As of: February 8, 2024, 5:04 a.m
By: Lisa Mayerhofer, 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 and moving production to Poland.
Gütersloh - There has been speculation for a long time, but now the fears have come true: The household appliance manufacturer Miele is cutting thousands of jobs, as
Manager Magazin
reported on Monday (February 5th).
Now there are more details: Up to 2,700 jobs could be lost or affected by relocation - and 700 jobs should be cut at the Gütersloh site alone because the production of washing machines there will be almost completely relocated to Poland: the company announced this on Tuesday.
In the year of its 125th anniversary, this is particularly bitter for the traditional company.
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.
Washing machine production at the Miele factory in Gütersloh.
© 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.
Job cuts at Miele: This is the plan for Gütersloh
According to Miele, the plan now stipulates that almost all household washing machines will be assembled in Ksawerow, Poland, by 2027.
To achieve this, 700 jobs are to be gradually eliminated at the Gütersloh plant.
The remaining parts of Gütersloh equipment production such as the pressing plant, foundry or processing of the cast parts are not affected by the relocation.
“What we are currently experiencing is not a temporary dip in the economy, but rather a lasting change in the framework conditions relevant to us that we have to adapt to,” wrote Miele management in an internal communication to employees.
It is now a matter of “serious steps, and we are very aware that this will hit many colleagues hard,” it continued.
The company explained which areas and to what extent may be affected by personnel cuts has not yet been determined.
The details would have to be worked out further in the coming months and negotiated with the social partners.
The management is also “relying on a constructive dialogue with IG Metall”.
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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, lma/dpa)