Over 700 people attended BSH Home Appliances 25th anniversary celebration of the New Bern Campus on Feb. 16, 2023. The factory was filled with employees, members of the community, local and state officials and international BSH executives. New Bern Now was onsite to capture video footage and take pictures, documenting this memorable event. See photos taken by NBN and the press release from BSH Appliances Corporation below.
Press release: BSH Home Appliances Corporation’s New Bern, N.C., manufacturing facility opened in 1997 and today celebrates its connection with the community, its employees, and the innovation and technological advancements of the Bosch and Thermador kitchen products that are manufactured in the New Bern facility.
BSH local, regional and international executives along with North Carolina, Craven County, New Bern and Havelock officials joined BSH New Bern employees to celebrate this milestone.
BSH Home Appliances Corporation and the New Bern community celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of the city’s BSH Home Appliances campus. BSH Global CEO Dr. Matthias Metz joined state and local officials, community leaders, and BSH employees at a special event at the campus to commemorate BSH’s innovation, technological advancements and quality of the Bosch and Thermador brand products that are manufactured in the New Bern facility. The celebration also shined a spotlight on 50 current BSH New Bern campus employees who have worked at the facility since its opening in 1997.
“For the past 25 years New Bern has been a centerpiece of our U.S. operations,” said Andrew MacLaren, US/OP Chief Technology Officer, BSH Home Appliances Corporation. “Over that period, the team here contributed to the development of several technological innovations that have not only enhanced our BSH product lines, they’ve also moved the entire appliance industry forward. I want to thank our employees for the dedication and commitment that is central to our success, and I am grateful for the support of state and local community leaders as we continued expanding our presence in New Bern.”
Over the past 20 years, BSH has invested more than $428 million in its production network and in advanced manufacturing technologies and processes in New Bern. In 1997, BSH began producing Bosch dishwashers with 280 employees. Since its opening, BSH has manufactured over 13 million dishwashers and has hit record volumes in cooking. Today, the BSH New Bern facility manufactures dishwashers as well as cooktops, ranges and wall ovens with a workforce of more than 1,600 employees.
The facility’s first physical expansion was in 2003 with the construction of Building 104 and the start of the Bosch range production. In 2005, the factory began production of Thermador wall ovens and gas cooktop products and added the GV640B production line for the plastic tub bottom dishwasher. In 2019, BSH unveiled a new $32 million, 100,000-square-foot expansion to its New Bern dishwasher facility, providing the company with the capacity it needed to continue its growth. This latest expansion was driven by increased demand for BSH Home Appliances’ products – Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau – across the U.S.
“From the moment we opened our first Bosch manufacturing facility here in New Bern BSH has been committed to supporting the community,” said BSH Region North America CEO Christofer von Nagel. “As one of the county’s top employers, we are motivated to contribute to and support several local social, educational and charitable organizations. I speak for the entire BSH organization when I express our gratitude to Craven County and New Bern for the valuable partnerships we have developed over the past 25 years.”
BSH New Bern supports several philanthropic programs focused on education, environmental conservation, food insecurity, health, wellness and housing, to name a few. Its largest initiative is the Bosch Community Fund, which focuses on the enrichment of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education. As a result of the fund, more than 1,000 Craven County public school students have participated in STEM programs, and over 100 teachers and counselors have enhanced their job skills by participating in STEM education workshops. The fund has also made it possible for schools and community organizations to purchase much-needed equipment to support teachers and students in their pursuit of STEM education opportunities.
For more information on BSH and its New Bern facility, please visit bsh-group.com/us.
By Ciara Dixon, director, GOLIN
Video will be uploaded to New Bern Now’s YouTube channel soon.
By Wendy Card, Co-Editor. Send an email with questions or comments.