| When it comes to quality, Miele’s consistency is unparalleled: the company once subjected one of their washing machines to a 10,000-hour test of endurance live on the internet – and the only thing to stop working was the webcam. We spoke with Dr. Markus Miele and Dr. Reinhard Zinkann; it was their great-grandfathers who founded the company, which today is still owned by both families and achieves more than €2.5 billion of sales worldwide each year.
Editor: How can you ensure a certain level of quality
Dr. Markus Miele: Firstly, it is a question of construction, then of choosing the best materials and components. Years of research and development are the prerequisites for quality – at Miele, manufacturing is carried out in a very precise way. We then inspect every individual appliance to test the operational reliability of all of its functions – no other manufacturer does that. If you make a promise, you must also keep it. Quality must be part of our everyday operation, and constantly considered from different angles.
Editor: Miele has its own foundry, electronics plant for electronic controls, carries out meticulous material tests. It sounds strict, but the working environment is incredibly good.
Dr. Markus Miele: Our quality demands cannot be fulfilled in glossy brochures.They must be reinforced every day and by every employee, whether a trainee or a manager; everyone must take responsibility. If an error was made in design, a screw could end up in the wrong place; that might then result in premature wear and tear when the appliance is assembled. Customer service after delivery of the product is also an important part of our quality assurance. Quality means being constantly prepared to learn new things.
Editor: In the course of Miele's history, Miele has also experienced difficult times. Today, within its branch of industry, the company serves as an example of how to achieve long-term, sustainable success by insisting on operational excellence.
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: Every business must always take on new challenges; time doesn’t stand still. “Tempora mutantur et nos in illis” – times change, and so do we. There is a saying in psychology: confront pain straight away and for as long as you can. And a business does not usually collapse because of the bad times, but because of mistakes that were made during the good times; that means not feeling too comfortable when things are going well, but instead using that time to prepare for when things are not going quite so well. You have to ask yourself questions, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I think we managed to do that very early on.
Editor: Does focusing on quality help you to maintain an edge on a global scale?
Dr. Markus Miele: That is something we have learned from the past. Miele’s first products were cream separators and butter churns – a wooden barrel with a rotating device inside, a plunger. Someone then looked at that wooden barrel and it dawned on them that it could also be made into a washing machine with the introduction of an agitator. The founders of the company wrote the two words “Forever better” on those first washing machines, practically instilling a philosophy of quality into the company’s DNA. It was already clear at that time that we might be more expensive, but that we would also be better. Our motto “Forever better” is a recipe for success to which we have stayed true to this very day: Miele products are more durable and more innovative than others and make daily life easier for many people.
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: Miele also enjoys a high level of confidence from users. According to an annual comparison by Reader’s Digest, Miele is the “Most trusted brand” in Europe when it comes to household appliances. Our company motto, “Forever better”, says with no ambiguity that we personally want to be forever better, and we want to be better than all other manufacturers.
Editor: In these tough economic times, when electronic goods from the Far East are available at bargain prices, can a business like Miele afford to insist on such levels of quality?
Dr. Markus Miele: Yes, definitely. It works in Germany and many other countries, too. I always receive letters of thanks from people whose Miele washing machines are 35 years old and still going strong. It’s a shame, isn’t it? [He laughs.] It goes to show that longevity does still play a role. Longevity usually also means, or course, that less time is wasted on repairs.
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: The question of innovation is also very important. There is always going to be a market for the best, even if it’s a bit more expensive. We try to think ahead. We want to set trends, not follow them. Our growth is based on our position as a leader in the field of technology and our ability to innovate. This is our interpretation of quality.
Editor: Is it easier for a family business to achieve such standards of quality?
Dr. Markus Miele: I do think it makes a difference. We think in terms of generations. We also invest without the pressure of needing an immediat return of investment in the next quarter. An affiliated group didn’t introduce the steam oven to Germany: We started manufacturing them in our factory in Bünde and then created a completely new market for steam ovens. We were the only, and also the first, company to offer kitchen designers new design options with built-in coffee machines. We are a family business that is not listed on the stock exchange, and so our analyses are long-term. If we discover a gap in the market, we don’t just want to exploit it for quick, short-term gain; we want to own that market, invest in it, and be engaged on a long-term basis. See “Steam Ovens”.
Editor: What is Miele’s position in the global kitchen-appliance market?
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: We represent the absolute best. For us, “anything else is a compromise”, and the same applies to Project Business. At present, developers are trying to ensure their own success by creating a link with successful brands. For example, Miele’s products might say something about the quality of the building: perhaps it is more expensive, but better as a consequence.
Dr. Markus Miele: There are really only two rooms where I can show the quality of a building, and they are the kitchen and the bathroom. I cannot see where and what type of cables are laid, but I can tell the quality of a building from the bathroom fittings, for example. Good built-in kitchen appliances also make an apartment appear more expensive as a whole, so it will sell better. Our first customers in China came to us because they wanted their exclusive apartments in tower blocks or complexes to be better equipped than the new buildings in the neighbourhood. The investors and architects had been to America, travelled through Europe, and then opted for Miele. That is how we entered the Chinese market.
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: Quality also means providing the best possible service. “No service, no sales”: that means we only grow as fast as our service. Whenever we have entered a new country, we have always set up a functioning customer service department from the start. We could have grown a lot more quickly if we had not respected that. But imagine if we had furnished a project in Australia, the USA or China and then something went wrong. It could take three days for a service technician to arrive on the first available plane, only for the technician to say, “I will have to order a replacement part; I’ll be back in a fortnight.” That would simply not be acceptable! When we work abroad, we do of course take the quality of our customer service with us.
Miele decided to develop and manufacture its own electronics, and even today is still the only kitchen manufacturer to do so.
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: Miele is a pioneer in many respects. Three decades ago (in 1978 to be exact), Miele mass-produced the world’s first household appliances with micro-computer and sensor-touch controls. Even at that time, Miele wanted to be independent, and there were several reasons for that. Firstly, we wanted to be independent from suppliers as we believe that you can only do something really well when you are in charge of all of the related processes. This begins as early as the development stage; when the controls and motor of a product have been developed with each other in mind, the appliance logically works better. Secondly, we wanted to be independent of fluctuations in the supplier’s market. This independence allows us to press ahead with our own developments and therefore have innovative, indeed exclusive, products. This is also the case, of course, for high-tech devices such as ovens, steam ovens and dishwashers. In this domain, Miele offers new functions and programmes by implementing its own electronics in the design.
Dr. Markus Miele: Our electronics plant has proved an immense success. We now employ over 500 people there. Electronics, the basis of the user interface, are becoming increasingly important – this is where man and machine interact. We want Miele appliances to be outstandingly user-friendly. Another advantage is that once a customer gets to know Miele’s philosophy of user-friendliness, they intuitively know how to use their next Miele appliance.
You were raised in a completely different time to your forefathers. Which values have stayed relevant throughout the generations?
Dr. Markus Miele: While the challenges we face have of course changed, the values that have stayed the same are reliability and predictability, as well as respect for our colleagues and customers. Our customers appreciate the feeling of not having to worry about any aspect of their high-quality Miele appliances, because they always work. This gives them peace of mind. Our colleagues appreciate the opportunity for open dialogue and a flat organisational structure. The top half of office walls at Miele are made of glass, providing transparency and closeness. Even Reinhard Zinkann's and my office are the same, just like the offices of our fathers and forefathers. We do not disappear behind thick sound-proof doors; on the contrary, everyone can see us and everyone can talk to us. We’re a hands-on company!
Editor: Might such a long-established philosophy be considered unfashionable?
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann: When we say “Forever better”, we mean “forever different”. It’s not really a question of modernity, it’s more a question of “what makes us so successful?” Our success is, amongst other factors, a result of being different.
Dr. Markus Miele: We must remain flexible to compete in a global market. We must be innovative, as international markets have different needs when it comes to household appliances. With this in mind, over the past few years we have developed an increasing number of products for initial launch in foreign markets – for example, the 30-inch oven for America and the wide steam oven for Asia – and these innovations were then successfully introduced to other markets. That it is important not just to take the requirements of the German market into consideration has been a very important lesson for us. |
