After 20 years.
Miele recently put the finishing touches to its one-millionth domestic steam oven to come off its production line in Bünde, Germany after 20 years. This year alone, Miele is set to build almost 90,000 steam ovens and combination units using steam.
Plant manager Dr. Uwe Brunkhorst said, “Bünde is the birthplace of steam cooking as it is known today. One million units is quite a milestone, but we intend to reach the two million mark much faster.”
The first domestic steam oven was launched by the Imperial brand in 1983, before this former supplier and production plant in Bünde were taken over by Miele. The fundamental pressure steam cooking technology of this unit remains the basis of Miele’s fastest and most powerful domestic steam oven on the market today.
Caption: Production manager Michael Pawelecki and line workers Abdülkadir Özkök, Altan Kartal and Veaceslav Babin (from left to right) with plant manager Dr. Uwe Brunkhorst (second from right) and the one-millionth steam oven from Bünde. The machine in question is a DGC XL combination steam oven in stainless steel – one of the bestsellers in Miele’s portfolio. (Photo: Miele)
The first Miele pressureless steam oven was then developed in Bünde and launched as the DG 163 in 1998. It was equipped with a water tank and, as a plug-and-play unit, was simple to install in an existing kitchen.
From 2001 onwards, Miele set about establishing its Bünde plant as a competence centre for steam ovens, cooktops and warmer drawers which were developed and produced at the plant. During the following years, Miele launched a a freestanding unit (2003), the first combination steam oven (2006) and, in 2009, with an entirely new production facility dedicated to steam ovens.
Miele steam ovens are produced at the plant using the latest production methods with each appliance assembled in its entirety by one single worker. In the process, support and assistance is provided by a tablet computer which illustrates assembly steps at each workstation.
Miele Bünde employs a staff of around 600, including 35 apprentices. Approximately 400,000 kitchen appliances a year are produced in a production area covering around 40,000 m².