When Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet entered the lobby of one of two new BSH Home Appliances plants at its expanded facility here Tuesday, he was greeted by a washer and dryer full of signatures of everyone who worked at the plant.
The president and CEO of the manufacturer’s parent company, BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgerate GmbH, met the pride of that plant’s 100 employees — expected to be 200 before the end of the year. Pride was apparent at every turn of the tour that company, state and county officials, and business leaders took following a New Bern Riverfront Convention Center luncheon.
Gutberlet said BSH is proud to be in America, and he feels strongly it should manufacture close to its customers and create employment and opportunity for both the company and the community.
“You have made us feel right at home here. North Carolina, Craven County and New Bern are in an excellent position for new growth opportunity,” he said.
The luncheon, with speeches by company officials as well as a German minister representing the ambassador, and North Carolina Secretary of Commerce James Fain III, celebrated the completion of two new factories in New Bern and the dedication of the range and laundry factories.
The $200 million, 400,000-square-foot expansion of the about 900-employee plant is the largest expansion outside Europe of the world’s third-largest appliance manufacturer. The German manufacturer operates 43 plants worldwide with annual sales of more than $7 billion.
The New Bern facilities, first opened in 1997, manufacture dishwashers, washers, dryers, cook tops, free-standing ranges and hoods. The now-mature dishwasher plant is cranking out 1,170 dishwashers daily.
With the domestic manufacturing sector in a protracted slump, the expansion of the company, which promises as many as 400 more jobs in the near future and as many as 1,400 by 2006, was news to celebrate.
“While we’ve lost many manufacturing companies and jobs, I’m convinced that what I call advanced manufacturing has a bright future in our state, and BSH is a model of that future,” Fain said.
He said the model is characterized by corporate commitment to manufacturing close to consumers, technological excellence, capital investment in flexible facilities and commitment to a well-trained, talented workforce building products of quality.
The company’s apprentice training partnership with Craven Community College brought out 1,500 prospective employees to a job fair last spring, with 600 already trained for the jobs, said CCC President Scott Ralls.
The expansion, Gutberlet said, is essential to growth with the American consumer.
“We intend to become a dominant player in the North American appliance market,” said BSH Home Appliances Corp. President and CEO Franz Bossard.
BSH Executive Vice President of Technology Clemens Schaller called the new factory operations the hub for BSH’s American manufacturing operations and a cornerstone for new growth.
The company’s Craven County location has helped lure other international companies, including BSH suppliers Carolina Technical Plastics to Craven, and Prettl to Beaufort County.
From Sun Journal
