Page 41 - Best of 2016 English

we manufacture more than 1,000 di erent models of dishwashers, the number of active components has now passed the 10,000 mark.”
Miele is a self-assured and critical customer. In addition to consistently high quality, Salzgitter
is also expected to provide 100-percent material availability just in time and the possibility for Miele to get information on order processing and inventory levels at any time via eService (supply chain management).
e group has long been active as more than just a supplier, however. Dr. Ralf Koch explains, “We are happy that meanwhile we are also involved in strategic product planning at Miele, and that our know-how is contributing to developing the coat- ing systems of tomorrow.”
Once again, we are back to the rapid technical development of an appliance that has signi cantly simpli ed the everyday housekeeping routine. More than 50 years have passed since the intro- duction of the rst fully automatic dishwasher in 1960. While the appliances still needed more than 40 liters of water for a wash cycle (twelve place settings or 140 pieces) in 1980, today they need less than 9 liters. Substantial reductions in power consumption have also been possible, from
2.3 kWh to less than 1 kWh. More and more innovations have been added, such as the cutlery drawer that Miele invented 30 years ago and that has repeatedly undergone
further
development since then.
anks to resourceful engineers at Miele, there is a steady supply of innovations. e Prestige class is currently Miele’s agship. e dishwashers are not only faster and more e cient than their predeces-
sors, they are also signi cantly quieter, which is a purchasing argument in these times of open kitch- ens. ey are WiFi-capable (think “Smart Home”) and open automatically at the end of the washing cycle. Dr. Störmer says, “ is allows the tableware to dry completely.”
According to Störmer, there is no end in sight for technical developments. “We will continue to surprise the dishwasher world over and over again in the coming years.”
Family owned to this day
e company was founded in 1899 and initial- ly manufactured milk centrifuges with 11 em- ployees. Butter machines were added in 1900. In that same year, Miele developed the rst washing machine on that technical basis, and it manufactured the rst electric dishwasher in Europe in 1929. e company starting making motorcycles in 1930. In the 1950s, Miele was one of Germany’s largest motorcycle manu- facturers, but it stopped production in 1960. Today Miele is maintaining its own sales com- panies in 47 countries around the world and
is represented in some 50 more by importers. e company employs around 17,000 mem- bers of sta . Since the company was founded, it has been owned by the Miele (51%) and Zinkann (49%) families, in some cases now in the h generation.
An optimistic view to the future (rear, from left to right): Dr. Thorsten Störmer, Robert Kurpiun, Rudolf
Ens (all from Miele); on
the sofa: Dr. Ralf Koch (left, Salzgitter Flachstahl), Thomas Köppe (SMS)
WHITE GOODS 41