• Close-to-market production of ovens for North America

• Start of production planned for end of 2024 / First expansion phase with
  150 employees

• The decision on the specific location will follow within the coming months

In order to continue and further strengthen its growth course, the Miele Group is expanding its production capacities. The next milestone is the Gütersloh-based family group's first plant on the American continent, where ovens are to be manufactured for the USA, Canada and Mexico. For the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances and machines for commercial use, this is the eighth production site outside Germany, out of a total of 16 plants.

Thanks to its high-quality ovens, hobs, steam cookers, cooker hoods and other attractive products, the business unit Cooking has been one of the Miele Group's most important growth drivers for many 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 Dr. Uwe Brunkhorst, Senior Vice President Business Unit Cooking, "and this means that our current production sites in Arnsberg, Bünde and Oelde are approaching the limits of their capacities".

There are several good reasons behind our decision to produce in the USA in future. "Even today, the United States represent Miele’s biggest market outside Germany, with considerable growth rates recently but still plenty of potential", says Dr. Axel Kniehl, Executive Director Marketing & Sales with the Miele Group. Manufacturing locally is therefore a logical step and sends out a strong signal to our customers there. This also dispenses with the need to ship appliances across the Atlantic: "This reduces delivery times from currently up to 10 weeks to only a few days, whilst at the same time protecting the environment", says Dr. Stefan Breit, Executive Director Technology. In order to further reduce CO2 emissions, the majority of supplier parts will also come from the USA.

In a first step, at this new plant, Miele will manufacture 30-inch ovens and large, versatile range cookers, both designed specifically for North America. Large-format cooker hoods will be added later. Production is scheduled to start at the end of 2024; in a first step, the workforce will grow to 150 employees by the end of 2025. A decision on the precise location will be made and communicated over the coming months. What a second stage expansion might look like, with a view to further product groups and the personnel required for this, will be reviewed at a later date.

Today, production within the business unit Cooking is distributed as follows: Hobs and steam ovens as well as warmer drawers come from the Bünde plant (approx. 730 employees), cooker hoods are manufactured in Arnsberg (approx. 250 employees) and conventional ovens and dialogue ovens come from Oelde (approx. 670 employees), all situated in Germany. The particularly versatile steam ovens are produced in Bünde or Oelde, depending on the model. The Production of the large-format series to the new plant will not in any way weaken Arnsberg, Bünde or Oelde. On the contrary: "We will become more efficient through less complexity and at the same time free up the urgently needed capacities for future growth with the remaining model series", says Uwe Brunkhorst.

Including the new plant, the Miele Group's international production network will then comprise a total of 16 plants, eight of them in Germany and one each in Austria, China, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and the USA. In addition to this, there are also two plants belonging to the Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco Group.

Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care products. Their product portfolio also includes dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications. Founded in 1899, the company has eight production plants in Germany, one each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania and Poland as well as two production plants belonging to its Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco. Sales in the 2022 business year amounted to around € 5.43 bn. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries/regions. Throughout the world, the family-run enterprise, now in its fourth generation, employs a workforce of around 23,300, of which approx. 11,900 employees work in Germany. The company has its headquarters in Gütersloh in Westphalia.