The Nauen Factory: Difference between revisions

BSH<ref>BSH was founded in 1967 as Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH - BSHG for short. In 1998, the name was changed to BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, with the short form BSH. Since the sale of the Siemens shares in BSH to Robert Bosch GmbH the company’s name is now BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, but still BSH for short.</ref> decided against expanding the parent factory in Berlin for the new products and instead opted to construct a completely new factory. Sites in Brandenburg, Saxony and the Czech Republic were considered. The final decision was made in favor of Brandenburg for a number of reasons including the existing infrastructure, the proximity to Berlin, the favorable geographical location for international shipment as well as the State subsidies that ran into the millions. The following year in 1992, approval was granted by the shareholder delegation, planning commenced, the building application was submitted and an industrial site purchased in Nauen.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, Tochtermann BSH History Folder 3. </ref>  The aim was to produce washing machines for the international market. The building was finally constructed and the first pre-series production left the assembly lines in August 1994. Series production of dryers commenced in March 1995.

The Board of Management stated: "With the new extractor hood factory in Bretten in Baden and a new dryer factory in Nauen/Brandenburg, we have succeeded in establishing two state-of-the-art, streamlined factories with attractive cost structures."<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0018, inform 1995/1, page 2.</ref> Series production of top-loader washing machines followed in 1995.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives,  A01-0012, Business Report 1994, page 4.</ref> Around 400,000 appliances were produced this year by the some 400 employees, with two parallel assembly lines ensuring flexible production.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives,  A01-0012, Business Report 1994, page 4. BSH Nauen Site Information Flyer, page 10. </ref>

[[File:Nauen Logistikzentrum 2015 B96Y1399.jpg|thumb|The logistics center in Nauen, 2015. (Source: BSH mediapool)]]

This eagerness can also be seen in the design of the area around the newly constructed factory. 60 volunteers distributed the excavated earth masses, at least 56,000 cbm, on a Saturday in May 1996 and landscaped the area with 4,000 fast growing plants. Because more volunteers showed up than anticipated by those who had initiated the plan, the work was already completed by the time they were ready to sit down to lunch together.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0019, inform 1996/2, page 7.</ref>

Around 75 percent of the washing machines produced in Nauen were exported internationally.<ref>BSH Nauen Site Information Flyer, page 11. </ref> BSH subsidiary Hausgeräte Nauen Service GmbH was awarded the German Logistics Prize in 1997 for its logistics services.<ref>BSH Nauen Site Information Flyer, page 4.</ref>