Miele – an Impressive 100-year-old Manufacturer: Local Dealer “Wowed” by Miele trip – Oct. 1999
— Westfield: Miele, a German manufacturer of high-quality appliances including vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, stoves, washing machines, sanitizing equipment, microwave ovens, coffee and expresso machines, as well as kitchen cabinetry, is currently celebrating its 100- year anniversary.
“”Immer Besser” — “Forever Better” — is Miele’s corporate philosophy,” says Keith Petersen of The Eardly T. Petersen Company in Westfield. “And, boy — does it show! We represent a considerable variety of top- line manufacturers such as Honda in Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE), Pfaff — another German manufacturer — in sewing machines, Alpine — the world-wide leader in indoor air quality (IAQ) purification equipment, Everpure — a world leader in water purification technology and drinking water systems (DWS), and, any number of other good manufacturers; but, Miele can easily rub shoulders with the very best manufacturers of any products anywhere in the world.”
The Eardly T. Petersen Company was recently provided with a week- long trip by Miele to Germany to visit three of the five Miele factories. “We sell a lot of Miele vacuum cleaners,” states Mr. Petersen, “and Miele likes to increase the bond of their relationship with their premier dealers. Like anyone, I can be impressed; but, on a daily basis, I am not readily impressed in a profound way. However, as much as I have been impressed over the years with Miele technology, engineering and quality production standards, I came away from their factories astounded both by the way this manufacturer thinks and acts towards their employees, towards their business partners such as ourselves, towards their customers, and also their pervasive excellence in product design and production. Dumfounded is, really, almost a better word to express the way we dealers agreed we felt after seeing exactly how Miele actually makes their products.”
“The end result of this old-fashioned respect for their customers and this single-minded pursuit of excellence is a level of product perfection that is almost unmatched in industry today. As an example, we regularly have customers tell us that they cannot hear their Miele dishwasher operating as it washes their dishes — it is just so smooth and quiet — and a funny story was related as to when Jerry Seinfeld called up and complained that his new Miele dishwasher was not running only to find that it was indeed operating — he simply never expected not to hear it!”
“If you would like to hear me rave on about Miele,” grins Mr. Petersen, “come into our store and ask me about this superlative manufacturer; but, leave yourself a few extra minutes of listening time! Would you be impressed to know that you can balance a nickel on end at the beginning of a wash load in a Miele washing machine, and have it still standing when the wash load is finished? Would you be impressed to know that most vacuum cleaners (like yours, probably!) spew — literally — millions of microscopic pollutants per minute into the air; but, that a Miele vacuum using a sealed, Hepa filtration system releases so close to zero of these same pollutants that they almost don’t even register on the scale? Or, would you be gratified to know that independent tests that showed that the average washing machine (like yours, probably!) washing a load of clothes with an initial bacteria count of about 100,000 left about 50,000 bacteria still alive and thrashing at the end of the cycle; but, that a Miele left 10?”
Mr. Petersen continued, “Miele stood the expense of the entire trip — airfare, lodging (wonderful accomodations!) and food (great food! and, did I ever tell you the story about repeatedly trying to get a glass of milk in a country where they drink a lot of beer?). They ferried us around in their own bus (of course it was a Mercedes bus!) with one of their staff as our own private tour guide, and finished the wooing process by taking us down the scenic Rhine River on a tour boat (plenty of old castles) ending with dinner that night in a 300-year-old castle. I mention all this because it was all done the “Miele way” — which is to say, the “right way.”
For questions on Miele vacuums please contact The Eardly T. Petersen Company, 224 Elmer St., Westfield, 908-232-5723, or, visit their website at www.etpetersen.com.
