Honouring excellence Bosch

HONOURING EXCELLENCE

Bosch is a global leader in the design and manufacture of engineering and electronics products and is the world’s largest supplier of automotive components. Philip Yorke reports on a company that continues to set the industry’s standards and at how it respects, rewards and values its dedicated suppliers.

The Bosch Group was founded in 1886 in Stuttgart by Robert Bosch as the ‘Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electronic Engineering’. Today the Bosch Group is 92 per cent owned by Robert Bosch Stiftung and employs almost 400,000 ‘associates’ worldwide. In 2015 the company generated sales of approximately €50 billion. The group’s operations are divided into four distinct business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer goods and Energy and Building Technology. Bosch’s mission is to create solutions for a connected life by improving the quality of life worldwide with innovative products and services.

The Bosch Group’s core products are automotive components, including brakes, controls, electrical drives, fuel systems and steering systems. The company’s broad range of industrial products includes packaging technology and consumer goods. Its range of building products includes household appliances, power tools, security systems and thermo-technology items. Connected supply chains

Further internationalisation of its supplier base has resulted in the Bosch Group’s purchasing volume rising to over €25 billion in 2014. Europe still accounts for the lion’s share, representing around 60 per cent of the total global purchasing volume. Outside Europe procurement is centred on China, the US and Japan. Procurement mainly involves production materials such as turned parts, electronic components, and pressed or drawn plastic elements. It also includes commodities, operating equipment, services and capital goods. In strong growth markets such as China, collaborating with local suppliers is key to assuring the continued growth of the Bosch Group.

Today the Bosch Group has created more options thanks to its connected supply chains and strong, long-term partnerships with suppliers, which have formed the bedrock of its success in an ever more connected world.

Top suppliers recognised

The Bosch Group continues to recognise its top suppliers with the annual ‘Bosch Global Supplier Award’. By presenting this award the company recognises outstanding performance in the manufacture or supply of goods and services, notably in the areas of quality, costs, logistics and innovations.

“The Bosch Supplier Awards honour our top suppliers, who play such a key role in Bosch’s success,” said Dr Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management. “Our suppliers are important partners in helping us to shape the connected world. We want to work with them to develop beneficial solutions for our customers.”

Bosch continues to believe that long-term partnerships and the early involvement of suppliers are key to its continuing success.

Connected Solutions

Long-term alliances are the drivers for connected solutions, with web-enabled products and services forming one of the cornerstones of Bosch’s future sales growth. Denner added, “Strong, long-term partnerships with suppliers are key drivers of networked solutions. In addition, trust, transparency, agility, quality, delivery capability and competitive prices are at the core of our collaboration with our suppliers.”

Bosch works with more than 35,000 suppliers worldwide, and this year the company has chosen to honour the top 58 of these companies for the company’s prestigious award. Three of the suppliers are winners for at least the 11th time, while seven of them have now won for at least the fifth time. Almost half of the companies honoured are headquartered outside Germany, and one quarter of those are located in Asia. Today Bosch wants to involve them even earlier in the product creation process and to work with them to develop solutions for the connected world. This connectivity is not exclusive to Bosch, but encompasses the entire value-added chain and for this reason the company has recognised particularly forward-looking projects with the supplier award in the ‘Innovations’ category.

Seamlessly connected mobility

Today virtually all new cars sold in Germany are web-enabled. Real time traffic data, the eCall emergency call service and music streaming all require internet access. Bosch is making connected driving possible in two ways; firstly by integrating smart phones in a way that apps can be operated safely while at the wheel; and secondly, by installing communication boxes. As a result, drivers of connected vehicles can use their infotainment systems to stream both real-time data and entertainment content.

However, connectivity extends far beyond the car’s hood: it is also gaining ground in public transportation and car-sharing services. Bosch is already offering a glimpse of the future of mobility as part of its ‘Stuttgart Services’ project. “Our mobility solutions go beyond automotive technology,” Denner said. Bosch plans to create a mobility assistant that makes it possible for drivers in the greater Stuttgart area to plan their route using different modes of transport, which includes switching from bikes to trains and buses. What makes this project special is that a single app is enough to plan, book and pay for travel involving different modes of transport. n For further details of the Bosch Supplier Awards, its products and services visit: www.bosch.com