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Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
and
technology company A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services. Details According to '' ...
headquartered in
Gerlingen Gerlingen (Swabian: ''Gaerlenge'') is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 9 km west of Stuttgart, and 15 km southwest of Ludwigsburg. Gerlingen is home to Bosch, a major engineering and ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The company was founded by
Robert Bosch Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German industrialist, engineer and inventor, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH. Biography Bosch was born in Albeck, a village to the northeast of Ulm in southern Germany as the eleventh of ...
in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 92% owned by
Robert Bosch Stiftung The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH () is a German foundation that owns a majority shareholding in Robert Bosch GmbH, from which it derives its funding. The foundation was established in accordance with the wishes of Robert Bosch, who died in 1942, an ...
, a charitable institution. Although the charity is funded by owning the vast majority of shares, it has no voting rights and is involved in health and social causes unrelated to Bosch’s business. Bosch's core operating areas are spread across four business sectors: mobility (hardware and software), consumer goods (including
household appliances A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cookin ...
and power tools), industrial technology (including drive and control) and energy and building technology.


History


1886–1920

The company started in a backyard in Stuttgart-West as the ''Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Elektrotechnik'' (''Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering'') on 15 November 1886. The next year Bosch presented a low voltage
magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
for gas engines. From 1897, Bosch started installing
magneto ignition An ignition magneto, or high-tension magneto, is a magneto that provides current for the ignition system of a spark-ignition engine, such as a petrol engine. It produces pulses of high voltage for the spark plugs. The older term ''tension'' ...
devices into automobiles and became a supplier of an ignition system. In 1902, the chief engineer at Bosch,
Gottlob Honold 220px, Gottlob Honold 1910 Gottlob Honold (26 August 1876 – 17 March 1923) was the leading engineer in the workshop of Robert Bosch and, with Bosch, was the inventor of the spark plug and the modern internal combustion engine, as well as headli ...
, unveiled the high-voltage magneto ignition system with spark plug. In 1901, Bosch opened its first factory in Stuttgart. In 1906, the company produced its 100,000th magneto. In the same year, Bosch introduced the 8-hours day for workers. In 1910, the Feuerbach plant was founded and built close to Stuttgart. In this factory, Bosch started to produce generators and headlights "Bosch-Light" in 1914. the system had been presented in 1913. The onset of motorization in road traffic meant that the company grew very rapidly after 1900. While Bosch had a workforce of 45 in 1901, it had already grown to more than 1,000 by 1908. In 1913, Bosch founded an apprentice workshop in order to recruit qualified young people for the production of automotive electrics. Bosch's international development began in 1898 with the opening of a branch in London, followed the next year by Paris, Vienna, and Budapest. By 1909, Bosch was represented by trading partners on every continent: in 1906 in New York (U.S.) and Johannesburg (South Africa), in 1907 in Sydney (Australia), in 1908 in Buenos Aires (Argentina), in 1909 in Shanghai (China), in 1910 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and in 1911 in Tokyo (Japan). Bosch opened the first factory outside Germany in Paris in 1905, and the first on another continent in 1912 in Springfield, Massachusetts (USA). In 1917, Bosch was transformed into a corporation and remained so until 1937, when Robert Bosch became the sole owner again after buying back his shares. In the process, the company became a limited liability company (GmbH).


1920s -1945

After the First World War, Bosch lost most of its international holdings, including its U.S. factories. The company had to largely rebuild its international activities. This included opening up further South American and Asian regions. In 1922, for example, Illies & Company established a sales office for Bosch goods in Calcutta, India. In the years that followed, Bosch concluded contracts in Asia with sales partners in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and what is now Indonesia, for example, and on the American continents with partners in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. In the 1920s, Bosch expanded its product range to include numerous automotive technology products that were required for cars in everyday use: electric horn (1921), direction indicators ("trafficator" 1927), windshield wipers (1926). And in 1927, Bosch launched injection pumps for diesel. Bosch bought the gas appliances production from Junkers & Co. in 1932, as a part of a diversification strategy. In 1932, the company developed its first electric drill and presented its first car radio. In 1933, Bosch presented its first electric fridge for private households. The year 1933 marked the beginning of the darkest chapter in Bosch's corporate history. On the one hand, the company was systemically relevant as a motor vehicle supplier during the Nazi era, and the management behaved loyally toward the regime. On the other hand, with Robert Bosch's support, the company supported oppositional and anti-regime activities with the utmost secrecy.


Nazi collaboration

In late 1933 negotiations between Robert Bosch AG and the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
began on relocating parts of armaments production to Germany's interior. Bosch founded two such alternative plants in 1935 and 1937: Dreilinden Maschinenbau GmbH in
Kleinmachnow Kleinmachnow is a municipality of about 20,000 inhabitants in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated South-West of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf and East of Potsdam. First mentioned in the Landbuch of Karl ...
near Berlin and Elektro- und Feinmechanische Industrie GmbH (later Trillke-Werke GmbH) in
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
. Both plants were used exclusively for armaments production. These "shadow factories" were built under great secrecy and in close cooperation with the Nazi authorities. In 1937, Bosch AG became a limited liability company ( GmbH). The Bosch subsidiary Dreilinden Maschinenbau GmbH (DLMG) in Kleinmachnow employed around 5,000 people, more than half of whom were forced laborers, prisoners of war, and female concentration camp prisoners, including many women from the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
. They had to produce accessories for German
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
aircraft. In Hildesheim, a secret plant for the entire electrical equipment of tanks, tractors, and trucks of the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
was built. In 1944, 4,290 men and women worked in the Trillke factory, 2,019 of whom were forced laborers, prisoners of war and military internees. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, a total of 2,711 people who had been deported to Germany from the occupied countries had to work at the Bosch plant in Hildesheim. In the last years of the war, no new German tank ever drove without the starter elements from the Bosch factory in Hildesheim. Bosch also had a monopoly position in the outfitting of German Luftwaffe aircraft. During the war, production was further decentralized, Bosch produced in an ever larger number of factories, and relocated parts of its production to 213 plants in more than 100 locations. On 12 March 1942, the company's founder, Robert Bosch, died at the age of 80. Angela Martin and Ewa Czerwiakowski interviewed numerous former forced laborers and
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
prisoners of Dreilinden Maschinenbau GmbH and Trillke-Werke as part of a Berliner Geschichtswerkstatt project, researched the history of the two shadow factories, and published several books and exhibitions on the subject. A few months later, on October 11, 1933, Robert Bosch had written to the German foreign minister insisting on the continuation of international understanding, especially the Franco-German understanding that was close to his own heart. Without success, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, the predecessor institution of today's UN, on October 14, 1933. As the dictatorship solidified, such official interventions proved futile, if not dangerous. Therefore, activities were essentially limited to two options: Supporting the resistance and helping Jews. In April 1937, Bosch engaged the former mayor of Leipzig, Carl Goerdeler. The latter, officially as a business advisor to the company, traveled abroad many times over the next two years to warn politicians about Hitler's war plans. He later belonged to the "Bosch Circle" around Albrecht Fischer, Paul Hahn, Theodor Bäuerle, and WIlly Schloßstein, all of whom were confidants of Robert Bosch and Hans Walz and critical of the Nazi system. With the help of this circle, Goerdeler supported the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. Because of his participation in the preparation of the attack, Goerdeler was sentenced to death and executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on February 2, 1945. Aid for Jews was provided primarily on the initiative of Hans Walz, the head of the company, with the backing of Robert Bosch, mostly in the form of cash donations that were used via the "Jewish Central Office" to finance the emigration of persecuted Jews, in many cases illegally.


21st century

In 2001, Bosch acquired the ''Mannesmann Rexroth AG'', which they later renamed to '' Bosch Rexroth AG''. In the same year, the company opened a new testing center in Vaitoudden, close to
Arjeplog Arjeplog (; Pite Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,977 inhabitants in 2010. It is a popular winter test site for the Asian and European car industries and feature ...
in north Sweden. A new developing center in Abstatt, Germany followed in 2004. In 2002, Bosch acquired Philips CSI, which at the time was manufacturing a broad range of professional communication and security products and systems including CCTV, congress and public address systems. Important inventions in these years were the electric hydraulic brake in 2001, the common rail fuel injection with piezo-injectors, the digital car radio with a disc drive, and the cordless screwdriver with a
lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...
in 2003. Bosch received the ''Deutsche Zukunftspreis'' (German Future Prize) from the German president in 2005 and 2008. A new development center was planned in 2008 in
Renningen Renningen is a town in the district of Böblingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 18 km west of Stuttgart. Geography Renningen is located in the west of Stuttgart, between Leonberg and Weil der Stadt on the fringes of the ...
. In 2014, the first departments moved to the new center, while the remaining departments followed in 2015. In 2006, Bosch acquired
Telex Communications Telex Communications, originally Telex Corporation, was a Burnsville, Minnesota-based manufacturer of hearing aids and audio equipment. Founded in 1936 as a maker of hearing aids, it entered the computer peripherals businesses in the 1960s. Telex ...
and Electro-Voice. In 2009, Bosch invested about 3.6 billion Euro in development and research. Approximately 3900 patents are published per year. In addition to increasing energy efficiency by employing renewable energies, the company plans to invest into new areas such as
biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
. China has developed into an important market and manufacturing base for Bosch. In 2012, Bosch had 34,000 employees and a revenue of 41.7 billion Yuan (about 5 billion Euro) in China. * 2012 – Purchased SPX Service Solutions * 2012 – Bosch sold its foundation brakes activities to
KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...
, that led to the establishment of
Chassis Brakes International Chassis Brakes International was a multinational manufacturer of automotive brakes and brake components. It was formed in June 2012 when the brakes division of Robert Bosch GmbH was sold to KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an Ameri ...
* 2013 – Bosch announced it would exit its solar business * 2014 – Bosch entered talks to acquire
Red Bend Software Red Bend Software is a software company providing mobile software management technology to mobile phone manufacturers and operators. Its software has been deployed by handset manufacturers including Kyocera, LG Electronics, Motorola, Sharp, Sony ...
. * 2014 – Bosch takes over 100% of the shares from the former BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH joint venture (home appliances) * 2014 – Bosch received the 2014 U.S. Smart Partner award for Physical Security from Ingram Micro Inc. * 2015 – Bosch takes over 100% of the shares of the former ZF Lenksysteme (Steering Systems) GmbH joint venture (was 50/50 with
ZF Friedrichshafen ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally ''Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen'', and commonly abbreviated to ZF (ZF = "Zahnradfabrik" = "Cogwheel Factory"), is a German car parts maker headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south- ...
) * 2015 – Bosch purchases Seeo, Inc, a start-up working on solid state lithium ion batteries.


Role in emission cheating software

In 2006,
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
executives asked Bosch for help in developing software for their emission defeat devices. Volkswagen is one of Bosch's biggest customers. Volkswagen engineers provided detailed specifications to Bosch, which wrote the necessary code. Bosch was apparently concerned about the legality of software and asked Volkswagen to assume responsibility if the fraud was discovered, but Volkswagen refused. Starting in 2008, Bosch supplied approximately 17 million motor control and mixture control devices containing illegal software to various manufacturers both domestically and globally. With such software, the automobiles fitted with Bosch's devices emitted more nitrogen oxides than allowed under regulations. On 1 February 2017, Bosch agreed to pay consumers in the United States $327.5 million as compensation for its role in devising the software. Bosch also provided emissions software for Fiat Chrysler's 3.0 L V6 diesel engine used in 100,000 model year 2014–2016
Grand Cherokee The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a range of mid-size SUVs produced by the American manufacturer Jeep. At its introduction, while most SUVs were still manufactured with body-on-frame construction, the Grand Cherokee has used a unibody chassis from the ...
SUVs and Ram Trucks and agreed to pay affected consumers $27.5 million as part of a broader settlement in January 2019. In May 2019, Bosch paid another $100 million fine for its connection to the
Dieselgate The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...
scandal.


Role in Astongate greenwashing campaign

In 2020, Bosch funded the creation of a 20-page report entitled ''Decarbonising Road Transport: There Is No Silver Bullet'', which was widely debunked for promoting misleading information about the CO2 emissions created in the manufacture of electric vehicles, following the UK's declaration to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles from 2030. The report compared the emissions created in the production of the all-electric
Polestar 2 The Polestar 2 is a battery electric 5-door liftback produced by the Swedish automaker Volvo under its Polestar sub-brand. Based on the CMA platform, production began in March 2020 at the Luqiao CMA Super Factory in Luqiao, Zhejiang, China. ...
car, which it claimed would emit 24 tonnes of CO2 over its life, with a petrol-powered
Volvo XC40 The Volvo XC40 is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV manufactured by Volvo Cars. It was unveiled on 21 September 2017 as the smallest SUV model from Volvo, below the XC60. Orders started in September of 2017, and manufacturing began in November ...
, which the report claimed would create 14 tonnes of CO2. Based on the comparison of these two cars alone the study promoted by Clarendon Communications claimed that all electric vehicles would need to drive in order to offset the emissions from manufacture – when, in reality, a typical EV need only drive in order to offset the emissions from manufacture. While Bosch was a key funder of the report, the scandal became known as Astongate given the relationship between British automotive manufacturer, Aston Martin and Clarendon Communications, a shell company posing as a PR agency which set up to promote the report, and which was registered to James Michael Stephens – the Director Global Government & Corporate Affairs at Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. In January 2021, Volkswagen filed a $1.2 billion class-action against Bosch and Continental AG after VW was forced to reduce production due to a lack of automotive microchips. On January 26, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that Bosch won on all claims. In January 2020, Bosch Packaging Technology became Syntegon.Bosch Packaging Technology is now Syntegon , Syntegon
/ref> In June 2021, Bosch christened its newly built semiconductor manufacturing plant in which it invested $1.2 billion, its largest-ever spending on a single project. In April 2022, Bosch announced to acquire Five.ai, an autonomous driving startup. in April 2022, Bosch announced it had acquired the
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
-based MEMS micro speaker producer, Arioso Systems. The company will form part of Bosch Sensortec GmbH. In July 2022, Bosch said the company is looking to invest approximately 3 billion euros into its semiconductor chip production and R&D over the next four years. They will be opening two new facilities for manufacturing a computer chip development in the cities of Dresden and Reutlingen. Chairman Stefan Hartung said the company is not interested in building cutting-edge semiconductor facilities but focuses on 40 and 200-nanometer chips used in the automotive industry.


Operations

The majority of Bosch Group businesses are grouped into the following four business sectors.


Mobility solutions

The Mobility Solutions business sector accounts for 60 percent of total sales in 2019. Its main areas of activity are injection technology and
powertrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...
peripherals for internal-combustion engines, powertrain electrification, steering systems, safety and driver-assistance systems, infotainment technology as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Particular strategic priorities for the sector include transforming the powertrain and expanding the business in the areas of electrification,
automated driving Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control o ...
, new electrical and electronic architectures for vehicles, accessing adjacent market segments, and developing additional services. The new Powertrain Solutions division was formed effective 1 January 2018, in order to develop powertrain technology products, regardless of the energy source. The new division resulted from the merger of the former Gasoline Systems and Diesel Systems divisions. It offers products for powertrain technology, from gasoline and diesel direct injection to electrified powertrains with battery systems and, in the future, it will offer fuel-cell technologies as well. Brands within this sector include: * AutoCrew * Bosch Car Service * ITK Engineering * Robinair * HC Cargo *
Zexel Zexel is a Japanese auto-components manufacturer. It was founded in 1939 as Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd., under a Bosch license, for domestic production of fuel-injection pumps for diesel engines. Originally established with an investment from Isuzu Mot ...
*
ETAS The ETAS Group is a German company which designs tools for the development of embedded systems for the automotive industry and other sectors of the embedded industry. ETAS is 100-percent subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. Business ETAS GmbH, f ...


Industrial technology

In the 2019 business year, the Industrial Technology business sector generated roughly 10 percent of total Bosch Group sales. The sector includes the Drive and Control Technology division, whose products include customized drive, control, and linear motion for factory automation, plant construction and engineering, and mobile machinery. The second division, Packaging Technology, provides process and packaging for the pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs industries. Its range includes stand-alone machines, systems, and service. In 2018, Bosch decided to look for a new owner for this business. Bosch's in-house provider of assembly systems, Robert Bosch Manufacturing Solutions GmbH, Stuttgart, remains part of the Bosch Group; up to now, it has been part of the Packaging Technology division. In addition, the Bosch Connected Industry business unit, which develops software and carries out Industry 4.0 projects for internal and external customers, has been part of the Industrial Technology business sector since the start of 2018. In January 2020, Bosch Packaging Technology became Syntegon


Consumer goods

The Consumer Goods business sector contributed some 23 percent of total Bosch Group sales in 2019. Its Power Tools division is a supplier of power tools, power-tool accessories, and measuring technology. In addition to power tools such as
hammer drill A hammer drill, also known as a percussion drill or impact drill, is a power tool used chiefly for drilling in hard materials. It is a type of rotary drill with an impact mechanism that generates a hammering motion. The percussive mechanism prov ...
s, cordless screwdrivers, and jigsaws, its products also include gardening equipment such as
lawnmowers A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...
,
hedge trimmer A hedge trimmer, shrub trimmer, or bush trimmerAs with the term ''scissors'', the plural terms "hedge trimmers" + c. are often used for individual trimming tools. is a gardening tool or machine used for trimming (cutting, pruning) hedges or so ...
s, and high-pressure cleaners. One of the division's focal points is convenient, high-performance cordless tools, and increasingly also web-enabled tools and services. Overlapping with its mobility interests, it provides traction motors for
electric bicycles An electric bicycle (e-bike, eBike, etc.) is a motorized bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fall into two broad categories: bikes that assist ...
with sophisticated control systems. The Consumer Goods business sector also includes BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, which offers a broad range of modern, energy-efficient, and increasingly connected household appliances. Its products range from washing machines and tumble dryers through refrigerators and freezers, stoves and ovens, and dishwashers, to small appliances such as
vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven. The dirt is collected by either a ...
s, coffee makers, and
food processor A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food ...
s. Brands within this sector include: *
Dremel Dremel ( ) is a multinational brand of power tools, focusing on home improvement and hobby applications. Dremel is known primarily for its rotary tools such as the Dremel 3000, 4000 and 8200 series which are similar to the pneumatic die grinder ...
* Siemens (under licence) *
Neff GmbH Neff GmbH ( stylized as NEFF in its logo) is a German manufacturer of high-end kitchen appliances headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company was founded by Carl Andreas Neff in 1877 and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of BSH Hausgeräte ...
*
Gaggenau Hausgeräte is a German manufacturer of high-end home appliances. The company was established in 1683 as the Eisenwerke Gaggenau A.G. in the Black Forest region of south-west Germany by German aristocrat Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden. The company ...


Energy and building technology

In 2019, the Energy and Building Technology business sector generated 7 percent of total Bosch Group sales. Its Building Technologies division (formerly Security Systems) has two areas of business: the global product business for security and communications, and the regional integrator business. The latter offers services for building security, energy efficiency, and building automation in selected countries. Both units focus on commercial applications. The products encompass video-surveillance, intrusion-detection, fire-detection, and voice-alarm systems, as well as access-control and professional audio and conference systems. The Thermotechnology division offers systems for
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
, hot water, and decentralized energy management. It provides heating systems and energy management for residential buildings, water heaters, and commercial and industrial heating and air-conditioning systems. The Bosch Global Service Solutions division offers outsourcing for business processes and services, primarily for customers in the automotive, travel, and logistics industries and in information and communications technology. Within Bosch, it also provides shared-service functions. Robert Bosch Smart Home GmbH offers web-enabled, app-controlled products for the home. Brands within this sector: *
Dynacord Telex Communications, originally Telex Corporation, was a Burnsville, Minnesota-based manufacturer of hearing aids and audio equipment. Founded in 1936 as a maker of hearing aids, it entered the computer peripherals businesses in the 1960s. Telex ...
* Electro-Voice *
Telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages electroni ...
*
Worcester Bosch Worcester Bosch (commonly referred to as Worcester) is a United Kingdom based heating and hot water products manufacturer. The company was founded in 1962 by Cecil Duckworth as Worcester Engineering Co Ltd in Worcester, England. After changing ...
* Junkers


Other business areas

The Bosch Group also operates in other business areas that are not assigned to a particular sector. Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. The subsidiary was established in 2015 with the aim of developing products and services that improve people's health and quality of life. The business offers customers connected products and services in the area of healthcare and medical technology. In March 2020, Bosch Healthcare Solutions announced that it has developed a diagnostic tool for detecting the coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
responsible for the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
in under three hours. According to Bosch, the test can be performed directly at the point of care, eliminating the need to transport samples. Bosch Software Innovations has been active on the internet of things for nearly ten years. Its team takes IoT ideas from the level of strategy to practical implementation, and helps companies manage the process of digital transformation. The Grow Platform GmbH is the legal entity of Grow and a 100% subsidiary of the Bosch corporation. Grow is an internal start-up incubator. Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) is the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group. RBVC invests worldwide in innovative start-up companies. Its investment activities focus on technology companies working in areas of business of current and future relevance for Bosch, above all, automation and electrification, energy efficiency, enabling technologies, and healthcare systems. RBVC also invests in services and business models as well as new materials that are relevant to the above-mentioned areas of business.


Locations

Through a complex network of over 440 subsidiaries and regional entities, the company operates in over 60 countries worldwide. Including sales and service partners, Bosch's global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. At 125 locations across the globe, Bosch employs roughly 64,500 associates in research and development.


British operations

In the UK, Bosch has its corporate head office in
Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, approximately from central London, northwest of Uxbridge and just north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. The name is derived from the Old English for ...
, and employs circa. 5200 associates. There are also around 40 other Bosch Group locations throughout the country, including
Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
,
Glenrothes Glenrothes (; , ; sco, Glenrothes; gd, Gleann Rathais) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south of Dundee. The town had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it ...
, St Neots, Stockport,
Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edm ...
,
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, Milton Keynes,
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
and
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Alongside sales and support functions for all Bosch business sectors in the region, the company also manufactures boiler systems, mobile hydraulics, packaging machinery alongside lawn and garden products in the UK. In March 2019, Bosch opened its London Connectory, a Shoreditch-based "co-innovation space" open to partners from the public, private and academic sectors, from start-ups to multinational organisations.


North American operations

In North America, Robert Bosch LLC (a wholly owned Bosch subsidiary) has corporate headquarters in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Three Research Technology Centers are located in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
, Sunnyvale, California, and
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
. Factories and distribution facilities are located in
Mt. Prospect, Illinois Mount Prospect is a village in Elk Grove and Wheeling Townships in Cook County, Illinois, about northwest of downtown Chicago, and approximately 4 miles north of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total pop ...
;
Hoffman Estates, Illinois Hoffman Estates is a village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, with a small section in Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 52,530. The village now serves a ...
;
Broadview, Illinois Broadview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, west of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 7,998. History Broadview was incorporated as a village in 1914. Government * Mayor: Katrina Thompson * Clerk: Kevin R. Mc ...
;
Kentwood, Michigan Kentwood is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 54,304 as of the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the northwest by Grand Rapids and is the third most-populated municipality in the Grand Rapids metropolitan ...
;
Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb. T ...
;
Owatonna, Minnesota Owatonna () is a city in Steele County, Minnesota, Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,599 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Steele County. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fair ...
;
Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...
;
Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 202 ...
;
Anderson, South Carolina Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 28,106 at the 2020 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702. It is one of the principal cities in the Green ...
; Charleston, South Carolina; and 11 other cities. There are also two corporate sites in Brazil and ten in Mexico where a central purchasing office for all divisions of Bosch Group is located in Broadview, Illinois. In North America, Bosch employs about 24,750 people in 80 locations, generating $8.8 billion in sales in 2006. In May 2015, Bosch Security Systems opened its newly constructed distribution center in
Greer, South Carolina Greer is a city in Greenville and Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 35,308 as of the 2020 census Greer is part of the Greenville– Anderson– Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is add ...
. The distribution center adds more than 50 new associates in the state and will receive, store and ship more than 50,000 different products for video surveillance, intrusion and fire detection, access control and management systems and professional audio and conference systems.


Indian operations

Bosch entered India in 1922, when Illies & Company set up a sales office in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
. For three decades, the company operated in the Indian market only through imports. In 1951, the Motor Industries Company Ltd. (MICO) was founded, with Bosch instantly buying 49% of its stock. MICO became the sole distributor and, after the Indian state implemented restrictive import regulations, a factory was set up at Adugodi, Bangalore in 1953, to manufacture various products with Bosch licensing. From this point onward, vocational training took place as well, culminating in the creation of a Vocational Centre in 1960. By 1961, 2,000 people worked at the Bangalore plant, which had already started export business, and 57.5% of MICO shares had been bought by Bosch. This was followed by increased investments into MICO plants in India in the late 1960s and early 1970s; a second plant was installed in Nasik in 1969–1971, a third in Naganathapura in 1988. In the late 1980s, the second-largest contingent of Bosch employees outside of Germany was based in India until eventually, in 2008, MICO was renamed Bosch Limited. Bosch India has a turnover of over US$3 billion and over 31,000 employees spread across 10 locations and 7 application development centers. 84% of Bosch India revenues come from its automotive business, with the remaining 16% split between its non-automotive businesses that include packaging, energy and building, power tools and consumer retail. Bosch also has R & D facilities in
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
,
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
, Coimbatore and
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
, India. This is Bosch's largest R & D operation outside its home market of Germany. In September 2014, Bosch announced the launch of a locally developed eye-care solution in India. The company's new eye screening and detection system offers a combination of hardware and software and provides affordable eye care. Bosch India is listed on the Indian stock exchanges and has a market capitalization of over US$12 billion. In 2022, Bosch's engineering and software arm Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (abbreviated as RBEI), changed its name to Bosch Global Software Technologies.


Joint ventures


BSH Hausgeräte

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, in which Bosch acquired all shares in 2014, is one of the world's top three companies in the household appliances industry. In Germany and
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
, BSH is the market leader. It includes the principal brand names ''Bosch'' and ''Siemens'', ''
Gaggenau Gaggenau is a town in the district of Rastatt, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located some 8 km northeast of Baden-Baden. History Gaggenau was first mentioned in local records in 1243 under the name "Gaggenaw". The present distric ...
'', '' Balay'', ''Neff'', ''Thermador'', '' Constructa'', ''Viva'' and ''Ufesa'' brands, and further six regional brands. Bosch household appliances for the North American market are mainly manufactured at its factory near New Bern, North Carolina.


EM-motive

Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...
and Bosch established a 50:50 joint venture (JV) to develop and manufacture electric motors in 2011. The JV, called EM-motive GmbH, manufactures traction motors for electric, fuel cell and extended-range vehicles at a facility in Hildesheim, Germany. In 2019 Bosch acquired the remaining shares and assumed full control of the company.


Purolator filters

Bosch co-owned
Purolator Filters MANN+HUMMEL Purolator Filters LLC, more commonly known as Purolator, is an American manufacturer of oil and air filters, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Since 2013, it has been a subsidiary of German filter manufacturer Mann+Hummel. Pur ...
in a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
with Mann+Hummel until 2013. In 2013 the Mann+Hummel Group acquired Bosch's stake.


SB LiMotive

In June 2008 Bosch formed SB LiMotive, a 50:50 joint company with
Samsung SDI Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. () is a battery and electronic materials manufacturer headquartered in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Samsung SDI operates its business with Energy Solutions and Electronic Materials segment. The Energy Solution segment ma ...
. The company held ground breaking ceremony for a 28.000 m2 lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant in September 2009 and it is scheduled to start production for
hybrid vehicles A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...
in 2011 and for electric vehicles in 2012. The plant will generate 1,000 jobs in
Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...
, Korea in addition to the 500 employees in Korea, Germany and the United States. SB LiMotive was officially ended in September 2012 with both companies focusing on automotive batteries alone.


Static ADAS Calibration

In October 2020, Bosch and
Mitchell International Mitchell International, Inc. is an American company based in San Diego, CA, which develops software used by the automotive industry to manage collision and medical claims, parts and labor estimates, and glass replacement quotes. Mitchell operates ...
paired up to develop the MD-500, a wireless tablet that repair planners can use to link directly to OEM repair procedures from Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), automatically upload pre-scan and post-scans, and write estimates and calibration reports. Bosch and Mitchell launched the MD-TS21, a target system which permits repair facilities to quickly and accurately calibrate blind-spot monitors, front-facing camera, and radar sensors in automobile models with ADAS, in February 2021.


Corporate affairs

Robert Bosch GmbH, including its wholly owned subsidiaries such as Robert Bosch LLC in North America, is unusual in that it is an extremely large, privately owned corporation that is almost entirely (92%) owned by a charitable foundation. Thus, while most of the profits are invested back into the corporation to build for the future and sustain growth, nearly all of the profits distributed to shareholders are devoted to humanitarian causes. As shown in the diagram above, the ''
Robert Bosch Stiftung The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH () is a German foundation that owns a majority shareholding in Robert Bosch GmbH, from which it derives its funding. The foundation was established in accordance with the wishes of Robert Bosch, who died in 1942, an ...
'' (''Robert Bosch Foundation'') holds 92% of the shares of ''Robert Bosch GmbH'', but no voting rights. The ''Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG'' (''Robert Bosch Industrial
Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...
KG''), with old members of the company management, agents of the Bosch family, and other eminent people from the industry (such as Jürgen Hambrecht, CEO of
BASF BASF SE () is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries ...
), have 93% of the votes, but no shares (0.01%). The remaining 8% of shares and 7% of voting-rights are held by the descendants of the company founder Robert Bosch. For example, in 2004, the net profit was US$2.1 billion, but only US$78 million was distributed as dividends to shareholders. Of that figure, US$72 million was distributed to the charitable foundation, and the other US$6 million to Bosch family stockholders. The remaining 96% of the profits were invested back into the company. In its core automotive technology business, Bosch invests 9% of its revenue on research and development, nearly double the industry average of 4.7%.


Accreditations

Almost all Bosch locations are both
ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...
(quality) and ISO 14001 (environmental protection) certified. In addition to that, their management is compliant with OHSAS 18001.


Environmental practices and initiatives

In May 2019, Bosch said it plans to be "fully
carbon-neutral Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...
” by 2020 – a decade or more earlier than most of its rivals – thanks to big investments in clean electricity and an ambitious
carbon offset A carbon offset is a reduction or removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. Offsets are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e). One ton of carb ...
program.


Partnership with universities

Bosch has formed a strategic alliance with the
Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...
.


See also

* Continental AG *
Knorr-Bremse Knorr-Bremse AG is a German manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles that has operated in the field for over 110 years. Other products in Group's portfolio include intelligent door systems, control components, air c ...
* Siemens


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robert Bosch Gmbh Auto parts suppliers of Germany Automotive companies of Germany Engineering companies of Germany Electronics companies of Germany Tool manufacturing companies of Germany Home appliance brands Home appliance manufacturers of Germany Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies Power tool manufacturers Plug-in hybrid vehicle industry Multinational companies headquartered in Germany Manufacturing companies established in 1886 1886 establishments in Germany Privately held companies of Germany German brands German companies established in 1886 Electric motor manufacturers Pump manufacturers