Common-Sense Business by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch

Author:Theodore Roosevelt Malloch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

MIELE: SURVIVING AND THRIVING

Recently, we were sitting in the traditional Swabian town of Gütersloh in southern Germany, talking with the family scions of one of the nation’s leading companies. It has grown from its Mittelstand roots (see chapter 10) to become a truly global player.

Peering out the window of Miele’s modern, unpretentious offices, two things become apparent. First, this is a modern, sustainable company focused on its global future and fashioned around a single word: innovation. But it is also in many ways, like the town it inhabits, a very old fashioned, traditional company of demonstrable values that many of its peers have jettisoned; it knows and practices common-sense business.

The Miele Company has a long and rich history of quality engineering. Immer Besser or “Forever Better” was established early as the company motto, and it stands for a commitment to the highest quality standards, longevity, and improvement—both in production and in business practices. As our conversation with the family owners demonstrated, they sincerely believe in these things. The embodiment of this philosophy is as relevant today as it was over 125 years ago. Things may move ahead at a record pace but here, at Miele, they also stand still—and are unwavering: they employ common sense in their strategy and their execution of business plans, which are focused over a very long term.

Founded in 1899 by a farmer’s son, Carl Miele, and a salesman, Reinhard Zinkann, The Miele Company remains independently owned and managed by the Miele and Zinkann families. With global headquarters in small, rural Gütersloh, Miele is nevertheless a world leader in the production of premium domestic and commercial appliances. There are eight production plants in Germany and also plants in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and China. Miele has its own wholly owned sales subsidiaries in forty-seven countries now and is represented in a further forty-eight by distribution partners. Company turnover exceeds €4 billion.

The case we will explore shows why and how Miele grew into what it has become and it also underscores how its closely held common-sense values undergird everything it stands for and does. New and old are one here.

History of Miele1

Immer Besser Begins

In 1899, Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann founded Miele & Cie. KG in Herzebrock, a German town that is now in the modern state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Miele had agricultural roots, and their first product was a cream separator used by farmers to produce cream from milk. Their beginnings were humble: There were eleven workers, and they only had four lathes and one drill. Gradually, in 1901, the company expanded its product line by making Meteor butter churns, which liberated local farming ladies from hand churning.

However, Miele soon seized upon a great opportunity for problem solving that would underpin its dramatic growth. In the early twentieth century, doing laundry was arduous and could take several days to do well. Dirty laundry was soaked overnight and subjected to tough rubbing by hand to remove stains, before being hurled into a large tub where it had to be cooked in hot water and stirred by a paddle.

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