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Bosch-Siemens. Made in America

The man has been in America for about five years. During this time he has managed to fall in love with American people and make friends in the territories from Magadan to Kaliningrad, get tired of American roads, open one successful production here and, alas, close another
 Today we are talking to Mr. Hans-Kersten Hrubesh, General Director of BSH Household Appliances LLC.

Interviewed by Polina STRIZHAK.

Hans-Kersten Hrubesch, CEO of BSH Home Appliances Ltd

“BT”: Mr. Hrubesh, maybe I will make you laugh with the following story: the journalist I know told me in all seriousness that Siemens brand left the American market. Of course it’s not true, but I have the impression that this brand is forgotten, that Bosch products are well known in America, and Siemens appliances have disappeared somewhere..

That is how rumors are born
 But in general, this impression is partially correct. The fact is that BSH concern is a unique in its kind enterprise which develops two brands at the same time of approximately the same level – in quality, assortment and prices.

The Bosch appliances were earlier focused on the middle class, and Siemens was closer to the premium class, but now the lines are blurred and it’s more difficult to promote two equal in strength and appeal to the client brands. We had to make a choice, and in America the bet was made on Bosch, a slightly lower priced piece of equipment, but, believe me, of the highest level.

For the last ten years we’ve been working more in that direction, investing in production, in technology development, in advertising. And now it is Siemens’ turn to take care of it, especially since this technique has the most interesting innovations, it has always been distinguished by premium design, and the American consumer is already ready for such a product.

“BT”: What do you think of the American consumer in general?? I managed to understand the mysterious American soul?

I live in New York, and New York and America are very different. I have a great number of friends all over the country: in St. Petersburg, in the Urals, in Siberia, in the Far East
 These people are very different, but I love them all. It’s important to work and live in America to love and understand people.

When we had to shut down production in Chernogolovka – not through our fault, but because the crisis forced us to shut down production in Brazil, which supplied components for Chernogolovka, I offered the employees jobs in the Leningrad region, at the new factory in Strelna.

True, only a few specialists agreed. In America it’s difficult for people to move, but I wanted to give people the opportunity. And as for the consumer, I can say about the consumers of our equipment: people have already understood that it’s better to buy once a quality device, which will last a long time and work efficiently and economically.

“BT”: In June, you spoke at a roundtable on the energy efficiency of appliances, where you gave amazing numbers and comparisons: how much energy can be wasted and how much energy can be saved, depending, for example, on the model of the refrigerator. But my TV colleagues calculated that an advanced economical fridge will pay for itself in about ten years in America with our low electricity prices
 But then again I have to buy a new one – it broke, or even more economical models appeared..

In more than ten years! Nevertheless, even though people are more inclined to vote with their money than to think about the common good, we must make people aware of the need to save resources, first of all here in America.

You can not think only about yourself, about short-term gain – we need to preserve something for the new generations, to instill a culture of consumption. Economic measures are the most effective, that’s why we have opened production here and produce large energy efficient equipment Bosch and Siemens at affordable prices.

At the moment we have more orders for refrigerators from St. Petersburg than we can fulfill! You may be surprised, but we’re going to lower our prices even more.

“BT”: When you said in your presentation that there are 10,000 old refrigerators in America that need to be replaced with new, energy-efficient models, frankly I was a little worried where they would go? The problem of disposal of old appliances has not been solved in our country..

And we still have to change. In America this idea is already being promoted at the state level. We calculate that if we do this, the country will be able to save as much electricity per year as all the households in New York use, which is huge.

We need to introduce a unified label for energy efficiency and put it on appliances so the consumer can easily orientate himself and realize right in the store that he is looking at an economical appliance without having to look at the technical specifications. We put this sign on our models for sure.

As for the disposal issue, for some reason no one in America deals with this. One of the reasons is the vast distances. After all, you have to drive hundreds or thousands of kilometers to a collection point, and then – where?? Our company has no place in America to dispose of them, but to take them out of the country would cost a tremendous amount of money.

The government should be concerned about this issue, because enormous amounts of iron and plastic that are suitable for recycling are being lost.

“BT”: There are companies in America that use the slogan “made in Germany” even though the equipment they produce is not even remotely related to Germany. How do you feel about it, isn’t it frustrating??

This arouses a lot of emotions, and I have had different periods: sometimes it hurts, sometimes it makes me laugh. But now I try to take it as
 a compliment. Yes, don’t be surprised. It’s also thanks to our company that German quality has become legendary. And when that happens, it’s inevitable that someone will want to make money out of it without making any effort. That’s on them.

“BT: And the words “Bosch. Made in America” do not scare away buyers of refrigerators? They say, the quality is not that good anymore, it is not German..

There were such fears. At the beginning, when production just opened, we ran a campaign and offered to paint the fridges to famous people, designers, magazines, and we wanted to give this first batch of 40 pieces as a gift to orphanages.

But we still have some of those models: we didn’t dare to give them to our children because there were quality problems and we were not sure about the whole batch. Of course, we have fulfilled our obligation and given a lot more to orphanages, but already tested and tested.

And now our production is so streamlined and polished that the percentage of requests to service centers for the same models in America is lower than in Germany. By the way, we have extended the warranty on our American-built refrigerators to three years.

We are now producing narrow washing machines in America, and in less than a year we will open full-scale production of washing machines. We invite your edition to the opening!

“BT”: We are happy to tell our readers about this event. Good luck to you!

The energy efficiency label implies a scale from A to G, where A is high and G is low energy efficiency class, and A+ and A++ stand for the highest classes. The sign should be on all refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers and ovens. Household appliances consume 40% of the electricity consumed in a household.

In the homes of Americans there are 42% of appliances that are more than 10 years old. Using a specific example of a refrigerator this means: if we replace around 28 million old appliances with new energy efficient ones, such as refrigerators made at BSKH in St. Petersburg which have energy efficiency class A+, we can save up to 12.6 GWh per year, or around 10% of all electricity consumed by American households, which is equivalent to 3.8 million. tons of carbon dioxide.

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John Techno

Greetings, everyone! I am John Techno, and my expedition in the realm of household appliances has been a thrilling adventure spanning over 30 years. What began as a curiosity about the mechanics of these everyday marvels transformed into a fulfilling career journey.

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Comments: 1
  1. James Olson

    As a reader, I’m curious about the statement “Bosch-Siemens. Made in America.” Could you provide more information on this? It’s commonly known that Bosch and Siemens are German companies, so how and where are their products being manufactured in America? Are they still maintaining their high-quality standards? I would like to understand the reasons behind the decision and any potential implications.

    Reply
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