As of: February 5, 2024, 4:53 p.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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After a record economic period, the traditional household appliance manufacturer's sales recently collapsed.
Now Miele is cutting thousands of jobs.
Gütersloh - There has been speculation for a long time, but now the fears have come true: The household appliance manufacturer Miele has to cut thousands of jobs, as
Manager Magazin
reported on Monday (February 5th).
In the year of its 125th anniversary, this is particularly bitter for the traditional company.
According to company sources, Miele will have to cut a total of 2,000 jobs in order to make its core business profitable again in the future.
The company, based in Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia, has a total of 23,300 employees.
The company management plans to reorganize the entire production.
This could also result in jobs being relocated to other company locations.
Because one thing is clear: Miele has to reduce its production costs.
Job cuts at traditional manufacturer Miele were already foreseeable
At the turn of the year, Miele management had already distributed a video message to its employees on the company's intranet, as
WDR
reported.
And this caused employees to brace themselves for bad news.
Miele Gütersloh plant June 8, 2022 *** Washing machines production © IMAGO/Robert B. Fishman
It said that 2024 would be a year with “difficult decisions and profound changes”.
The company's production must be reorganized, otherwise Miele as a whole would be put at risk in the long term, the video message continued.
There was also talk of potential job cuts.
The job cuts at Miele are preceded by long-term speculation
With regard to the situation at the traditional household appliance company, the unions had already feared that things would turn out worse.
IG Metall warned that a large part of the production of washing machines might no longer take place in Gütersloh in the future.
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As one of several possible scenarios, Miele was planning to move almost all of its production to the Miele factory in Poland, it was said at the time.
A large number of washing machines are already being produced in the Polish factory.
The washing machine industry is currently the heart of Miele - more than 1,500 employees work in this area in Gütersloh.
In a statement from the company in January it was also stated that not a single Miele production site would be closed.
In addition, the Gütersloh location is not in danger and will remain Miele's headquarters.
Miele is not the first company to have to cut jobs in 2024
Sales of the family business, founded in 1899, fell significantly in 2023.
In previous years, Miele had experienced an exceptionally strong economy - due to the corona pandemic.
Miele is one of the premium suppliers of washing machines, dryers, ovens, stoves and vacuum cleaners whose customers were less affected by price increases as a result of inflation and increased material costs.
Miele is by no means alone in making job cuts in this young year: other German companies were also forced to make massive job cuts.
This even included another household appliance manufacturer, Bosch.
But the traditional manufacturer of scales, Bizerba, also recently had to announce that it was cutting a number of jobs.
(Fabian Hartmann)