BSH Home Appliances Corp. has a new chief executive and four lieutenants put in place to oversee the company’s upscale refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers and washing machines.
The Huntington Beach-based appliance maker,part of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausger & #228;te GMBH, itself a venture of Germany’s Robert Bosch GMBH and Siemens AG,is hoping the lineup change will drive more sales during a tough time for household products.
Michael Traub has taken over as chief executive and president for North American operations in Huntington Beach.
He replaced six-year veteran Franz Bosshard, who’s heading up a new division at the company that will focus on acquisitions and other sources of growth.
Swiss-born Bosshard moved to Munich for the job and reports directly to the chief executive of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausger & #228;te, Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet.
Also, four vice presidents have been added to the North American operation under Traub. The move is designed to “decentralize” operations, he said.
The vice presidents are based in Huntington Beach and oversee the company’s cooking, dishwashing, refrigeration and laundry products.
Before, Bosshard oversaw all of BSH’s products as chief executive.
BSH makes Bosch, Siemens, Thermador and Gaggenau appliances.
The company employs about 250 people in Huntington Beach. They hold positions in marketing, sales, customer service and finance.
The local unit oversees 1,800 workers in the U.S. and Canada, including at a factory in Tennessee and one in North Carolina.
BSH develops appliances for regional markets, according to Traub, who most recently headed up the company’s Latin America division.
German-born Traub, 39, has been with the company for 11 years and has worked in all of its major markets, including Europe and Asia.
“The U.S. is totally different than other markets,” he said. “What I was doing in Latin America wouldn’t work here.”
One of the biggest differences is the size of the products, according to Traub.
Ovens in the U.S. can be as much as 30 inches wide, versus 24 inches in Europe, he said.
In Latin America, making appliances as cheaply as possible was his main concern, Traub said.
The refrigerators developed by his Brazilian staff were a big hit there, according to Traub.
Focus on Quality
In the U.S., the emphasis is on quality.
The company doesn’t specifically break out North American revenue. It does say U.S. sales are 6% (or about $800 million) of BSH’s total yearly sales of $14 billion.
BSH faces a stagnant market for appliances in the U.S., after the housing and mortgage refinancing boom of a few years ago. Still, the company said it has been growing here. In 2005, North American sales were about $500 million.
Since 2002, BSH has averaged more than 20% growth a year, which is attributed to new products that include a built-in wall oven and faster, more efficient ovens, dishwashers and washing machines.
BSH splits its U.S. market into the luxury segment and what it calls the “mass premium market”,basically the upper middle class.
Both segments have been feeling the pinch of the weak housing market but luxury has been hit worse, Traub said.
The weaker luxury segment, which traditionally has weathered downtrends better than others, has been surprising to Traub, he said.
He blames a slowdown in the building of luxury homes and remodeling.
“I think its consumer confidence,” he said.
Since the 1990s, BSH has invested $300 million into its factories in New Bern, N.C., and La Follette, Tenn., which produce about 90% of its North American products.
Research and engineering is done next to the North Carolina factory.
“We want our products to come entirely from the U.S.,” Traub said.
Producing here has shielded BSH from the weak dollar, which has made European imports more expensive.
Huntington Beach-based rival Dynamic Cooking Systems Inc., a maker of upscale barbecues and stoves that’s part of New Zealand’s Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd., recently said it was moving its factory to Mexico after finding conditions in the county unaffordable for manufacturing.
BSH has been in Huntington Beach ever since it bought stove maker Thermador Corp. from Taylor, Mich.-based Masco Corp. in 1998 and then moved its North American headquarters to Huntington Beach from Illinois.
“It gave us a Californian touch,” Traub said.
Happy Here
The company is happy in OC, he said. It’s had success recruiting people to the county, according to Traub.
“There’s a good mix of everything here,” he said. “It’s been a good pool for us.”
BSH competes with Madison, Wis.-based Sub-Zero Freezer Co.’s Wolf Appliance Co. and Greenwood, Miss.-based Viking Range Corp.
Local competitors include Jade Product Co. of Brea, another maker of high-end appliances that was sold by the Maytag unit of Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corp. last year to Elgin, Ill.-based Middleby Corp.
