries, or via importers. The family-run firm, founded in 1899, has an international workforce of around 23,300 people of which approximately 11,900 work in Germany. With the creation of the new plant, the company will take on an additional 150 new employees based in the United States.

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