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Miele

Type	private
Founded	1899
Headquarters	Gütersloh, Germany
Products	domestic appliances and commercial equipment
Revenue	▲ €2,810 million (2007/2008)
Employees	16.163 (June 30th, 2008)
Website	www.miele.de

Miele (pronounced 'MEE-leh [1]) is a manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances, commercial equipment and fitted kitchens, based in Gütersloh, Germany. Miele has always been a family-owned and run company, founded in 1899 by Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann.

Contents 1 History 2 Products 3 Slogans 4 External links

[edit] History

Miele's first products were a cream separator, butter churn, and tub washing machine, under the Meteor brand. Carl Miele supervised manufacturing personally, and Reinhard Zinkann apprenticed and handled finances and sales.

The Míele trademark was used very early on and appeared consistently on all machines, nameplates, printed materials and advertising produced by the company. From the mid-1920s, great importance was attached to the trademark of a sloping dash as the dot on the "i".

The trademark has remained unchanged apart from three minor "face-lifts" to reflect contemporary tastes. A survey by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's leading daily newspapers, found that the "i" alone was sufficient to identify the Miele brand.

Miele exports products to many global markets and is represented in 37 countries. Miele's expansion into the United States came in 1983, when they established corporate headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey. They later relocated to a Michael Graves designed headquarters building in Princeton in March 1999. Currently products are manufactured in Germany and the Czech Republic and shipped to the United States, where there are showrooms in ten states.

[edit] Products

Miele currently produces domestic appliances including laundry appliances; vacuum cleaners; dishwashers; rotary irons; built-in convection, steam, and speed ovens; hobs; cooker hoods; freestanding and built-in refrigerators, freezers, and wine coolers; and coffee systems. The company also produces commercial wet cleaning machines, lab glassware washers, dental disinfectors, and medical equipment washers.

Miele was presented with an award in Munich on February 7, for being the most successful company in Germany in 2007. In the Best Company category, Miele beat last year's winner Google, which placed second, and also Porsche, which came in third.

Rankings for this Best Brands prize are the result of representative market research covering such key criteria as current economic market success and brand recognition and popularity among consumers. Miele was recognized as Best Company and also achieved a top-five place in the category Best Product Brand. Miele also was honored as Best Domestic Appliance Brand in the UK by Which? in 2007 and again in 2008, being only one of two brands to win twice in a row.

In North America, Miele is marketed as a high end major appliance brand. They compete against brands such as Kuppersbusch, Gaggenau, Fagor, Viking Range, and Thermador.

The Best Company winner is determined based on the GfK Corporate Reputation measuring method. GfK is the leading market-research institute in Germany.

Miele positions itself at the upper end of the market for domestic appliances.

[edit] Slogans

Miele's motto is Immer Besser, German for "Always Better" and "Better and Better". The company also uses the slogan Anything else is a compromise. Its slogan in the Netherlands has long been Er is geen betere (there is none better).

[edit] External links

• http://www.miele.de
• http://www.miele.nl
• http://www.miele.co.uk
• http://www.miele.com
• http://www.miele.cn

Coordinates: 51°54′50″N 8°24′07″E / 51.91389°N 8.40194°E / 51.91389; 8.40194