Last year, the business of German premium household appliance manufacturer Miele (Gütersloh; www.miele.de) was marked by divergent trends. On the one hand, a special economic situation ensured that more appliances were produced and sold than ever before in the company’s 123-year history – refrigerator sales, for example, were boosted by an increased demand for stockpiling during the pandemic. On the other hand, the group, which plans to significantly increase the proportion of recyclates in its devices in the future, also felt the disruption in global supply chains, especially in semiconductors.

In fiscal year 2021, sales increased by 7.5% to EUR 4.84 bn. The group thus grew significantly faster than the long-term average, with Eastern Europe, China and the US making particularly strong contributions. In Germany, Miele generated sales of EUR 1.39 bn, an increase of 5.1%. The family business traditionally does not talk about results.

Generating growth outside the core business of home and commercial appliances is the aim of the newly established New Growth Factory business unit. Last year, the unit bought the start-up, Otto Wilde Grillers (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.ottowildegrillers.com), which allowed Miele to enter the “outdoor cooking” business segment – grilling with gas and electricity. Its latest addition is Eurofilters in Pelt, Belgium. The company produces non-woven dust bags and face masks.

Related: Miele adopts cost-cutting measures and a new structure

The efficiency programme, Design2Excellence (D2E), was completed at the end of 2021 – the group aimed to position itself in a more “growth-oriented” way and at the same time save costs of almost EUR 200 mn per year. According to information from the company, more than 95% of the savings target has been met to date. In the course of the programme, jobs were also cut as announced, although their number of around 800 was below the measure announced in 2019, “of up to 1,070 jobs worldwide”.

At the end of the year, almost 22,000 employees worldwide worked for the family-owned group, with the fourth generation at the helm.

The company, which has eight production sites in Germany, one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania and Poland, as well as two plants of the Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco Group, started the new year with a high order backlog. In view of the war in Ukraine, Miele stopped supplying appliances to Russia in March 2022 until further notice.