Largest product launch program in its history.

One of the longest-established and best-known brands in the home appliances business, Germany’s Miele was at IFA with the largest product launch program in its 120-year history.

In an exclusive interview, Appliance Retailer sat down in Berlin with Dr Reinhard Zinkann, Miele’s executive director and co-proprietor to find out about his product highlights.

We first looked at mega trends in the industry and Dr Zinkann identified that the key trend is around connectivity as more and more domestic appliances are communication-enabled.

Dr Zinkann said: “Already we have reached the stage where more than half of Miele’’s new built-in appliances are connectivity-enabled. We will continue to work hard on expanding assistance systems covering cooking applications.

“For example, support in cooking is provided for instance by Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, whose knowledge of Miele products and the times needed for various foods to cook is growing at breakneck speed. Our cooking appliances can also be controlled remotely using the Miele@mobile app.”

Dr Zinkann said that one of the biggest highlights at IFA for him was the TriFlex vacuum cleaner.

“We are due to start producing the Triflex in October and we had nearly sold our whole annual production volume by the last day of IFA. This is a clear sign that the launch has been extremely well accepted by our trade partners.”

Dr Zinkann said he was very proud that 75% of the products on the Miele stand at IFA were brand new.

Other products launched at IFA by Miele included Generation 7000, its new built-in series, which is the biggest product launch in the company’s history.

Dr Zinkann said: “Ten of our plants were involved in Generation 7000; with 15 product groups and approximately 3,000 model variants worldwide, a number of colours, handles and designs per product.

“Feedback on Generation 7000 has been very positive, not only for special highlights like the camera in the oven, the door that opens automatically after the baking process tro avoid overcooking the food, but it’s got many other details.”

On the camera in the oven feature, Dr Zinkann pointed out that Miele is the only manufacturer on the market with a camera in a pyrolytic oven.

“Cameras are not usually made for pyrolytic ovens, as the temperatures that you need in the pyrolytic are so high,” he said.