2d ago

Built to last

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We have a Miele we bought 13 years ago and which has far outlived the projected amount of washing cycles. I had to replace the water splitter, but apart from that it's still running fine. I heard that more recent Miele machines don't last as long, though.
- Lol sadly. The long life is a loss business. People only buy a new one as soon as the old one is scrap. Once the market is served, the problem of longevity arises and therefore no revenue. That's why a lot of money has been invested in predetermined breaking points, which are usually designed for shortly after the warranty. (A lot of money, because it has to be achieved by material weakness or something else that cannot be proven. ) This means that there are always customers and therefore revenue. It's stupid but unfortunately it has to be that way. In many other areas too.
  
  I'm not sure Miele is struggling that much, was a few years ago now but I remember a sales rep telling me the story of the annoyed German executive who "was unhappy" with a division of Miele as they had run out of room and had to "off shore" a factory to keep up with demand. The new factory was in Austria.
  I am a huge advocate for them, back when I sold white goods and small appliances they often had really solid products and they maintained their "prestige brand" status by testing their products to an extent I haven't seen many other brands bragging about.
  Usually we sold to new customers on word of mouth from existing, and existing customers who wanted to scale up or down as family requirements changed.
  
  Well, these predetermined breaking points can be found in all appliances. However, this is nothing new. The current problems at Miele are for other reasons. For example, pushing prices down as far as possible during production.
  Wave of layoffs
  It is questionable to what extent the wave of redundancies will take place
  Well
  as many have already left as a result.
  Another reason... After Germany had managed to turn "Made in Germany" into something positive, things went downhill again. Since many work steps are carried out in China or elsewhere and only the final work steps are carried out in Germany... Just enough to allow the label to be used legally. Our legislators should have done more. Why should you pay more for alleged German quality when most of it is not German quality?
  
  Huh, the more you know. It was some time back that I was selling them, a depressingly long time ago now I guess. It's a shame they have bowed to economic circumstances, the article I just read (which was translated so nuance may have been lost) makes it sound like they fell into the pandemic trap of scaling to meet demand during an unforseen boom and then couldn't justify the size and scope of the workforce once that demand rationalised.
  My family recently purchased a Bosch front load washing machine (autodose 1 button operation and teenagers is a match made in heaven) and they have 3 series available, 2 are manufactured in China, the other is manufactured in Spain. I had several retailers tell me to steer clear of the Spanish product, it carried a higher price tag than the Chinese lines and had a higher fault and return rate. We have been happy with ours so far but time will tell.
  
  One way or another, the pandemic has put a lot of things in extreme disarray here and politicians are helping to destroy our industry because lobbying and their own pockets full of money are more important... the pandemic in particular has revealed the worst corruption among our politicians. Von der Leyen... the same at European level and now is the time when she has to face up. But it will come to nothing otherwise she wouldn't have been re-elected...
  As far as quality is concerned... Well, the West (not just Germany) has outsourced a lot to China. Many people still make fun of the fact that the Chinese only copy and produce poor quality. But that has not been the case for a long time. They have left the West behind in many areas (even if there is still a lot of crap from China, of course). You can't keep up with China, especially when it comes to prices. But well, you can get very good or better quality from China.
- Got a "entry point" Miele about 9 years ago. Same experience as you. If they have started compromising on quality I don't know where to go.. Asko is now Gorenje and produced in China, and have not pulled out of Russia.
  
  Electrolux, V-Zug
  
  I have mixed experience with Electrolux. Tho' it has excelent representation in Norway. V-Zug looks really interesting, but only sold in Switzerland and Germany... Perhaps Denmark.

255 comments