Bosch 125 years Invented for life

Bosch 125 years Invented for life

Bosch 125 years Invented for life

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Foreword Robert Bosch Chronology 18861900 The Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering

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19011923 The emergence of a global automotive supplier 19241945 From automotive supplier to diversified corporate group 19461959 Reconstruction and the economic miracle 19601989 Creation of the divisions and the rise of automotive electronics

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Associates and working environments Corporate social responsibility Appendix Robert Bosch and his successors Locations worldwide Sales revenue and associates, 18862010 Milestones The Bosch Group Picture credits

Foreword

company can grow old without aging, since entrepreneurial action rejuvenates. Constancy and the ability to change both apply equally to the history of the Bosch Group, which

has now existed for 125 years. At the same time, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of our company founders birth. These two occasions would seem to justify a book of this kind. Its publication goes hand in hand with a solid thanks to our associates and business partners, without whom our company would neither have become so old nor stayed so young. The book looks back, and does so in a literal sense. It not only tells our story, but also illustrates it with pictures from the company archives which we have maintained for more than 75 years now. What we want to show more than anything else is that tradition is a valuable asset especially so in a company that sees itself as innovative. The history of Bosch is a history of pioneering adventures technologically, socially, and economically. For us, this is something that spurs us on to ever new achievements, making use of our companys past to drive its future forward. For however impressive our history may be, we must not be content just to celebrate it. We must look for improvement as a mat ter of course. And for this, we have many strengths we can draw from. To give an example: Robert Bosch remains a figure with whom our associates the world over can readily identify. He sought, and achieved, a balance between economic and social responsibility. Today, we are increasingly adding ecological considerations to this

equation. More than anything else, it is through technology that a company like Bosch must do justice to the standards it has set itself, as it progresses toward organic photovoltaics and the electric car. In both cases, the route will be a long one. This calls for staying power power that Bosch has manifested in the development of many important innovations, especially in automotive technology. Here again, we see how our past gives us strength for our future. In the history of Bosch, there are very clearly continuities that are worth developing further. As we do so, we always have to answer three key questions anew: What are the principles that have guided our success thus far? How well will the things that have been handed down to us weather the storms of the future? What areas need to be developed further, and what areas need to be established? Without critical reflection of this kind, a company so steeped in tradition as Bosch cannot remain dynamic. In this spirit, our main hope on the occasion of our dual anniversary is that this review will give us food for thought by highlighting the vitality that is inherent in our history a history that has had its ups and downs, but at the same time has always been vibrant.

Prof.Dr.Hermann Scholl Chairman of the Supervisory Council

Franz Fehrenbach Chairman of the Board of Management

Robert Bosch

The man who founded Bosch and gave the company its name was a multifaceted individual: a freethinking cosmopolitan with solid roots in his southwest German homeland, a champion of technology whose heart nonetheless belonged to nature, a political thinker prone to outbursts of emotion, a father figure and a model of circumspection. The mark he left on both the company and the Robert Bosch Stiftung, a charitable foundation, survives to the present day. It is mostly thanks to his compelling personality that the legacy of Robert Bosch lives on. He is a role model precisely because of his lack of perfection he was at times rough at the edges, a person who could be difficult; he was an object of affection, but his convictions sometimes gave offense. Above all, he was respected, since people knew he was a careful thinker, a keener observer than many of his peers, and someone who kept his word. But what made him the way he was? That is a question we cannot answer without returning to his roots.

I have always acted according to the principle that I would rather lose money than trust. The integrity of my promises, the belief in the value of my products and in my word of honor have always had a higher priority for me than a tran sitory profit.
Robert Bosch, 1919

 I was not at all fond of school childhood and education

obert Bosch was born on September 23, 1861, in Albeck, a village to the north of Ulm. He was the eleventh of twelve children. His parents were well-to-do farmers who also owned an inn. Robert Bosch later

described his father Servatius as a freemason with politically liberal views, and his mother Maria Margaretha as an extremely hard-working and sympathetic woman. In 1869, his father sold the inn and retired to Ulm: plans for the new Aalen-Heidenheim-Ulm railroad led him to fear he would lose his main customers, the teamsters whose route took them through Albeck. From 1869 to 1876, Robert Bosch attended the secondary-technical school in Ulm, but with little enthusiasm, as he later admitted: I was not at all

fond of school. It was school as an institution and the outdated methods of his teachers he disliked, not learning or the curriculum itself. As a student, Robert Bosch had a thirst for knowledge and a wide range of interests. After finishing school, he was faced with the difficult question of what occupation he should pursue. On his fathers recommendation, Robert Bosch embarked on an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic at a busiLeft: Robert Bosch at the age of 25, 1886 Top: The house where Robert Bosch was born: the Zur Krone inn in Albeck, near Ulm, as it looked in 1931

ness in Ulm, even though his interests lay elsewhere: I was drawn more towards zoology and botany. As Bosch soon discovered to his dismay, his master Wilhelm Maier, a precision mechanic&optical instrument maker, paid hardly any attention to training his apprentices. Maier was often absent from the workshop, and was generally unable to pass on any useful skills or capabilities. This negligence left a lifelong impression on Robert Bosch, engendering in him a keen interest in proper occupational training.

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Right: Robert Bosch was the eleventh of twelve children. This studio photo of Robert Bosch with his younger sister Maria was taken in 1871.

After he completed his apprenticeship in 1879, Robert Boschs first wish was to leave home and discover the world. He spent several years working for a variety of companies in Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In the fall of 1879, the first stage on his journeymans travels was Bosch&Haag in Cologne, a company that belonged to his brother. Robert Bosch moved on in the winter, joining C.&E. Fein in Stuttgart. Again, he spent only a few months there before continuing his travels. Starting in the spring of 1880, he spent a year working in a factory in Hanau that produced special machinery for making gold and silver chains. From 1881 to 1883, Robert Bosch was employed at two different companies in Nuremberg, Sigmund Schuckert (which manufactured voltmeters and ammeters) and Schffer (a builder of arc lamps). Despite his lack of background knowledge, he enrolled at Stuttgart Polytechnic as a non-registered student for the winter semester of 188384. It was here, in his own words, that he overcame his fear of technical terminology []. After that, I knew about voltage and currents, and what horsepower was. Following this brief interlude at the polytechnic, Robert Bosch set off on his travels again. This time he was drawn to North America and the U.K., and to the pioneers there of electrical engineering the field he had come to find so fascinating. In 1884 and 1885, he worked for various companies in the U.S., among them the Edison Machine Works (a maker of telephones and telegraphs). He then moved on to Siemens Brothers in England (a manufacturer of electrical equipment). His final job before setting up his own business was with Buss, Sombart&Co. in Magdeburg (a specialist in electric lighting) in 1886.

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Dear Anna starting a family

Top: On October 10, 1887, Robert Bosch married Anna Kayser (18641949), the sister of his friend Eugen Kayser. The picture dates from 1886. Right: Anna and Robert Bosch had four children, one of whom, Elisabeth, died at just two years of age. Pictured here in 1903 (from left to right) are Paula (18891974), Margarete (18881972) and Robert Jr. (18911921).

The main reason for Robert Boschs return to Germany was his secret engagement to Anna Kayser, the sister of his friend Eugen Kayser, in the spring of 1885. It was in Stuttgart, close to her home in Obertrkheim, that Robert Bosch opened his Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering on November 15, 1886. Precisely because of the disappointments he had experienced as an employee at various companies in the U.S. and elsewhere, Robert Bosch became an entrepreneur out of conviction. In his own business, as his own boss, he would at last be able to organize a company in the way he saw fit. On October 10, 1887, Robert Bosch and Anna Kayser were married at the Lutheran church in Obertrkheim and moved into their first apartment together at 56 Schwabstrasse in Stuttgart, where their daughters Margarete and Paula were born in 1888 and 1889 respectively. A year and a half later, the birth of their third child Robert prompted a move to a larger apartment at 145 Rotebhlstrasse. The arrival of their third daughter, Elisabeth, in 1893 saw the family relocate to yet another new home, this time at 20 Moltkestrasse. Two years later, little Elisabeth died suddenly of acute diabetes. Despite a number of setbacks, Robert Boschs professional career never ceased to move forward, and between 1900 and 1910 his small workshop grew into a global enterprise. This success was mirrored in the familys homes in Stuttgart: in 1902, Bosch built a small villa at 7 Hlderlinstrasse, before embarking on the construction of the imposing villa at 31 Heidehofstrasse in 1910. But Robert Boschs professional success was marred by another twist of fate. As his designated successor at the company, his son Robert was

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introduced to the business very early on. At the tender age of eleven, for instance, he was already helping take inventory. In 1909, Robert Jr. began an apprenticeship in his fathers company, but had to end his career after just one year for health reasons. The devastating diagnosis was multiple sclerosis. The next few years were filled with health cures and doctors appointments. Following a protracted period of illness, Robert Jr. died on April 6, 1921. Robert Bosch received the news of his sons death during a business trip to South America: I dont know how many times I have asked myself why I should still be alive when he one so young had to suffer and waste away. Each in their own way, the parents tried to come to terms with the death of their son. While Robert Bosch sought solace in his work and continued to play an active role in public life, his wife withdrew more and more from society. Their grief and, above all, their different ways of dealing with it drove the couple further and further apart until their marriage was finally dissolved in 1927.

Sundays at the hunting lodge Robert Bosch, a lover of nature

In this difficult phase of his private life, Robert Boschs passion for hunting, which dated from the turn of the century, became more and more a source of relaxation for him: I had bought myself a small car and spent almost every Saturday afternoon and Sunday at the hunting lodge. If the weather was good, I took my family with me, otherwise a fellow hunter. Yet Robert

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Right: Robert Bosch loved hunting. Even in 1941, at the ripe old age of 80, he still stalked game on his hunting estate near Pfronten. For company, he would take along a friend, a business partner, or one of his gamekeepers (pictured here: Seraphin Schll).

Bosch was not simply a huntsman; he was also concerned with preserving and maintaining stocks of game, and had leased several hunting estates, for example in Pfronten in the Allgu region and in Urach in the Swabian Jura. Despite his close affinity with nature, Robert Bosch never lost sight of his company when spending time in the country, often using his hunting trips to become better acquainted with his future business partners, as his private secretary Felix Olpp later recalled: Mr. Bosch often said that, at Pfronten, it was possible to build up relationships that were virtually unknown in the office. He said that hunting reveals a completely different side of people. Discussions in the hunting lodges or in the Krone inn in Pfronten were always extremely useful to him from a business point of view. Robert Bosch did not have many close friends, since he often remained guarded and detached even toward people he knew well. His closest friendships were reserved for the men who shared his passion for hunting. His love of nature was also evident in his interest in farming. After the first world war, Robert Bosch took his first steps in a roundabout way into the world of agriculture. In around 1912, he had invested in a company in southern Germany that wanted to utilize a new process to produce peat for use in the manufacture of fuel. Although this process eventually proved economically inviable, Robert Bosch decided to retain the extensive moorland he had acquired and turn it into a model farming estate. Seven previously independent farmsteads were amalgamated to create the Bosch Farm: Back then, it seemed to me a great feat to transform a mere bog into a land flowing with milk and honey. The principles that governed his industrial projects were also brought to bear in his agricultural activities. Robert Bosch wanted to use modern technology to produce high-

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Below: This image was used in 1931 to advertise the products of the Bosch Farm, which is located south of Munich. Right: Bosch Farm produce was marketed mainly within the region. The farm had its own sales outlet in Munich, seen here in this photo from 1930.

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quality agricultural products that could be sold in the region. But it was an idea doomed to failure: since the moorland was not suitable for productive agriculture, the Bosch Farm project remained a subsidized operation.

Withdrawal from public life

In 1927, Robert Bosch remarried. His second wife was the 39-year-old Margarete Wrz, a singer and the daughter of a head forester. A son, again named Robert, was born to the couple in 1928. A daughter, Eva, followed in 1931. By that time, the Bosch founder had already relinquished responsibility for the day-to-day running of his company. As he had done with his first family, he often took Margarete and their children on trips to the mountains, to the Bosch Farm in Bavaria, and to his hunting lodge near Urach in the Swabian Jura. Theodor Buerle, a close confidant who would later become Minister of Culture for the State of Baden-Wrttemberg, recalled the following in his memoirs: He took an almost grandfatherly joy in his
Top: After his divorce from Anna Bosch, Robert Bosch remarried in 1927. This picture of his second wife, Margarete Wrz (18881979), was taken in around 1930. Right: The children of Robert Boschs second marriage Robert Bosch Jr. (19282004) and his sister Eva (1931) in a horse-drawn cart in Stuttgart, 1937

children and had great hopes of his growing son. [] Mrs. Margarete Bosch was extremely clever in dealing with the idiosyncrasies of her husband. [] She invited guests into their home so there was never any lack of entertainment or companionship, and was careful to select guests who would satisfy his many interests. Margarete Bosch also acted as her husbands advisor in numerous matters and as an intermediary between him and the younger generation. After the National Socialists took power in 1933, Robert Bosch withdrew even more from public life. He was deeply disturbed by Hitlers plans

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Left: Robert and Margarete Bosch regularly invited associates to their home on Heidehofstrasse in Stuttgart. Robert Bosch liked to profit from these occasions to find out how the business was going and to discuss politics with his guests. He is pictured here with Karl Zehender (far left) in the villa gardens (1941).

to embark on war, which were obvious from a very early stage. After making his company a close corporation (GmbH) in 1937, Robert Bosch put his affairs in order before drawing up his will in 1938. In his will, he stipulated that some of the earnings generated by his company should continue to go to charitable and civic causes. In formulating this wish, his will sketched the outlines of the corporate constitution, which was enacted in 1964 and is still valid today. Robert Bosch died in Stuttgart at the age of 80 on March 12, 1942, of complications resulting from an inflammation of the middleear.

The alleviation of all kinds of hardship social principles

Thus ended a life that had known not only success, but also setbacks and crises. Robert Bosch was a man of firm social and democratic principles, which he adhered to even in difficult times. In the guidelines he set down for the executors of his will in 1935, he outlined the goal of his civic initiatives: It is my intention, apart from the alleviation of all kinds of hardship, to promote the moral, physical, and intellectual development of the people. Again and again, Robert Bosch made charitable donations. The first major one came during the first world war and amounted to some 20 million German marks, 13 million of which was used to build the Neckar Canal. The interest earned through the Neckar Canal foundation went to the city of Stuttgart to ease social hardship. As Robert Bosch later recalled: When the war came and brought with it new military contracts, [] it appalled me to think that I was making money while others were sacrificing their lives.

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At the end of 1916, I decided to use any profits from the war to set up a foundation to support the construction of the Neckar Canal. Throughout his entire life, Robert Bosch took a special interest in education. In 1910, for example, he donated one million German marks to promote teaching and research at what was then the Stuttgart Polytechnic. For Robert Bosch, education was more than just the accumulation of knowledge. It also meant developing the ability to make the right political decisions and to recognize false doctrines as such. Particularly during the politically turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, he considered it important that people develop an understanding of democracy. When it came to healthcare, Robert Bosch was a dedicated supporter of alternative medicine. In his memoirs, he wrote: Even as a young boy, I never received anything other than homeopathic treatments. It was therefore one of his long-held dreams to found a homeopathic hospital in Stuttgart. This wish was not fulfilled until April 1940, when the Robert Bosch Hospital was opened. At the hospital, conventional medicine, homeopathy, and natural medicine were placed on an equal footing. Even though Robert Bosch himself preferred homeopathy, he wanted his hospital to draw on the best from every field for the good of the patients. Over the decades, however, conventional medicine gained predominance over the other fields. Above and beyond his broad-scale commitment to civic initiatives, Robert Bosch was also politically active in the 1920s and 1930s. His attitudes were shaped by the liberal beliefs of his parents and strengthened by his travels as a journeyman, especially to the United States. But even in the cradle of democracy, Robert Bosch felt a lack of the cornerstone of

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Left: As a member of the German section of the Committee for FrancoGerman Relations, Robert Bosch invited German and French war veterans to Stuttgart in 1935 to attend a meeting entitled Pioneers of Peace. The speaker pictured here is Albert D elsuc, who represented the French war veterans. Top: At the official opening of the Robert Bosch Hospital in 1940, Robert Bosch (third from left) proudly showed the building and grounds to the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart Karl Strlin (left), Ludwig Schweizer (second from left), the architect Paul Hahn (fourth from left), and members of the Stuttgart city council.

justice equality before the law. After returning to Germany and setting up his own business, Bosch for some time kept contact with his neighbor Karl Kautsky, a leading member of the nascent Social Democratic Party. Although he was not convinced by the theories of Marx and Engels, Bosch began to develop a notion of the socially responsible entrepreneur. A pacifist and pan-European, Robert Bosch was particularly committed to reconciliation between Germany and France following the first world war. He hoped this reconciliation would bring about lasting peace and lead to the creation of an economic area without customs barriers. Accordingly, he was all the more alarmed by the aggressive, Germanocentric policies of the National Socialists. His final years were overshadowed by his companys entanglement in the Third Reichs war plans and rearmament programs. Robert Bosch and his company directors supported resistance to the Nazi regime and helped to rescue Jewish associates and others facing persecution. In 1937, Bosch brought the former Lord Mayor of Leipzig, Carl Goerdeler, into the company as an advisor. With the knowledge and support of Robert Bosch and his closest associates, Goerdeler organized a resistance cell against Hitler. For Robert Bosch, the outbreak of war in 1939 was a catastrophe both on a personal level and for his country. His biographer Theodor Heuss wrote: He once said to me: I would prefer to work with 10 people to achieve peace than with 30 people to further the cause of war. Yet Bosch could only stand by and watch as the use of forced labor became a dreadful reality at his company.

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I would rather lose money than trust corporate principles

Left: Robert Bosch, who placed great importance on quality, personally vetted his associates work again and again. The picture shows him critically examining an apprentices square in 1936.

Robert Bosch always treated his staff as partners he demanded a great deal, but in return delegated responsibility, paid high wages, and ensured good working conditions. Yet he had to admit that striking the right balance was at times a difficult matter: It was not always easy [], to steer a middle course between the entrepreneur who needs to assert himself, and the socially minded employer. Robert Bosch placed great importance on thriftiness, punctuality, discipline, and quality, and strived for constant improvement in all these areas. But for him, the most important thing was offering his customers work of the very highest quality. In 1921, he outlined this principle in the Bosch-Znder, the in-house newspaper: I have always acted according to the principle that I would rather lose money than trust. The integrity of my promises, the belief in the value of my products and in my word of honor have always had a higher priority for me than a transitory profit. Robert Bosch was convinced that no company could be successful in the long term without satisfied workers and satisfied customers. Those were the principles on which Robert Bosch built his business, and they are the guidelines which, in the recent past, have been adapted to reflect changes within the company and within society as a whole. Many of the ideas have simply been expressed in a more contemporary idiom; some things have been refined, others created from scratch. But Robert Boschs ideas and Robert Bosch as a role model still influence the values of the company that bears his name today.

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Chronology

When Robert Bosch and his two associates opened a Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering in Stuttgart in November 1886, no one could have guessed that, 125 years later, Bosch would be employing more than 280,000 associates worldwide. The transition from a small skilled-trades workshop to a global technology and services company was neither easy nor always linear. The company had to overcome severe economic and political difficulties. But despite these difficulties, the companys history was also marked by success and by pioneering technical achievements. Today, Bosch is an international byword for quality and innovation, as well as a model of corporate social responsibility. The story of how the company grew from humble beginnings to its present status is an extraordinary and exciting one.

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The Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering

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A shambles starting a business

Right: The courtyard-entrance workshop on the ground floor of the building at 75B Rotebhlstrasse in Stuttgart. Here, Robert Bosch set up his small shop for skilled trades in 1886. In 1890, he moved to a larger workshop at 9 Gutenbergstrasse. Previous page: Robert Bosch and his master craftsman Arnold Zhringer developed a new type of magneto ignition device in 1897. No one had previously been able to make a magneto ignition device that was safe and reliable enough for use in vehicle engines.

obert Bosch knew very early on that he wanted to set up his own business. During his years in the U.S. and the U.K., he often mentioned his plans for the future in letters to his wife-to-be Anna Kayser.

And yet, in the spring of 1886, he was still unsure whether he should set up the business on his own or with a friend. The question of location was something else that occupied his thoughts. In the end, because the business prospects were positive, Robert Bosch finally decided on Stuttgart. His fiances home in Obertrkheim was also nearby. The initial capital stock of 10,000 German marks came from Boschs savings and his inheritance from his father, who had died six years earlier. On the bright late-autumn day of November 11, 1886, Robert Bosch and his first two associates a mechanic and an errand boy set up a workshop in a courtyard-entrance building at 75B Rotebhlstrasse in Stuttgart. The Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering had an office, one larger and one smaller workshop, and a room with a small forge. But Robert Bosch still had to wait for official permission before he could open for business. That permission was granted four days later, onNovember 15, 1886. Ever since, this date has been regarded as the day the company was founded. Robert Bosch did all the precision-mechanical and electrical-engineering work that came his way. For the most part, this involved installing low-voltage equipment such as telephone terminals, electric bells, door openers, remote electrical water-level indicators, and later pneumatic tube pipelines and electric lighting. Yet despite this extensive portfolio, orders were often sparse during the early years, leaving Bosch struggling to keep his workforce busy and pay their wages. Still, he wanted to do the

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smaller workshop

larger workshop

office

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entrance hall

1 anvil 2 forge 3 tool cabinet 4 grindstone 5 stove 6 lathe 7  workbench with double vise 8 telephone 9 desk and chair 10 lectern

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Right: In the early years of his business, Robert Bosch installed all types of precision-mechanical and electrical devices. The pictures show four examples from the period 18881900 (clockwise from top left): advertisement for cigar holders, a pneumatic capsule pipeline, the contact mechanism of a remote electrical water-level indicator, and a Braille typewriter.

best he could by them. In addition, he needed more capital to invest in modern equipment for his workshop. He therefore borrowed money from his mother and took out loans for which his family acted as guarantor. Robert Bosch later referred to his initial years in business as a shambles. The year 1892 was particularly difficult for the new business. A lack of orders forced Robert Bosch to let go of 22 of his 24 associates.

The cornerstone of success magneto ignition devices for stationary engines

Construction of the Stuttgart electricity works in 1895 helped change the young companys fortunes, with Robert Bosch landing new contracts to install equipment. He was also already producing magneto ignition devices products that he would soon begin refining even further. These devices generated an electric spark to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder of a stationary internal-combustion engine. Robert Bosch had come across the invention more or less by chance. In 1887, a mechanical engineer had asked him to reproduce a magneto ignition device he had seen on an engine at a company in Schorndorf. Robert Bosch was happy to take up the challenge. He made his way to Schorndorf, some 20 miles east of Stuttgart, to study the design of the gadget himself. The engine was equipped with a device produced by the Colognebased company Deutz, a maker of internal-combustion engines. After contacting Deutz and ascertaining that the magneto was not patented, Robert Bosch set about reproducing it. The very first Bosch ignition device

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Left: The technician Richard Schyle worked for Bosch from 1891 to 1930. He is pictured here in 1909, using a model to demonstrate how the first Bosch magneto ignition device worked.

was duly delivered to Schmehl&Hespelt, a mechanical engineering company situated to the north of Stuttgart in the small town of Mckmhl, on October 8, 1887. But Robert Bosch did not limit himself to simply reproducing the magneto ignition device; he also refined it, true to his later guiding principle of continuous improvement. He replaced the bar magnets with U-shaped ones, not only making the new device lighter and less prone to failure, but also enhancing its performance. Over the next few years, Bosch manufactured the magneto ignition device in increasing albeit still small quantities. In 1888 he delivered nine units, but by 1891 he was making more than 100, with the magneto ignition device now accounting for over 50 percent of the workshops sales.

No botching or bungling was permitted life at the workshop

The rules of the workshop were strict. Robert Bosch demanded a great deal from his workers, but also made sure that working conditions were good. Knowing that an associate could not produce high-quality products using an outmoded workbench and poor tools, he continually invested in new machinery. In other ways, too, Robert Bosch was a tradesman more in todays mold. To enable his customers to reach him at any time, he rented a telephone a very expensive investment at 150 German marks a year. A subscription to the Centralblatt fr Elektrotechnik trade journal kept him up to date on the latest industry developments. He also printed brochures and placed

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Left: From 1890 onward, Robert Bosch used a modern safety bicycle to visit his customers. It not only got him there faster, but also saved him money on tram fares. Top: Robert Bosch generally invested the meager profits of his early years in new workshop equipment. In 1887, he purchased a foot-operated lathe, which was also used to produce parts for the first magneto ignition devices.

advertisements in the press to spread the word about his workshop. To visit his customers, Robert Bosch used a safety bicycle, a precursor to the bikes we know today and an extremely rare sight in Germany at the time. It not only got him to his customers faster, but also saved him money on tram fares. The unusual two-wheeler also attracted a lot of attention in Stuttgart and was thus an inexpensive way of advertising his business. Robert Bosch had high standards when selecting new associates. Adolf Krauss joined the company as a technician in 1898. Looking back after 25 years of service, he said: Robert Bosch personally assessed each applicant to see whether they worked hard and had the necessary skills. No botching or bungling was permitted in the Bosch workshop. If Robert Bosch observed any associates being careless or wasting materials, he was quick to take them to task. Longtime associates like Gottlob Honold knew how to deal with this direct approach. He said that, from time to time, it was as if astorm raged through the entire place but the skies soon cleared and peace was restored thanks to the good personal relationship between employer and employees.

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Right: It was especially in demanding applications that Bosch magneto ignition devices demonstrated their high quality and performance. The Bosch low-voltage magneto ignition device provided a safe and reliable form of ignition for Count Zeppelins first airship, the LZ1, in 1900.

Richard Schyle, who worked at Bosch from 1891 to 1930, describes in his memoirs the cheerful and pleasant working atmosphere at the workshop. He relates, for example, that on one particular summers day when the heat in the workshop had become unbearable, Robert Bosch made a spur-of-the-moment decision to close down shop and give his staff the day off. The associates also enjoyed singing while they worked. Robert Bosch liked their singing so much that he generally stayed in his office to listen to them, knowing that his sudden appearance in the workshop might put them off. In 1896, Robert Bosch and his associates went on an excursion to an inn near Stuttgart to celebrate the assembly of the 1,000th magneto ignition device. By that time, the ignition device accounted for the majority of the companys sales. Even so, no one had any inkling that this product would soon be the medium that would make the Bosch name famous the world over.

The trickiest problem in engine design

The first magneto ignition devices had one major drawback. Their design made them suitable only for low-speed stationary engines, such as those used to drive machinery in factories. But they did not work in the smaller, high-speed kind of engines installed in new motor vehicles such as motorized coaches, motorcycles, and three-wheelers. At the time, the only option here was to use alternative ignition systems systems which were neither reliable nor safe.

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The Bosch brand No company can achieve success without a strong brand. Even the very first magneto ignition devices had the Bosch logotype emblazoned on their brass bases in clear capital letters almost like the typeface used today. The Bosch symbol is the armature in a circle, a simplified representation of the core of the magneto ignition device. The symbol was sketched by Gottlob Honold, then head of development, in November 1918, just a few weeks after Bosch had forfeited the rights to its old symbol in the United States following the first world war. Copyrighted internationally in 1920, this armature in a circle, together with the Bosch logotype, significantly enhanced the profile of the companys products. Today, more than 90 years later, the armature in a circle remains the visual representation of the Bosch brand.

Right: In 1897, Robert Bosch and his master craftsman Arnold Zhringer successfully installed a magneto ignition device in a motor vehicle for the first time. A three-wheeler of the type made by the French manufacturer DeDion-Bouton was the first motor vehicle to be equipped with Bosch ignition.

One of the people searching for a better ignition system at that time was Frederick Richard Simms, a pioneer of the British automotive industry. His search eventually led him to Robert Bosch. In 1897, Simms sent a motorized three-wheeler of the type made by the French manufacturer De Dion- Bouton to Stuttgart to have a magneto ignition device installed in place of its standard buzzer ignition. Doubting Simmss claim that the engine could run at some 600 revolutions per minute, Bosch and his master craftsman Arnold Zhringer decided to test it for themselves. As it happened, the only person brave enough to undertake the first test run on this unusually speedy machine was Max Rall, an apprentice who later became a member of the board of management. He promptly crashed into a stack of empty wine barrels belonging to the neighboring wine merchant Hirsch. A further attempt on the open road revealed that the engine was actually capable of reaching around 1,800 rpm. It was clear that a conventional magneto ignition device would never be able to handle engine speeds of this kind. But Robert Bosch and his associates did not give up that easily. In the end, Zhringer had an ingenious idea. He decided that the heavy armature did not have to oscillate at all. Instead, he assigned this task to a new part a light and slender sleeve. This allowed the magneto ignition device to function at high speeds. It was an astonishingly simple solution for what Carl Benz had once called the trickiest problem in engine design. For Bosch, this safe and reliable solution for automobiles was the international breakthrough.

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The novel design of the Bosch lowvoltage magneto ignition device was based on a simple idea. The heavy armature did not have to turn at high speeds: instead, this could be left to a small, light sleeve inside the device. For the first time, it was now possible to use a magneto as the ignition system in small, high-speed motor vehicle engines.

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Bosch goes international the first sales offices

Left: In May 1910, the London-based Bosch Magneto Company relocated from Store Street to Newman Street. Together with his British partner Frederick Simms, Robert Bosch had set up a sales office in the U.K. in 1898. This was the companys first sales office outside Germany. Top: The Vienna-based company Dnes&Friedmann marketed Bosch products in Austria and Hungary from 1899. In 1905, on the title page of its catalog, the company extolled the virtues of Bosch magneto ignition systems to drivers.

This innovation opened up a whole new customer base for Bosch: automakers and drivers around the world. Instead of the old, fault-prone ignition technology, many drivers wanted to have the new electric ignition system from Bosch. To serve the companys customers in other countries without having to use long supply routes, Bosch set up local sales offices the first of them in the U.K. in 1898. Frederick Simms, who had previously sent Robert Bosch the motorized three-wheeler, was put in charge of this first office. Just one year later, branch offices were opened in France and Austria-Hungary the first steps toward a worldwide sales network. The consistent buildup of an international presence in the years that followed was one of the main reasons for the companys rapid rise and success.

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Im a houseowner now the companys first factory

Right: Bosch senior managers in 1907, after taking the first company car for a test drive. Ernst Ulmer is standing in front of the car, Gottlob Honold is at the wheel, and Hugo Borst is seated on the running board. The man descending from the vehicle is Arnold Zhringer. Previous page: On April 1, 1901, Robert Bosch and 45 associates moved into new factory premises on Hoppenlau strasse in Stuttgart. Within no more than 15years, the company had been transformed from a small courtyard-entrance workshop into a modern industrial enterprise.

he companys rapid growth across Europe now made major investments necessary. Robert Boschs business had already moved several times, from one rented property to another in the west end of

Stuttgart. In 1900, Robert Bosch purchased an apartment building in what is now Breitscheidstrasse, not far from his existing workshop premises in Stuttgart. In letters to his friends, he proudly announced that he was now a

houseowner and predicted that his investment would pay off within just a few years. The card up his sleeve was the sizeable plot of land adjacent tothe building. There, he intended to build a new factory. Robert Bosch was careful to ensure that the factory reflected his own ideas of modern industrial architecture. While its exterior blended in with the residential surroundings, its interior offered modern working conditions and ideal workspaces in its large, bright, well-ventilated rooms. On April 1, 1901, 45 associates moved into the new Elektrotechnische Fabrik Robert Bosch, the Robert Bosch Electrical Engineering Factory. The new building in Stuttgarts west end marked a milestone in the companys development from a small courtyard workshop to an industrial enterprise with locations across the globe.

Hitting the bulls eye high-voltage magneto ignition

On the very same day the factory opened, the former apprentice Gottlob Honold returned to Bosch. He was a clever thinker who would soon come up with an idea that would be decisive for the companys future. Having

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Right: In 1906, Gustav Klein traveled to the United States. As the companys sales director, he set up Boschs first U.S. sales company in New York City. Two years later, the sales company was renamed Bosch Magneto Company, in which Gustav Klein also held a stake.

completed his apprenticeship, Honold had initially left Bosch in order to work as a technician at other companies. He then studied mechanical engineering and electrical engineering in Stuttgart. After completing his studies and military service, the young engineer ran into his former mentor again, who talked him into returning to Bosch as a developer. Robert Bosch assigned Honold the task of improving the design of the magneto ignition device. The goal was to do away with break-spark rodding, which required a lot of maintenance and frequently needed repair. It was also expensive to make, since it had to be adapted to each individual engine. Despite numerous failed attempts, Honold was relentless in his efforts to find a solution. He finally developed a high-voltage magneto ignition system that allowed him to replace the break-spark rodding with spark plugs. Now, the ignition spark was no longer produced by mechanically breaking an electrical circuit at two movable contacts within the cylinder, but by allowing a high-voltage current to jump the gap between the two electrodes of a plug. When Honold unveiled the first prototype in December 1901, Robert Bosch was clearly impressed, declaring: You have hit the bulls eye! His exclamation marked the beginning of a long history of innovation at Bosch.

From strength to strength the leap across the Atlantic

The company now entered a period of rapid growth. Both the older lowvoltage magneto ignition devices and the new high-voltage systems were

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Top: Starting 1925, customers of the companys new sales office in Prague were able to purchase Bosch products and have them installed in their vehicles immediately in the adjacent workshop.

top sellers worldwide. By 1896, Robert Bosch and his team had already produced 1,000 magnetos. In 1901 the 10,000th left the factory, and by 1906 the figure had risen to 100,000. When the 500,000 mark was passed in 1910, Robert Bosch used the occasion to give his associates Saturday afternoons off from work and to grant them vacation arrangements based on the number of years they had been at the company. Although only just completed, the new factory was already bursting at the seams, and Robert Bosch had to continuously extend the premises. Following a decision to manufacture magnets and other individual components in-house, he acquired a property in 1909 in Feuerbach, near Stuttgart. The pressing works he built there was the companys third manufacturing site, the second being the factory Bosch had opened in Paris four years earlier in a joint project with Frederick Simms. Over time, however, the partnership between Simms and Bosch became increasingly difficult. Ultimately, Robert Bosch and Frederick Simms parted company, and Bosch took over sales and production in what were then the companys key markets, the U.K. and France.

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The company now felt ready for the leap across the Atlantic. Armed with a list of key American automakers, Gustav Klein, the new director of sales, set off for the U.S. in 1906. Confident, resolute, and open-minded, Klein was the ideal man for the job. With his thirst for action and his boundless energy he quickly became one of Robert Boschs most important associates and most trusted confidants. As Robert Bosch later commented, Kleins trip to the U.S. was a genuine triumph. Within just a few weeks, he and his companions landed orders worth over a million dollars. Over the next few years, business with the U.S. skyrocketed. To circumvent high import duties and reduce delivery costs, Robert Bosch decided to set up his own manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. Production at the plant began in 1912. In just a few short years, the U.S. had become far and away the most important sales market for Bosch. Before the first world war, Bosch generated more sales in the U.S. than in Europe. Within just a few years, the company set up new sales offices and sales companies of its own on the other continents as well.

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1912 Springfield, MA 1906 New York City 1911 Toronto 1914 Plainfield, NJ

1903 Amsterdam 1898 London 1908 Dublin 1899 Paris 1905 Paris 1911 Porto

1920 Havanna 1922 Mexico City 1921 Caracas The map shows the network of Bosch sales offices and manufacturing sites that sprang up around the world between 1898 and 1923. Bosch set up its first sales office outside Germany in London as early as 1898, and, within a few short years, sales offices and subsidiaries were established on all continents. Soon, Bosch was no longer manufac turing in Stuttgart alone, but also in Paris (from 1905) and in the U.S. (from 1912). Although the first world war led to the overnight evaporation of international business, the key to the companys success, by the mid-1920s Bosch had re-established its local presence in international markets. Sales office Manufacturing site 1923 Bogota

1910 1913 Santiago de Chile Rio de Janeiro

1908 Buenos Aires

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1904 1907 Brussels 1922 Luxembourg 1920 Prague 1899 Vienna 1899 Budapest 1904 Moscow Stockholm (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland)

1922 Zagreb 1922 1906 Bucharest 1911 Sofia Belgrade 1911 Yokohama

1904 Geneva

1910 Constantinople (Istanbul) 1922 1904 Milan Damascus 1922 Jaffa 1913 Athens 1913 Cairo 1923 Bangkok 1923 Penang 1923 Singapore 1922 Surabaya 1923 Nairobi 1906 Johannesburg 1922 Calcutta 1909 Shanghai 1920 Seoul

1908 Barcelona

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Bosch Service By 1920, Bosch had already made a name for itself as a supplier of quality automotive equipment. But how could these products be marketed on a large scale? The answer was the Bosch Service. (The photo here shows the bicycle carrier of a Danish authorized dealership from the year 1940.) The Bosch Service was based on a franchise system for independent car-repair workshops that offered Bosch spare parts. Both the equipment at their disposal and the quality of their repairs had to meet strict standards. In turn, they were allowed to use the Bosch Service logo. They were also supplied with Bosch spare parts for resale, as well as with test equipment and sales promotion material such as advertising brochures and posters. The first Bosch Service opened in Hamburg in 1921. Now rechristened Bosch Car Service, there are more than 15,000 such service operations worldwide today.

Always at the cutting edge improvements in all areas

Right: Bosch was extremely selective in its choice of new apprentices. In 1925, for instance, applicants had to pass a variety of tests under the watchful eyes of their future instructors.

In order to keep pace with this international growth, Bosch constantly improved its internal organization, setting up new specialist administration departments. Where Robert Bosch himself had handled the bookkeeping in the early days, Hugo Borst and Ernst Ulmer were employed in 1900 and 1901 to handle the commercial side of the business. Soon, italso became necessary to establish a patent and trademark department. When Gottlob Honold decided to apply for a patent for the high-voltage magneto ignition system in 1902, he had to go to the patent office in Berlin himself. At the very least to relieve his developers of this time-consuming task, Robert Bosch set up an in-house patent office in 1909. Production methods also changed substantially, with small-scale manufacturing by individual craftsmen giving way to industrial mass production. Only by expanding the workforce, using modern machinery, and constantly improving production processes was it possible to manufacture high volumes to the quality standards and within the time period required. In 1905, Robert Bosch first tested dividing production into two eight-hour shifts. The experiment went so well that he decided to introduce the eight-hour day throughout the company on August 1, 1906. Robert Bosch was thus one of the first industrialists in Germany to introduce a shorter working day. His motives were not purely altruistic, since he also understood that motivated workers are more productive workers. In later years, Robert Bosch offered the following explanation for his decision:

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Left: When many men were conscripted for military service during the first world war, their jobs in the factories were frequently filled by women. Even after the end of the war, in 1920, the majority of associates in the sparkplug manufacturing shop were women, as seen here in this picture of the Feuerbach plant.

I introduced the eight-hour day very early on in 1906 because I believed it the most efficient solution economically, as well as the best way of preserving human capacity for work. Robert Bosch paid above-average wages, but in return demanded a high level of commitment, willingness to change, and qualifications. He is often quoted as having said: I dont pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages. In 1913, in order to be able to train more highly skilled workers, Robert Bosch recruited August Utzinger, a former colleague from his days in Nuremberg. Utzinger modernized the Bosch apprenticeship program, for example by bringing together apprentices who had previously been spread over several workshops. It was the beginning of the companys own training department.

Hard times setbacks during the first world war

The outbreak of the first world war in the summer of 1914 was a fateful moment for both Robert Bosch and his company. In one fell swoop, its key foreign markets were lost. Even worse, most of Germanys wartime enemies expropriated the companys assets within their borders and not just tangible assets, but also property rights, patents, and brands. The war also affected Robert Bosch deeply on a personal level. As early as 1912, when the Balkan crisis had been threatening to destroy peace in Europe, he had written to a friend: I would willingly pay ten million German marks if it meant I could prevent a war. After the outbreak of hostilities,

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Right: In 1914, in an effort to ease the suffering caused by the war, R obert Bosch set up a field hospital for wounded soldiers in the newly built factory in Feuerbach.

Bosch was compelled to gear its entire manufacturing operations to the war effort. These social and political burdens were compounded by personal problems. First, Robert Bosch was diagnosed with a dilation of the heart. But it was the incurable illness of his son that affected him most deeply. And when Gustav Klein died in a plane crash in 1917, it was a further terrible blow to him and the company. In the understated manner typical of his upbringing, Robert Bosch praised Kleins achievements with sober sincerity: Kleins death deprived me of someone so valuable that no single individual could ever replace him. Kleins death, as well as the pleas of his closest colleagues, prompted Robert Bosch to make arrangements for his succession at the company. In 1917, together with his senior managers, he set up Robert Bosch AG, which acquired the business operations he had previously run in sole proprietorship. Robert Bosch retained a 51 percent majority share in the new enterprise, while the remaining 49 percent was held by the senior managers who now comprised the board of management of the new stock corporation: Gottlob Honold, Hugo Borst, Heinrich Kempter, Eugen Kayser, Max Rall, and Ernst Ulmer. Robert Bosch was appointed chairman of the supervisory council, and gradually handed over responsibility for everyday operations to his board.

A bumpy road overcoming the consequences of war

When the war ended in 1918, the company again faced major challenges. Production had to be switched from wartime to peacetime goods. What

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is more, most of the companys assets outside Germany had been lost. In many countries, new competitors had come forward, and they were free to use the Bosch patents that had been confiscated. Despite the odds stacked against it, Bosch set about rebuilding its international organization. In some countries, success was especially difficult to achieve. The U.S., previously Boschs key market outside Germany, was a case in point. There, the parent company in Germany even had to compete against its former subsidiary, which had been expropriated in 1917 and sold to U.S. investors along with all its patents and brands. Elsewhere, Bosch was able to renew old business contacts to Willem van Rijn in the Netherlands or Fritz Egnell in Scandinavia, for instance. Finally, Bosch moved into new markets including Mexico, Korea, and Thailand. As early as the mid1920s, the companys sales network was larger than before the war.

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Advertising at Bosch Even as a young workshop owner in the 1880s, Robert Bosch advertised his services in newspapers in a modest and sober tone. But it was not until 20 years later that the companys first fully-fledged advertising campaign was launched. Appearing in 1906, the campaign was instrumental in making the magneto ignition system instantly renowned across the U.S. The addition of the Red Devil in 1909 lent a colorful and emotional touch to Bosch advertising. Also, post-1914, the work of the famed graphic artist Lucian Bernhard produced groundbreaking, timeless motifs such as the spark plug with its exploding spark, designed in 1930. Yet the companys advertising remained firmly in line with the founders original credo: advertising must not create illusions, but must accentuate what the products stand for quality and innovation.

Right: In 1914, the commercial artist Lucian Bernhard created a poster for the Bosch automotive lighting system that almost glowed. The individual components of this first lighting system for automobiles headlights, g enerator, voltage regulator, and battery are highlighted in red.

On the whole, however, the situation was far from good, not least because Bosch was still heavily oriented toward a single business segment: ignition systems. The company founder had been quick to recognize the dangers of this dependence on a single product line. As early as 1905, as his daughter Margarete later recalled, he expressed his concern that his success would be fleeting: My product is a flash in the pan. One day, another invention will make ignition devices obsolete, and how will I employ my staff then? This concern was the driving force behind Robert Boschs search for new products to complement the companys range a search that had begun even before the first world war. In 1909, for instance, Robert Bosch acquired licenses for the development and production of a lubricating pump, later to be known as the Bosch oiler. Then, in 1913, electric lighting for automobiles was launched. The Bosch automotive lighting system included not only headlights, but also a generator, voltage regulator, and battery. It was the first-ever electrical system for automobiles, and laid the foundations for later components, such as an electric starter in 1914. The 1920s saw the launch of the Bosch horn, the forerunner of todays car horns. Just a few years later, it was followed by a battery-powered ignition system and windshield wipers. In the aftermath of the first world war, both German business and German society were caught up in a maelstrom of problems: wildcat walkouts and strikes, shortages of food, raw materials, and fuels, and runaway inflation. Despite this environment of instability and uncertainty, Bosch managed to remain competitive internationally. It seemed as if the company had put the worst behind it.

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From automotive supplier to diversified corporate group

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Gathering speed a partnership and a merger

Right: In 1930, the store window of the Eisemann office a Bosch subsidiary located on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin showcased nothing but Bosch products, which Eisemann had been marketing since 1925. Previous page: The Bosch hammer was used in 1933 during construction of the Neue Weinsteige road in Stuttgart. Power tools like this as well as refrigerators, gas-fired appliances, car radios, cameras, and film projectors served to extend the companys product range.

he political and economic storms that had battered Germany after the first world war gradually subsided, also at Bosch. Between 1923 and 1925, both the workforce and the companys production fig-

ures grew steadily. Nonetheless, the management continued to search for building up in its domestic and foreign markets. One solution was a com-

ways of defending the company against the competitive pressure that was prehensive agreement with Eisemann-Werke AG, Boschs main competitor in Germany. The two companies had much in common: both had their headquarters in Stuttgart, and both had been international players before the war. More importantly, they had virtually identical product ranges. As a result of their agreement, the two companies reorganized their production, development, and sales programs to coordinate operations on a wide scale. Bosch took over the automotive parts segment, while Eisemann concentrated exclusively on specialized products for the police force, fire brigades, and railroads. This enabled each company to increase production volume in its product ranges, and thus lower unit costs. Bosch and Eisemann also introduced a single, joint management structure for all pro duction activities, including purchasing of raw materials. The new structure drove down costs substantially. Finally, the Eisemann sales organization, which already boasted a strong network across Germany, took over the marketing of Bosch products. A full merger of the two companies followed in 1926, with Bosch buying up all the Eisemann stock.

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Wipers and direction indicators automotive innovations

Right: Bosch diesel injection pumps were first installed in MAN trucks. The picture shows the 100,000th pump, which rolled off the Bosch assembly line in 1934.

During the 1920s, Bosch added numerous innovations to its automotive portfolio. A number of novel developments automotive and bicycle lighting, batteries, and the Bosch horn, for instance had previously been launched under the aegis of chief developer Gottlob Honold, who died in 1923. Windshield wipers, which Bosch introduced in 1926, made driving safer. The patented invention caught on quickly and was almost immediately adopted by several German manufacturers as standard equipment in their cars. Then, in 1927, Bosch began series production of servo (powerassisted) brakes, which reduced braking distance by 30 percent and meant that drivers did not need to apply nearly as much pressure to the brake pedal. Finally, the direction indicators introduced by Bosch in 1928 enabled drivers to indicate turns without having to extend their arm from the window a dangerous practice at the best of times. Bosch wipers and indicators certainly helped change the external appearance of motor vehicles, but the Bosch armature in a circle trademark was increasingly to be found under the hood as well. The traditional ignition devices, generators, and starters were joined in 1927 by another innovation: the diesel injection pump. Long in the making, it is still important today. The pump was a breakthrough for Bosch, creating a second pillar of business for a company which, until then, had focused exclusively on electrical components. It was a development that Robert Boschs daughter Margarete summed up neatly for her father: Going into diesel pump production is as though you were setting up your company for a second time.

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Research and development: the example of diesel Diesel engines started gaining acceptance from 1920. In a diesel engine, the air-fuel mix is ignited solely by the high pressures (of up to 25 bar nowadays) generated in the combustion chamber and by the resulting temperatures of up to 900 de grees Celsius. These compression-ignition engines did not need a traditional Bosch magneto ignition system, and thus presented a threat to Bosch. This was reason enough for the company to begin developing injection pumps for the promising new engine technology. Development began in 1922, culminating in series production in November 1927. This five-year development period illustrates the characteristic elements of the Bosch approach to re search and development, which still apply today: make upfront investments even if the outcome is by no means certain; do not be discouraged by setbacks; build on your own tried-and-tested technologies, but also make use of external expertise; build up the required manufacturing skills during the development phase to ensure that the product can be produced in large quantities and at consistent quality. Pictured: leak testing at the Feuerbach plant in 1939.

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Left: For the companys 50th anniversary in 1936, the shop window of the sales office in Berlin displayed Bosch automotive equipment in all its variety not just horns, batteries, and indicators, but also advertisements for starters, headlights, and brake lights.

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Weve still got a lot to learn mass-produced spark plugs

Top left: Associates producing headlight housings at the Feuerbach plant in 1925. After this step in the work process, the housings were loaded onto carts for transport to the next workplace. Bottom left: Associates assembling headlights. This picture was taken after the changeover to assemblyline production. Thanks to the new production method, higher volumes could be produced in less time from 1926 onward.

But these innovative products were not the only reason for the companys growing competitiveness in the 1920s. Bosch had also begun to rationalize its production methods as a means of cutting costs. Taylorism was the watchword of the day. The idea of scientific management as it was also called was to break down a given work process into a series of simple tasks in order to reduce cycle times to an absolute minimum. Assemblyline work seemed to be best suited to this approach. The Ford factory in Detroit had been the first to introduce a moving assembly line, in 1914. In 1926, the Bosch director Max Rall traveled to the United States to see the new process for himself. He enthusiastically reported back to headquarters: Today, at the Ford plant, I saw how the workers there throw together 8,000 generators and 8,000 starters a day. It is unbelievable how people who arent being paid piece rates can carry out their work at such breakneck speed. Weve still got a lot to learn. In fact, Bosch had already taken the first steps to prepare for assembly-line production in its own factories in 1924. Initially introduced on a trial basis, the new production method was gradually adopted across the board.

Shorter working hours and redundancies a crisis for the entire company
But in the fall of 1925, before the new rationalization measures could bear fruit, the European automotive market collapsed. Orders faltered at Bosch, as they did elsewhere. Before, its plants had been operating at close to full capacity. Now Bosch felt the full force of the collapse in automotive sales.

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Worse still, the crisis brought structural problems to light problems that had not been apparent while production and workforce figures were increasing. With market pressure growing, Bosch found itself faced with a painful reality: its competitors especially those outside Germany were turning out products of comparable quality at a higher rate and at a lower price. This was in stark contrast to the years preceding the first world war, when Bosch had been the undisputed world leader in automotive ignition devices. Before 1914, some 90 percent of all cars in the United Kingdom alone had been equipped with Bosch ignition devices. However, the war meant that Bosch was barred from producing and selling its products in the territory of enemy nations. This led to the emergence of powerful competitors particularly in western Europe and the United States who were able to boost their output by concentrating on a limited range of product types. Clearly, this had consequences for Bosch. Within just a few months, the number of associates plummeted from some 13,000 to 8,000 despite the introduction of shorter working hours. In some plants, associates were working only three days a week. In the wake of the crisis, not only factory workers lost their jobs even senior management felt the effects of rationalization. In 1926, the board of management was stripped back from eleven members to just three members and three deputies. As a further part of this rationalization, Robert Bosch passed on the task of running the company to a small committee comprising Hans Walz, Karl Martell Wild, and Hermann Fellmeth. They were tasked with running Robert Bosch AG in the spirit of the company founder. For health reasons, Bosch himself no longer felt capable of this task. In the years that followed,

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Above: The first Bosch refrigerator, displayed by the Stuttgart electricity company in 1933, was round, compact, and cost 365 German marks.

it was Hans Walz who gradually assumed the role of successor to Robert Bosch. Looking back in 1940, Robert Bosch praised the achievements of Walz: What would have become of the company, what would have become ofme had you not been there over the last twenty years!

More strings to our bow the emergence of an electrical engineering group

The years from 1926 to 1934 were a period of transformation for Bosch. The collapse of the automotive industry had clearly demonstrated the risk of focusing exclusively on a single industrial sector, and the companys management now began searching for specific new lines of business. It was a move that Robert Bosch described succinctly in a letter in 1927: We ourselves are trying to move away from automotive work if we can, or, tobe more precise, to add more strings to our bow.

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Left: Low-priced Junkers products made bathtime and bathrooms warm and comfortable.

And Bosch soon put his words into action, acquiring a number of companies and setting up new product areas. Thus, within just a few short years, Robert Bosch AG transformed itself from an automotive supplier into a diversified electrical engineering group. The product that kicked off this new era in 1928 was the Forfex hair trimmer. Equipped with a motor in its handle, the Forfex was the precursor to Bosch drills and other Bosch power tools. In 1929, Bosch founded Fernseh AG in partnership with Baird, Zeiss Ikon, and Loewe. This joint venture supplied the first all-electronic recording devices for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, and premiered home television receivers in 1938. Boschs acquisition of Junkerss gas-fired appliance manufacturing operations in 1932 marked its entrance into the heating industry. In the same year, the Berlin company Ideal (later Blaupunkt) launched the first series-produced car radio in Europe. Then, in 1933, Bosch presented its first refrigerator at the Leipzig spring trade fair. Finally, Bosch rounded off its new product portfolio when it acquired Bauer, a maker of film and camera technology, in 1934.

Allied excellence international alliances

Toward the end of the 1920s, with memories of the first world war fading, Bosch judged that the time was ripe to try out a new approach internationally as well. In the markets of Germanys former wartime opponents France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, animosity toward

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Left: In 1931, the service stations of the United American Bosch Corporation began selling products of both brands: Bosch and American Bosch. Top left: C.A.V. and Bosch began cooperating in 1931 in London, where their joint venture manufactured automotive equipment for the U.K. market. Top right: In the 1930s, Bosch products were marketed in France by Lavalette, a partner with which Bosch had set up a manufacturing joint venture.

German companies had subsided considerably. Bosch was thus able to set up a joint venture in 1928 with the French automotive supplier Lavalette in St.Ouen near Paris. Then, in 1931, the first C.A.V.-Bosch products rolled off the production line in London. With its slogan Allied Excellence, this joint venture between Bosch and its British competitor Joseph Lucas Ltd. continued production until shortly before the outbreak of the second world war in 1939. In 1935, the wave of Bosch joint ventures also reached Italy. MABO was set up, a partnership with the automotive supplier Magneti Marelli. In countries where joint ventures were ruled out, and high customs duties made imports expensive in Japan, Argentina, and Australia, for example Bosch granted production licenses to local companies. The situation also eased in the United States. American Bosch had been set up following the expropriation of Bosch assets there during the first world war. It was not until 1930 that Bosch was able to reacquire this competitor and bring it back into the fold. From then on, U.S. customers were once again able to order genuine Bosch products made in the USA. It was back to the good old days, or so it seemed.

Preserving the ability to act succession planning

If it had been within Robert Boschs power, this cosmopolitan approach would surely have continued. Hans Walz and his fellow directors were firmly convinced that internationalization was critical for success. But,

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once again, political and economic circumstances in Germany forced the company to take a quite different turn. When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, they followed a policy of extreme economic protectionism and aggressive rearmament. For a company like Bosch, the main question was how to protect itself against manipulation by the new regime. Although Robert Bosch was no supporter of the Nazis, a minimum of cooperation was unavoidable if the company wished to preserve its economic position in what was now a one-party state. In 1937, in order to ensure that the company remained in family ownership, Robert Bosch changed its form from an AG, or stock corporation, into a GmbH, or close corporation. One year later, he drew up his will, which included guidelines for his successors: It is a matter dear to my heart that Robert Bosch GmbH should be safeguarded in its substance [] for as many future generations as possible, and that it should remain at all times financially independent, autonomous, and able to take appropriate action. The danger that Robert Bosch clearly recognized was that, after his death, the Nazis would exploit any disagreements about succession in order to gain influence over the company. Political uncertainty was thus a major concern for him when he wrote his will.

Righteous Among the Nations offering refuge and practicing resistance

Despite all the compromises made with the Nazi regime, Robert Bosch and the leading executives of his company were no adherents of National

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Left: To mark Robert Boschs 80th birthday on September 23, 1941, Robert Ley, a high-ranking official in the Nazi regime, honored the company founder with the title Pioneer of Labor. Robert Bosch had chosen to celebrate his birthday in Baden-Baden, rather than at home in Stuttgart, in an effort to avoid any such awards. Despite his efforts, the Nazis tracked him down in the end. Above: Albrecht Fischer stands trial in the Peoples Court, whose presiding judge was the notorious Roland Freisler. Fischer, a Bosch associate, was made to answer charges relating to his role in the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler of July 20, 1944. He survived the ordeal, later becoming chairman of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH in 1948.

Socialist ideology. By his own definition, the company founder was a pacifist and pan-European; and Hans Walz was a practicing Christian who deplored the Nazis inhumanity. Both men vehemently condemned the harassment of the Jewish population. As the hatemongering and persecution intensified, people of Jewish descent found refuge at Bosch. There was Martha Haarburger, for instance, a chemist whose threatened deportation was repeatedly postponed because Bosch insisted she was indispensable to operations. When Hans Walz was unable to defy the authorities orders any longer, he at least ensured that she was sent not to the extermination camp at Auschwitz but instead to Theresienstadt. Martha Haarburger survived the Holocaust. Robert Bosch also provided financial support to groups that helped Jewish people emigrate. In 1969, the Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority in Israel bestowed the title Righteous Among the Nations on Hans Walz, who accepted the honor on behalf of Bosch. Bosch also supported Carl Goerdeler, the civilian leader of the plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. In the guise of an economic- policy advisor, Goerdeler was able to use business trips abroad to build and maintain contact with foreign sympathizers. His goal was to form a government after the fall of the Hitler regime. When the assassination attempt failed, Goerdeler and many other members of the resistance were tried by the Peoples Court and executed. A number of Bosch managers, including Albrecht Fischer, were also brought to trial and only narrowly escaped execution.

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Without war our growth would have been sounder armaments and forced labor
The moral dilemma faced by Bosch management under the Nazi regime could not have been more pronounced. The same company that helped the persecuted and supported the resistance movement was classified by the Nazis as crucial to armaments production. As early as 1934, the Ministry of Aviation had ordered Bosch to build a factory in Kleinmachnow near Berlin for the production of aircraft parts, and Bosch had had no choice but to obey. The scenario was similar in 1937, when the Hildesheim plant was constructed. Built in dense forest, the plant was well hidden from enemy bombers. After war broke out, Bosch was forced to re-gear its entire production to armaments-related goods: equipment for military vehicles, aircraft, and ships. Many associates were called to the front while the amount of work continued to grow unabated. Like other businesses
Above: The forced laborers assigned to Bosch during the second world war were housed in special camps not far from the Feuerbach plant. A view of the dormitory in the Russian camp in Weilimdorf, 1944. Right: The air raid on Stuttgart on September 12, 1944, reduced large parts of the Bosch factory complex to rubble, including the distinctive building of the Robert Bosch Electrical Engineering Factory on Hoppenlau strasse that had stood since 1901.

involved in armaments production, Bosch was assigned prisoners of war, foreign civilians, and concentration camp inmates as laborers. The forced laborers from eastern Europe in particular were compelled to live and work under what were often degrading conditions. Under the dictates of the totalitarian regime, Bosch contributed to the Nazi war economy. Nonetheless, criticism could not be stifled altogether. One notable example was an address given by Hans Walz at the Feuerbach plant in 1943: If we were inclined to leniency, we might say that our plant today is characterized by a boom that is attributable to the war and the measures forced upon us by the government. However, this economic growth and its consequences for our company have been altogether of a more negative, rather than positive, nature. Without rearmament and without a war, we would, as far as anyone can judge, have developed perhaps not at breakneck speed, as has been the case, but better and more soundly.

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As it turned out, Hans Walzs words were prophetic not least because, as the war progressed, air raids on industrial centers increased. By the end of the war, large sections of the Bosch plants had been completely destroyed. Robert Bosch did not live to see the destruction; he passed away in 1942. In an effort to preserve his lifes work, the remaining associates began the daunting task of reconstruction. Robert Boschs parting words to them had been: I ask you to share this spirit of dedication to our common cause during my lifetime. And after I am gone, continue in this spirit, for the sake of each and every associate, and for the sake of the company itself that, as my lifes work, is so close to my heart.

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Reconstruction and the economic miracle

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With handcarts and shovels reconstruction at Bosch

Top left: Air raids in September 1944 reduced large parts of the Stuttgart factory complex to rubble. Below left: Just five years later, the Bosch site had been largely rebuilt. Previous page: At the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in 1951, Bosch showcased its products using a phantom car, which enabled visitors to gauge the sheer number of Bosch products installed on and in automobiles that helped to make driving safe and convenient.

he second world war was over. Whole swathes of Europe were devastated; Germany had collapsed. Many cities had been reduced to rubble. Food, fuel, and raw materials were all in short supply.

In May 1945, 750 Bosch associates in Stuttgart picked up shovels to begin the work of reconstruction. Quite literally, they had to dig their way to their workplaces. Some 35 percent of the main plant in Stuttgart had been

completely destroyed. There, as at other locations, production was no longer possible. Moreover, a large proportion of the companys production tools and machinery had been moved to rural regions to escape the full brunt of the allied air offensive, which had devastated German cities with increasing regularity during the final phase of the war. Thus as well as having to clear away rubble and debris, the associates in Stuttgart also had to retrieve and reinstall the machinery that had been sent for safekeeping to more than 100 different outlying locations. Unable to obtain sufficient gasoline for motor vehicles because of the postwar fuel shortage, the associates used handcarts and other improvised means of transport instead to move small machines and components over distances of up to 40 kilometers. In the 1946 Bosch annual report, the board of management thanked the associates for their dedication: We would have succumbed in the face of the nearly insurmountable obstacles had not the vast majority of our associates, filled with the spirit of our joint effort, supported us in such an exemplary manner right from the very outset.

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Spark plugs and saucepans surviving the postwar period

Below right: Image of the Solitude car race of 1950. Never far away: the Bosch racing service.

Although the war was over, Bosch was still faced with scarcities of certain raw materials and with the restrictions imposed by the allied occupying powers. Production was very slow to resume. Initially, Bosch produced everyday items such as saucepans using the raw materials that were available. It did so partly to meet the urgent demand for these essential household goods, but also to provide work for its associates. Even for these mundane products, Bosch still applied its traditional standards, as a memorandum issued by the board of management in May 1945 confirmed: Still, we do not want to produce cheap goods of average quality, but [] want to offer Bosch quality. Once again, it was the spark plug that re-ignited Boschs fortunes: the U.S. armys vehicle fleet in Stuttgart soon needed large quantities of this small but vital Bosch product. That prompted the Allies to gradually lift the restrictions on its manufacture. But raw materials were still scarce, and everything people needed to survive was rationed. Food could be obtained only with coupons. The company catering service in Stuttgart and Feuerbach often had trouble finding food and ensuring that associates did not go home hungry. One solution used by the Feuerbach canteen was to raise its own pigs. The situation greatly improved following the currency reform of 1948 and the introduction of the new German mark. Slowly but surely, life returned to normal. In 1949, for instance, the Solitude car race took place in Stuttgart for the first time since the war, providing the Bosch racing service with an opportunity to test spark plugs and other technologies under extreme conditions.

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Bosch racing service Spectators at the great motor racing events of the 1950s, whether at Le Mans, Monza, or the Nrburgring, could always count on the appearance of one person August Bamminger, head of the Bosch racing service and affectionately known as the spark plug doctor. Bamminger (pictured here on the right at the Swiss Grand Prix in 1954) had earned this epithet as early as 1911. At the time, motor races were an ideal venue for Bosch to demonstrate the quality of its ignition systems to customers, especially when they were featured in the winning car. Bosch set up its racing service, which later became the Bosch Motor Racing Service, in 1937, but its heyday was not to come until the 1950s. By then, Bamminger and his successors were attending the races for a different reason: they supervised the use of prototype gasoline-injection systems in racing cars and used the experience they gained for later series production just as Bosch still does today.

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One man, three roles executor of the Bosch estate and member of both the supervisory council and the board of management
Right: Meeting of the executors of obert Boschs will in 1954. Seated R below the portrait of the company founder are his son Robert Bosch Jr. (left) and the chairman of the board of management Hans Walz (right).

It might reasonably be assumed that business, too, would return to normal. But before that could happen, matters were complicated by a series of unexpected events affecting the companys senior management. Out of the blue, the Allies had ordered Bosch to replace its entire board of management in the fall of 1945. Because he had headed the company during the Nazi period, Hans Walz was sent to an internment camp despite having supported the resistance movement and despite his efforts to help the victims of the Nazi regime. He was not released until two years later, and initially returned to Bosch as a member of the supervisory council. In 1953, Hans Walz was re-appointed chairman of both the board of management and the group of executors Robert Bosch had named in his will to administer his estate. The seven executors who had been administering Robert Boschs estate since his death in 1942 had all been personally acquainted with Robert Bosch and were familiar with his wishes and ideas. They worked in close liaison with the board of management and the supervisory council. Indeed, in many cases the same person held positions in multiple bodies. The executors met several times a year to discuss a wide range of issues, not only those of relevance to the company but also those concerning the Bosch Farm, the Bosch villa, and Robert Boschs private foundations. Hans Walz and the other executors remained in close contact with the Bosch family, appointing Robert Boschs son from his second marriage, who had held a seat on the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH since 1954, to the group of executors in 1955.

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Antitrust proceedings the fear of losing everything

While the German economy was recovering in the wake of the currency reform, Robert Bosch GmbH nonetheless had to face a new problem in 1948: the Prohibition of Excessive Concentration of German Economic Power, as the U.S. military government termed it in Law No. 56. At a meeting in March 1948, the military government served Bosch representatives with a provisional antitrust notice. Alfred Knoerzer, the Bosch CFO, described the tense atmosphere at the meeting: Those present will never forget how we nervously scanned the documents presented to us in the course of a rather long [] address, in order to ascertain precisely what they wanted to take away from us. The notice confirmed the worst fears of the Bosch representatives. It ordered Bosch to sell virtually everything it owned apart from the Stuttgart and Feuerbach plants. Bosch appealed immediately. The court case dragged on until 1952 and ended with an outof-court settlement. Even though this settlement was far from ideal from the boards point of view, it at least allowed them to finally return to longterm planning after years of uncertainty.

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Top: In the late 1950s, Bosch built a modern factory in the Brazilian town of Campinas, where the company produced equipment for diesel engines and automotive electric components for the South American market.

The terms of the settlement were harsh. Bosch was required to relinquish its stakes in companies in Nuremberg and Frankfurt, and to sell off its Junkers heating systems plants in Dessau. Moreover, Dreilinden Maschinenbau GmbH in Kleinmachnow and Idealwerke in Berlin were to be closed down. In return, Bosch was allowed to keep its plants in Hildesheim and Bamberg. But it was the companys intellectual property that suffered most: Bosch was obliged to license a large portion of its patents to any interested party. It was allowed to charge an appropriate fee in return, but only if the licensee was a manufacturer based in the Federal Republic of Germany. This addendum was actually superfluous, as Bosch patents and trademarks had been expropriated without compensation in its main foreign markets during the second world war.

Made in Brazil blazing new trails in the search for an international market
Outside Germany, the Allies had also confiscated all Boschs sales offices and production plants in Europe and the United States. As an international player, Bosch was back at square one just as it had been at the end of the first world war. But once again, the companys longstanding business relations with partners outside Germany proved to be remarkably sound.

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In the early 1950s, Bosch was able to re-establish its presence in France, with the help of Lavalette, and in the U.K., with the help of C.A.V. The U.S. market, however, remained a challenge. In 1952, exports accounted for no more than 13.6 percent of Bosch sales revenue. Most of these sales, roughly 80 percent, were generated within Europe, while the remainder was divided equally between Asia on the one hand and Africa, the Americas, and Australia on the other. U.S. business thus accounted for only a very minor share of Bosch sales revenue. To rectify this situation, Bosch set up a sales office in New York City in 1953. The company also began producing diesel components in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1974. But it was not until 1983 that Bosch was able to re-acquire its trademark rights in the U.S. and to set up further new plants there. In other parts of the world, Bosch was making much faster progress. By 1956, the companys network of agencies and service centers covered more than 130 countries. Local production was another strategy increasingly employed by Bosch and not only to avoid high import duties and long transport routes. Even then, the goal was to establish manufacturing sites around the world as a means of tapping into new markets. Many countries offered tax incentives to encourage foreign investment. In India, Bosch acquired a stake in Motor Industries Company Ltd. (MICO) in 1952. This company, which had been set up the previous year by several local partners, began producing spark plugs and diesel-engine components for

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Top: View across the parking lot of Boschs Australian production plant in Clayton, near Melbourne, in 1958 Right: A radiant smile thanks to the Bosch food processor: the advertising brochure from 1955 focused on how the appliance reduced the housewifes workload.

Bosch at its Bangalore plant in 1953. In Australia, Bosch purchased shares in Pyrox Pty. Ltd., a longstanding business partner with which it had established contacts prior to 1939. A modern plant was built in Clayton, near Melbourne, and started producing automotive equipment in 1955. Bosch later became the sole owner of this plant, after gradually increasing its stake in the Australian company between 1956 and 1958. The resulting new company was named Robert Bosch (Australia) Pty. Ltd. A number of major German automakers set up production plants in Brazil in the 1950s. Bosch followed suit, establishing a sales office near So Paulo to supply the factories operated by longstanding customers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. Bosch had been absent from the Brazilian market for a long time because of the second world war. But as Karl Thom, then head of the Bosch legal department, remarked: The good reputation of the products bearing the Bosch name [had] not been forgotten. In 1957, a factory in Campinas started rolling out diesel-engine components made in Brazil. Elsewhere, Bosch granted manufacturing licenses to local companies in countries such as Japan, Spain, and Argentina. Gradually, over the course of the 1950s, Bosch thus not only expanded its international sales network but also created a close-knit, global production network.

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Elegance in perfection for every housewife new Bosch products

After having concentrated almost exclusively on automotive products in the years immediately after the war, Bosch now began to reintroduce refrigerators, radios, and power tools into its portfolio. In 1952, Blaupunkt launched Europes first FM car radio. In the same year, the Power Tools division brought out its Bosch-Combi power tool, which was aimed at an entirely new category of customer: the home handyman or do-it-yourselfer. Production at Junkers, Fernseh GmbH, and Bauer was also running at full capacity.
Top: Advertisement for Blaupunkts first FM car radio, 1952 Left: In 1953, Junkers found a new home in Wernau, near Stuttgart, and the production of gas-fired appliances began there later the same year. Until the end of the war, Junkers products had been manufactured in Dessau.

Bosch now set its sights on another new target group housewives. In 1952, the company launched its first food processor, which made light work of cooking and baking. The labor-saving appliance, which won accolades for its esthetically pleasing design, was much appreciated by busy housewives, whose household chores were portrayed in the advertising campaign as something akin to hard labor. Indeed, a 1954 issue of the Bosch-Znder in-house newspaper asked the pointed question: Did you know that a housewife burns up roughly 3,700 calories going about her daily chores? That is equivalent to the days work of a train driver. The washing machines that Bosch started manufacturing in 1958 were also highly popular with housewives.

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Gasoline injection and electronics new business areas

Top: From 1953 onward, the Bosch hydraulic lift relieved farmers of heavy manual labor. Right: The Mercedes 300 SL of 1954 with its distinctive gull-wing doors was the first production car to feature Bosch gasoline injection in conjunction with a four-stroke engine.

Gasoline injection, a new engine technology that was applied on an industrial scale for the first time in two-stroke engines in 1951 and in four-stroke engines in 1954, was a major Bosch innovation. The first to benefit from this new technology were racing drivers. But even then, the Bosch motor sport news service predicted an even greater future for the new technology: There were secrets under the hoods of the winning cars that are certain to have an effect on the future development of automotive technology. The predictions were right. Thanks to the higher performance and better fuel economy it achieved in comparison with conventional carburetors, gasoline injection technology soon found its way into cars coming off the production line. Hydraulics was another discipline in which Bosch engineers began to make significant progress in 1953. At that time, agriculture in Germany was much less mechanized than in neighboring countries to the west, and farmers still relied on manual labor for the majority of tasks, from sowing to harvesting. This set Boschs engineers to thinking about ways of using modern technology efficiently to make agricultural work easier. Under the slogan Bosch hydraulics instead of muscle power, the company advertised its first product in the hydraulic segment, a mobile hydraulic lift, which used the power of the tractor engine to lift and lower the plow. At the same time, Bosch advanced its work in the field of electronics. In 1958 the engineering department presented the variode, the companys first series-produced electronic component for automobiles. No bigger than a pea, this semiconductor device was built into alternator regulators. It was the first step along the path to automotive electronics, which today is one of the companys most important business areas.

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Creation of the divisions and the rise of automotive electronics

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A new corporate structure c reation of the divisions

Right: The manufacture of ignition distributors in Blaichach in 1962. Bosch moved the production of automotive ignition systems from Feuerbach to this new site shortly after its acquisition in 1960. Previous page: Two associates putting an engine through its paces in a test bay. The Bosch automotive e ngineering center in Schwieberdingen has been responsible for the development of electric and electronic automotive components and systems since 1968.

y the early 1960s, Bosch had regained its position as a major indus trial enterprise. Buoyed by the economic boom in western Europe, the company was posting high growth rates, and the number of

associates had risen from some 15,000 in 1950 to some 70,000. But Bosch priate to much smaller businesses. A more flexible structure was needed, better adapted to future growth. Greater decentralization was urgently required to give the individual operating units more room to maneuver.

was still operating under a centralized corporate structure more appro

Astart was made on July 1, 1959, when the power tool manufacturing facil ity in Leinfelden, near Stuttgart, was made an independent unit. This pilot project was the first step in a major corporate change proc ess that would ultimately transform Bosch into a divisionalized com pany comprising a tightly linked group of relatively autonomous units (divisions), each accountable for its own sales revenue and profits. The board of management reasoned that this would accelerate decision mak ing, thus enhancing customer focus and the companys ability to compete in increasingly complex international markets. This reasoning, as well as the companys wish to expand its product portfolio, made divisional ization inevitable. To take the example of automotive electronics: in the 1950s, it was still a marginal activity, dealt with by disparate units. In 1974, these units were grouped together to form a fully fledged division. It was responsible for the development and manufacture of semiconductor com ponents and electronic control units. Between 1962 and 1968, the board of management had set up a total of six divisions in the automotive technology sector. During the same period, the business unit originally set up in 1932 to construct special-purpose

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Top: Relocation of the company headquarters from Stuttgart to Gerlingen was completed on April 30, 1970. This was reason enough for the chairman of the board of management Hans L. Merkle (seventh from right) to take the members of the Gerlingen local authorities on a tour of the Schillerhhe site.

machinery (mainly production equipment for the Bosch plants) was reor ganized as a new independent operating unit called Production Equipment. In 1974, it also took over manufacture of production machinery for exter nal customers, and was renamed the Industrial Equipment division. Bosch also restructured its household appliances business in 1965, forming a separate product group, which was subsequently amalgamated with the Siemens household appliances unit in a joint venture founded in 1967. But divisionalization did not mean that Bosch was simply broken down into a number of smaller companies: the new divisions remained legally dependent parts of Robert Bosch GmbH, reporting to the board of manage ment at the head of the company. Each new division now reported to a spe cific member of the Bosch board of management. Previously, the respon sibilities of members of the board of management had been assigned on the basis of specific functions alone such as production, engineering, or sales. But this centralized approach was no longer an adequate way of managing complex business transactions. The exceptions were superor dinate business functions such as human resources, legal affairs, business administration, research and advance engineering, and finance.

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From textile mills to hotbeds of technology a new generation of manufacturing experts

The structural changes introduced by Bosch after 1960 were accompa nied by a wave of expansion, spurred by strong worldwide growth and full employment in the German domestic market. At the time, the Stuttgart metropolitan area was the center of the companys international produc tion network and the hub of its export activities. To compensate for the acute shortage of workers there, Bosch decided to recruit guest workers from southern Europe. The company went on to purchase manufactur ing sites in industrial development areas German regions with a sur plus of labor and an underdeveloped industrial infrastructure. Homburg and Ansbach were two such locations. The decline of the German textiles industry presented Bosch with an opportunity to acquire established manufacturing sites along with highly qualified workers who could be retrained to manufacture Bosch products. The Reutlingen and Blaichach plants are two examples of such acquisitions. This period of profound change is inextricably linked with Hans L. Merkle, who joined the board of management on October 1, 1958. Merkle had previously been chief executive of the textiles company Ulrich Gminder AG in Reutlingen a company that Bosch acquired and converted into a production plant for automotive technology in 1964. Merkle was appointed chairman of the board of management on April 1, 1963. For over 20years, he was instrumental in changing the face of the company, forging ahead with divisionalization and launching a new phase of diversification. During his time at the helm, the company also created the new legal enti ties Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH and Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. Moreover, it gained a foothold in the Japanese market, and won back the companys former leading status in the U.S. market.

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Top: Bosch began using electronic components in its automotive products in the 1950s. The fundamental physics for the further development of such components was researched by staff at the Robert Bosch Research Institute in Berlin, which was established in 1965.

Research, development, and acquisition the power of innovation

Like many of its European competitors, Bosch largely based its product portfolio during the reconstruction period on tried-and-tested products that had been continuously modified and improved. When this recon struction period ended in the late 1950s, however, the focus shifted. Indus try now directed its efforts to turning new technical solutions into innova tive products, in order to drive economic development and underpin new growth. At Bosch as well, the task was to come up with product innovations again now that the company had completely recovered from the devasta tion of war thanks to the huge revenues generated by its traditional prod ucts. To achieve its aims, the company pumped money into R&D, raising its budget to some 4 percent of revenue by 1963 double what the budget had been ten years before. In the years that followed, this figure continued to rise, enabling the company to develop new products faster and maintain

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its position as a technology leader in the core areas of its product portfolio. These areas included both automotive electrics and injection systems, but especially electronic control systems for vehicles, an area of research that Bosch had been pursuing since the late 1950s. An important event in setting the new course was the restructuring of R&D in the late 1960s. Research, advance engineering, and the devel opment of new manufacturing techniques were now organized centrally, while product development and application remained tasks for the indi vidual divisions. Specialized research facilities such as the Forschungsin stitut Berlin (1965) and the Institut de Recherches Robert Bosch in Lonay, Switzerland (1970) were also established. This investment in R&D exper tise was a determining factor in the success of Bosch electronics: in 1965, the company launched an electronic transmission control unit, followed in 1967 by the Jetronic electronic gasoline-injection system, the first prod uct of its type to be produced in series. From then on, automotive electron ics played a major role in the companys growth.

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Top: The design department at the Bangalore site in 1982 Right: In 1968, the corporate research department also took up residence at the new Bosch headquarters in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart.

In addition to in-house innovation, the companys continued growth was also dependent on acquiring technologies or even whole companies. Doing so not only diversified the companys product portfolio, but also made it easier for Bosch to enter new industries and national markets. For example, Bosch established Packaging Technology as a new division through mergers and acquisitions. The process began in 1963, with the acquisition of the Karlsruhe-based Erich Wetzel Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH. Acquisitions of other well-known manufacturers of packaging machinery followed, including Hamac-Hansella, Hesser, Hfliger&Karg, Hller, and Strunck. Bosch merged these companies in 1974 to form its Packaging Technology division. In other branches of industry, Bosch forged alliances with competitors: with Siemens AG in the field of house hold appliances, for example. In 1967, the two partners pooled their activi ties in a joint venture, which still exists today as BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerte GmbH, in which each company holds a 50 percent stake.

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The rapid growth during the 1960s also led to changes at corporate head quarters. The Bosch headquarters in downtown Stuttgart were bursting at the seams, and the company was already renting office space in numerous buildings nearby. Between 1968 and 1970, all the departments housed at the headquarters site near Berliner Platz in the city center moved along with Corporate Research into newly constructed facilities at GerlingenSchillerhhe on the outskirts of Stuttgart. At approximately the same time, the Technical Center for Automotive Electrics was built in Schwieberdin gen, northwest of Stuttgart, and remains an important engineering center for automotive technology to this day.

The founders legacy the Robert Bosch Stiftung

The move to the new headquarters was just one outward sign that an era had ended. On March 21, 1963, Robert Boschs successor, Hans Walz, had celebrated his 80th birthday. He was one of the last remaining symbolic leaders of the company to have personally known and worked with its founder Robert Bosch. Walz stepped down as chairman of the board of management as well as chairman of the group of executors on April 1, 1963, and was succeeded in both offices by Hans L.Merkle. Walz and the other executors of Robert Boschs will laid the founda tions for the companys current constitution, striking a balance between the founders economic and social goals. The objective was to safeguard the health and profitability of the company in order to secure its commit

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Left: On March 28, 1973, the new Robert Bosch Hospital was opened in Stuttgart, replacing the original building that the company founder himself had inaugurated in 1940. Karl Schreiber, a member of the Bosch board of management, takes a closer look at the operating theater along with Stuttgarts lord mayor Arnulf Klett and Robert Bosch Jr., the son of the company founder (from left to right).

ment to civic initiatives. The starting point was Vermgensverwaltung Bosch GmbH (Bosch Asset Management), which had been set up in 1921. In 1964, Vermgensverwaltung Bosch GmbH acquired a majority stake in Robert Bosch GmbH from the heirs of the company founder. The voting rights were assigned to what is known today as Robert Bosch Industrie treuhand KG, an industrial trust, which since then has exercised the entre preneurial ownership functions that would otherwise have been carried out by the majority shareholder. In 1969, Vermgensverwaltung Bosch changed its name to Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH (Robert Bosch Foundation), thus underlining the social focus of its activities. To this day, the foundation has supported proj ects in education, health, international relations, society, culture, and sci ence. It also runs the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart. Today, the Robert Bosch Stiftung holds 92 percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH. Most of the remaining shares are held by the Bosch family. The Bosch fam ily thus retains close ties with the company, and, since the death of Robert Bosch Jr. in 2004, is represented by the founders grandson Christof. He is a partner in the Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand, a member of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH, and one of the trustees of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The remodeled corporate constitution remains the keystone and guarantor of the Bosch Groups entrepreneurial freedom and financial independence. Most of the earnings generated remain within the com pany, where they are used to secure its future. This enables Bosch to adopt a long-term view and to finance its investments without having to use out side capital. The Robert Bosch Stiftung receives a dividend that assures

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Right: The history of automotive electronics has deep roots at the Reutlingen site. From 1969, electronic control units (ECUs) were produced at Reutlingen for the Jetronic gasoline-injection system. In this picture from 1978, an associate mounts components on a printed circuit board for an ECU.

the continuity of its many and varied civic activities. Since 1964, the foun dation has received funds totaling roughly one billion euros from the com pany profits of Robert Bosch GmbH. Boschs corporate constitution makes it is one of the rare businesses that achieves an equilibrium between eco nomic and social goals.

The computerized car electronics at Bosch

In 1967, West Germany experienced its first recession. Bosch responded by quickly carrying out a range of measures, including scaling back costly investments, in an effort to neutralize the impact of a 7 percent drop in sales in its home market, a drop which came after years of growth. The modernized corporate structure and innovative new products helped to boost growth rates again once the recession had abated. The automotive electronic systems first developed in the mid-1960s now became a major factor in the companys growth, and marked the birth of a new core area of expertise at Bosch. These systems brought about a fundamental shift in the Bosch product range, which had previously been dominated by mechanically and electrically controlled products. The Jetronic gasoline-injection system, the first electronic system to be massproduced, comprised more than 220 individual components. Critics at the time, who tended to be proponents of traditional mechanical devices, seri ously doubted the ability of the new electronic components to withstand cold, heat, dirt, and moisture. In the end, everyday use showed that the

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Top: In 1979, Motronic, the combined digital control of gasoline injection and ignition, was the first automotive system to use a microprocessor. Here, an engineer sets the Motronic engine management parameters during testing at the Schwieberdingen automotive engineering center in 1984.

electronic systems were robust. Admittedly, many of the commercially available electronic components were not ideally suited for application in motor vehicles. That prompted Bosch to build a factory in Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, where it started manufacturing its own electronic compo nents in 1970. Electronic gasoline-injection systems quickly gained acceptance because they considerably reduced both consumption and emissions. The U.S. Clean Air Act of 1970 and the first oil crisis in 1973 both supported their success. Later systems offered improved technology and permit ted operation with a three-way catalytic converter thanks to the lambda sensor, which Bosch launched in 1976. It reduced exhaust emissions by 90percent. Once again, Bosch was setting new standards. Bosch continued to drive developments in automotive electronics. In 1979, the launch of the Motronic system marked a further milestone. This system, which controlled both fuel injection and ignition, was the first time a microprocessor with freely programmable software had been

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The 3S program: safe, clean, economical In the year following the 1973 oil shock, the most serious energy crisis of the 20th century, Bosch announced its 3S program. 3S is derived from the German words sicher (safe), sauber (clean), and sparsam (economical). In a world shaped by mass motorization, environmental problems, and dwindling energy resources, Bosch set itself the goal of making driving safer for passengers and pedestrians alike, reducing fuel consumption, and cutting exhaust emissions. The objectives of the 3S program, which is still in force at Bosch today, also resonate in the corporate slogan launched in 2005: Invented for life. This slogan is a guiding principle for Bosch, embodying the companys drive to develop intelligent, innovative, and beneficial technology. The picture shows an engine test bay at the automotive engineering center in Schwieberdingen.

installed in a vehicle. It was also the forerunner of all the gasoline engine management systems in use today. One year before Bosch launched Motronic, the company had rolled out another world first: the ABS antilock braking system, the first digital electronic system installed in a motor vehicle. ABS prevents car wheels from locking when the brakes are applied, thus shortening braking dis tance and helping to keep vehicles maneuverable. Nine years of develop ment had preceded the 1978 market launch, and had demanded immense creativity and endurance on the part of the Bosch engineers. Wolf-Dieter Jonner, who worked on the ABS development project, recalls the first test drives in the icy north of Sweden in 1971: During the tests we changed the ABS parameters with a soldering iron, not with a laptop. The control units of the time were analog in design, and comprised up to 1,000 components. ABS was followed by the TCS traction control system, which premiered in 1986. By throttling the engines torque and/or applying the brakes, it pre vents wheel spin when starting or accelerating on slippery surfaces. Another pioneering Bosch innovation was vehicle navigation systems. In 1983, the company produced EVA, the electronic pilot for drivers. This was the first prototype of an independent vehicle navigation unit. The system, which was so big that it filled the entire trunk of the car, used a recorded voice to guide drivers to their destinations. According to the engineer Otmar Pilsak, this had to be a mans voice because the lower pitch meant it used up less memory capacity than a female one. This experi mental system was the basis for the worlds first voice-guided satellite navigation system for motor vehicles, which went into series production in 1995.

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Below: Since the 1970s, winter tests of the antilock braking system (ABS) have been carried out on a frozen lake in northern Sweden. The picture here was taken in 1975. Right: Bosch launched the electronic pilot for drivers (EVA) the first independent navigation system for passenger vehicles in 1983.

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Thinking global a new start in the U.S. and East Asia

Right: The production of cameras in Malaysia for the Photokino division in 1978 is symptomatic of the build-up of manufacturing capacity in emerging markets during the 1970s.

By the early 1970s, the Bosch workforce numbered more than 100,000, but the decade began with a period of stagnation in the companys western European markets. Bosch made up for the stagnation by tapping into the burgeoning Asian markets, expanding its sales and production network there. In 1973, the foundation stone was laid in Nashik for Boschs second Indian plant; in the same year, a trading company was launched in Singa pore; and one year later a production company for consumer goods was set up in Malaysia. In developed markets such as Japan, with its thriving but highly pro tected car industry, the strategy was different. Bosch set up joint ventures there: for gasoline injection systems in 1973 and for the ABS antilock brak ing system in 1984. In China, which had been a market for Bosch products since 1909, the company was initially unable to set up its own production facilities in the Peoples Republic. After 1978, political reforms paved the way for license negotiations. In 1984, these ultimately led to the establishment of the first Chinese production plant, where Bosch diesel-injection equipment was manufactured under license. Two years later, a sales office was opened in Hong Kong for the Chinese market. Though entirely different, the situation in the U.S., which had been Boschs largest sales market before the first world war, was no less com plicated. The companys locations and brands in the U.S. had been seized during the first world war, and once again during the second world war. And until the early 1970s, Bosch maintained only a small sales office in the United States. People in the U.S. knew Bosch, if at all, only as a manufac turer of retail products such as spark plugs and wiper blades. Nonetheless,

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Right: One of the companies that Bosch incorporated into its growing Telecommunications business sector from 1982 onward included ANT in Backnang, a long-established specialist in the field. Its product portfolio also included radio technology for the command centers of emergency services, fire brigades, and the police force, such as this emergency call center, photographed in 1991.

the U.S. was a market with huge potential. Stringent exhaust regulations made it an ideal market for Boschs electronic engine management sys tems. Ultimately, this facilitated Boschs third breakthrough into the U.S. automotive market as an original equipment manufacturer for gasoline injection systems in new cars. Bosch also made headway in the U.S. with its diesel technology. From its new production plant in Charleston, South Carolina, Bosch began sup plying diesel injection systems to U.S. manufacturers of commercial and agricultural vehicles in 1974. Growth took off as a result. In 1974, year-onyear sales growth in the U.S. was a good 30 percent, and this trend con tinued for a number of years. Globally as well, 1974 was a milestone. For the first time in 42 years, Bosch again generated more than half its revenue from sales outside Germany. In 1980, the company set up Robert Bosch North America Inc. Headquartered in Broadview, Illinois, it brought together all the companys U.S. activities under one roof. Another key milestone was reached three years later, when Bosch re-acquired the U.S. trademark rights it had lost as a result of the second world war. In the same year, it opened its engineering and application center in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Telecommunications a new focus

Our total sales from electronics is set to be in the vicinity of 10 billion German marks, which is 45 percent of our consolidated global sales. These words,

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spoken by Hans L.Merkle, the chairman of the supervisory council, in the centennial year 1986 underscored the change the company had under gone in the previous two decades a change that no expert could have foreseen. His successor Marcus Bierich worked persistently to take the company further in this direction. Bierich, who had studied mathemat ics, natural science, and philosophy, had succeeded Hans L.Merkle as chairman of the board of management in 1984. He held this post until 1993, when he joined the supervisory council. Bierich continued to expand the companys global presence throughout this eventful period, which saw the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Warsaw Pact in 1991. These events presented major challenges but at the same time a wealth of opportunities. Over the course of the 1980s, Bierich built up the Bosch telecommuni cations business. This culminated in 1989, when various operations were amalgamated to form a new business sector. The origins of this new sector

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Left: The activities of the Telecommunications business sector also extended to space technology, an area in which Bosch had already amassed expertise. From 1976 onward, its engineers constructed a number of space simulation chambers to test satellites. The picture shows a satellite antenna being tested in 1995.

dated back in part to 1954, when Bosch launched its first radio technology operations. Other important stages along the way were the creation of the Mobile Telephones business unit and the acquisition of established tele communications companies. This process began in 1982, and included ANT in Backnang, near Stuttgart, and Telefonbau und Normalzeit Leh ner&Co. in Frankfurt. The newly founded telecommunications sector went from strength to strength in the early years, with sales sometimes increasing at twice the average rate for the rest of the company. This suc cess was largely attributable to the rapid progress in telecommunications technology and the large-scale development of modern telecommuni cations infrastructures. At its zenith in the mid-1990s, the telecommuni cations sector accounted for as much as 25 percent of Bosch sales. That figure reflected Boschs strategy of reducing its dependence on the auto motive industry by fostering growth in other business areas. And yet, the process of diversification did not prove sustainable. The deregulation of national markets and radical technological change meant that the commu nications industry came under enormous pressure in the late 1990s. It was the signal for Bosch to gradually scale back its activities in the sector. In light of the upheaval the communications industry later experienced, the change in Bosch policy can, in hindsight, be regarded as a judicious move.

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Meeting the challenges of globalization

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A flight to WaRiMiKi new markets in eastern Europe

Right: Not long after the Iron Curtain fell, drivers in eastern Germany were also able to make use of the Bosch Service network. Boschs engine-testing equipment, such as the CompacTest model shown here at the Bosch Service repair shop in Kyritz, Brandenburg, in 1992, was also suitable for the Trabant, up to then the most popular (and only affordable) passenger car in eastern Germany. Previous page: At Stuttgarts new trade fair center, which was opened in 2007, the Bosch symbol and logotype are clearly visible. Each of the red letters on the trade fair parking garage, which straddles the busy Stuttgart-Munich freeway, is about eight meters high.

he end of the Iron Curtain marked the beginning of a new era for Bosch. Since 1985, glasnost und perestroika openness and

restructuring had been the new watchwords of Soviet policy,

gradually ushering in the end of the old world order. The fall of the Berlin created new markets for companies like Bosch. The opening up of eastern Europe also lent added impetus to globalization, the process by which previously discrete regional markets were becoming interlinked. As of January 1, 1990, over 174,000 associates worked for Bosch

Wall in November 1989 sounded the death knell of the Warsaw Pact and

worldwide, 10,000 more than the year before. One important reason for this growth was the extension of numerous manufacturing sites outside Germany, for instance in Brazil, Malaysia, and the United States. Sophisticated Bosch technology such as airbag control units, the ABS antilock braking system, and electronic gasoline injection was gradually becoming standard equipment throughout the automotive industry, generating additional revenue for Bosch. During this favorable economic phase, the board of management under Marcus Bierich set its sights on the new markets of eastern Europe in particular. Eastern Europe had at first been handled by an Austrian sales partner, with responsibility for the region then being transferred to Boschs Austrian regional subsidiary in Vienna in 1990. Between 1979 and 1981, Boschs only local presence in the Soviet Union had been a sales office at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Starting in 1990, Bosch began sounding out the market potential of the other countries in the former Soviet bloc, and cultivating new trading partners. This was the time of the flights to WaRiMiKi, which was the nickname given to the cities

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Above: In 1992, Bosch opened its first production plant for a utomotive technology in eastern Germany: Robert Bosch Fahrzeugelektrik GmbH in Eisenach. Shown here attending the topping-out ceremony are (from left to right): Marcus Bierich, the chairman of the board of management, HansPeter Brodhun, the mayor of Eisenach, Jrg Schwblein, the chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the state legislature, Hans L. Merkle, the chairman of the supervisory council, and Bernhard Vogel, governor of the state of Thuringia.

of Warsaw, Riga, Minsk, and Kiev by the Bosch managers who went there regularly in search of potential customers. East Germany, too, became a new market in this period, even though it was not initially clear whether reunification would take place or whether the two German states would continue to exist side by side. Speaking at the Bosch annual press conference in 1990, Marcus Bierich said: The changes afoot in eastern Europe are opening up new opportunities, also for us. We are currently involved in joint projects with 14 companies in East Germany. These projects included the acquisition of the former stateowned power tools facility in Sebnitz and an alliance with a similar organization for automotive electric components in Eisenach. Bosch built a new plant in Eisenach, where it still produces components for fuel injection systems today. By late 1990, shortly after reunification, Bosch was employing more than 4,000 associates in eastern Germany. Bosch also expanded its Bosch Service network in eastern Germany, where the companys spare parts had enjoyed a good reputation before reunification. The expansion was completed in the final months before reunification on October 3, 1990, with Bosch Service repair shops opening in eight cities in what was still East Germany. Two years later, there were 186 Bosch Service operations in eastern Germany.

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European integration tackling global competition

Looking back, we can discern a pattern in the way Bosch gradually expanded its presence in new markets, a pattern that also holds true for eastern Europe after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. If a business relationship with a local sales partner developed positively, Bosch would set up its own sales company. That company would collaborate with a local production partner, which as a general rule would manufacture Bosch products under license in the early stages. In most cases, Bosch opted for closer collaboration in the form of a joint venture. Frequently, Bosch subsequently acquired the licensee or joint venture partner. In this way, a regional organization with sales and production operations was gradually established. In the eastern European markets, the process began with entities known as liaison offices, which Bosch opened in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1990. Their purpose was to ascertain whether the markets had enough potential to warrant setting up a Bosch sales company or production plant. But the economic outlook began to cloud over, and Boschs growth in the eastern European markets slowed in 1991 and 1992 in the wake of the worldwide economic downturn. This negative development was initially offset by the steep rise in sales in Germany in the immediate post-reunification period. But in 1993, sales dropped for the second time since the second world war, this time by nearly 6 percent. This prompted vigorous cost-cutting and considerable reductions in headcount before the company was again able to boost its sales substantially in 1994 and 1995. In this difficult environment, Bosch was able to make the most of the new opportunities in eastern Europe. The key decisions to expand business there were made in quick succession: in 1991, Bosch

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Left: The board of management members Hermann Scholl (right) and Gotthard Romberg (left) plant an oak tree to commemorate the opening of the Russian regional subsidiarys new office building in Moscow in the fall of 1997. Above: Associates of the Bosch distribution center in Minsk, Belarus, pose proudly for the photographer in spring 1997.

set up regional companies in Poland and Hungary, and between 1992 and 1994 these were followed by regional companies in Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. By 1994, Bosch already had companies of its own in 13 former Soviet bloc countries. Research was another area in which Bosch took steps to strengthen its international network. In 1992, for instance, an engineering center was opened in Yokohama, Japan similar to the one set up in Farmington Hills, Michigan (USA), in 1983. Bosch expanded its international manufacturing network over the same period, deliberately recruiting specialists and executives around the world so that its regional operations would increasingly be run by people from those countries. During this period of rapid change and growth, Bosch still kept up its efforts to maintain and improve the quality of its products. In 1989, the company formulated twelve principles for quality, which expressly focused on customer satisfaction. Around the same time, 40 international projects were launched with the ambitious goal of achieving zero defects in production. In 1991, Bosch also initiated its worldwide CIP (continuous improvement process) program. The goal was to enhance the quality of processes in all areas from development through to sales. All these measures helped both to cut costs and maintain quality during the crisis of 1993.

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I knew there were opportunities a new focus on Asia

Right: The Bosch logotype is clearly vident in this Shanghai street scene e from 1999. By that time, the company had already entered into in eight different joint ventures with Chinese partners, and was, for example, manufacturing spark plugs in Nanjing.

On July 1, 1993, Hermann Scholl took over as chairman of the board of management from Marcus Bierich, who was appointed chairman of the supervisory council. Scholl was an engineering graduate who had joined Bosch in 1962. From the outset, he had worked on electronic components for automotive applications and was involved in developing systems such as the Jetronic gasoline-injection system (1967) and the ABS antilock braking system (1978). In his new role as chairman, Scholl now focused most on developing the companys presence in the emerging economies outside Europe and on maintaining Boschs capacity to innovate. Although the economic climate in 1993 was difficult, it also offered some good prospects. While declining sales in western and central Europe and a recession in Japan posed difficulties for Bosch, there were signs of good business opportunities in other key Asian markets notably India, South Korea, and China as a result of political reforms. Expanding its operations in Asia was thus of major importance to Bosch for the long term. In Japan, hitherto the companys key market in Asia, Bosch focused on the export-driven automotive sector. The company was able to take advantage of growth in that sector through affiliated companies and joint ventures, mainly with suppliers of electrical components, engine management units, and braking systems such as ABS. In order to gain a better foothold in the automotive business there, Bosch gradually increased its stake in Zexel Corporation, its largest Japanese affiliate, gaining majority control in 1999. Zexel was later merged with other Bosch companies in Japan, resulting in 2005 in the creation of Bosch Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo.

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Top: At the ceremony to mark the opening of the technology center in Yokohama in June 1992, Marcus Bierich (second from left), the chairman of the board of management, cuts the ribbon together with the German ambassador Wilhelm Haas (second from right), Hideo Ishihara (left), the president of IBJ Leasing, and Masaaki Endo (right), the director of Takenaka Corporation. Right: Bosch power tools are held in high regard in China. This huge banner was used to advertise the divisions products in Guilin in 1996.

Bosch opened its fourth production plant in India in 1999, and its business in the country thrived. By 2003, Mico (now Bosch India) had manufactured a total of 25 million single-cylinder diesel injection pumps for stationary engines. In the following year, the 10 millionth inline diesel-injection pump for passenger and commercial vehicles rolled off the production line. The positive economic growth enjoyed by South Korea in the early 1990s proved that the decision to establish Bosch Korea Ltd. in 1989 had been well timed. As the southeast Asian tiger states began to flourish in the years that followed, Bosch established five joint ventures with South Korean partners, four of which Bosch acquired completely between 1997 and 2000 and merged under the aegis of Bosch Korea Ltd. Bosch had had a representative office in China since 1989. Until 1994, its operations there had been limited to license agreements. Once the Chinese government recognized in the early 1990s how important nonChinese suppliers were to the development of the domestic automotive industry, this market, too, opened up to Bosch. After lengthy negotiations, which included a personal meeting between the Bosch chairman Scholl and the Chinese premier Li Peng in 1994, a breakthrough was made in 1995: the Chinese government awarded Bosch a strategically important contract to equip Chinese-made vehicles with electronic gasoline-injection systems. Bosch began manufacturing these systems at its Shanghaibased joint venture United Automotive Electronic Systems Co., Ltd. (UAES) in 1996. Hermann Scholl later recalled: I knew there were opportunities here to gain a foothold as an OEM. The Chinese had realized that they needed high-performance supplier industries to ensure their own success. And that coincided with what we wanted. Also in 1996, production of diesel tech -

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nology began at the joint venture Europe-Asia Diesel Fuel Injection Co., Ltd in Wuxi, while production facilities in Hangzhou and Nanjing started manufacturing power tools and spark plugs respectively. Additional joint ventures followed in quick succession, and Bosch set up a holding company for China in 1999. The Bosch management also began stepping up its business activities in southeast Asia over the same period. The centerpiece of this campaign was the opening of a regional headquarters in Singapore in 1995, which assumed responsibility for all the regional sub sidiaries, sales offices, and other Bosch agencies in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

From CAN to common rail an unwavering focus on innovation

Throughout the 1990s, innovative electronic components usually the result of long and extensive research formed the backbone of the

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Above: Years of development work are required before a product reaches the series-production stage. The aim of this experiment, photographed in 2004, is to analyze the injection patterns in diesel engines. Right: Braking control systems such as ESP have to function reliably even in extreme driving situations. This picture, taken in 2001, shows such a situation on the Bosch test track in Boxberg.

companys success. A good example was the CAN controller area net work, a system launched by Bosch in 1991 for the digital transfer of data in motor vehicles. This system allowed automotive electronic systems to be interconnected. The proportion of electronics in motor vehicles had been steadily rising for many years. Now, electronics account for one-fifth of the total value of a typical passenger car. ESP, introduced in 1995, was another technological milestone and commercial success. This electronic stability program can help to save lives by preventing cars from skidding mainly by applying the brakes to individual wheels in finely adjusted increments. Bosch also set new standards with its innovative diesel and gasoline injection systems, making it possible to substantially reduce CO2 and other pollutant emissions. A typical example is electronically controlled high-pressure diesel injection. Bosch engineers worked unflaggingly on this development for some 15 years. With its significantly lower fuel consumption, reduced emissions, and high torque at low engine speeds, it played a crucial role in the diesel-engine boom that gathered speed in the 1990s. The start of series production of common-rail technology in

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1997 was decisive, since it enabled a 96 percent reduction in pollutant emissions compared with 1990 levels. As Klaus Krieger, Executive Vice President Engineering at the time, later conceded: It wasnt easy to believe we would be successful. But the engineers were confident that the system was feasible, and later success proved them right. Today, 50 percent of all new vehicles in Europe are equipped with diesel engines. Bosch also developed groundbreaking technology for gasoline engines. DI-Motronic gasoline direct injection, which has been on the market since 2000, helps to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. The decisive factor is downsizing, which means reducing either the engine displacement or the number of cylinders. In combination with a turbocharger, the downsized engines performance remains virtually unchanged, despite lower consumption and emissions. Engines that employ this design along with gasoline direct injection are steadily gaining in popularity. Around the turn of the millennium, Bosch began collaborating with highly qualified partners in certain branches of automotive technology. One example was the setting up of ZF Lenksysteme GmbH in cooperation with the transmission specialist ZF. Another was the partnership with the Munich-based Knorr AG in the field of braking systems for commercial vehicles. In other product areas where fundamental market changes virtually ruled out any hope of future success, Bosch decided to withdraw. One of these areas was telecommunications: starting in 1999, Bosch had been gradually selling off parts of this business sector that, a mere six years earlier, had accounted for some 25 percent of its total sales. The longestablished Car Radio business unit and the vehicle navigation business

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Right: Taken at the Lollar production plant in 2004, this picture shows an associate from the T hermotechnology division testing the tightness of a Buderus cast section destined for integration in an industrial-scale boiler.

today combined in the Car Multimedia division remained, as did Security Systems, which became a division in its own right in 2002. Bosch succeeded in maintaining its competitive edge internationally through model projects. One such project was the Simultaneous Engineering Center at the Blaichach location. Set up in 1999, this was a new departure in the companys international development and manufacturing network. This center coordinated the joint development of the new generations of the ABS and ESP brake control systems, enabling the production of these systems to start simultaneously at all Bosch plants worldwide. This meant that the same production and quality standards could be met in all local markets.

Bringing about change a global enterprise with a global culture

At the annual press conference held in April 2001, the Bosch board of management did more than just announce the companys business results from the previous year. An even more important item on the agenda concerned structural changes in the company. Large parts of Telecommunications, the fourth Bosch business sector, had been sold off. The takeover of Mannesmann AGs industrial technology operations, including some 20,000 new associates, was also announced as being imminent. But that was not all: the chairman of the board of management Hermann Scholl informed the press of a quite different decision affecting the direction of the company. Scholls words we are bringing about change alluded to a

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Left: Video technology of the kind seen here in this video surveillance center is one of the key products of the Security Systems division.

far-reaching shift in corporate culture that was being led by the board of management. The objective was to give greater importance to openness, speed, flexibility, and customer focus, and to cement this fundamental attitude in the consciousness of each and every associate. Bosch had a reputation as a solid, trustworthy technological leader, but also as a company that at times left something to be desired when it came to the speed of its decision-making and the consistency of its customer focus. To rectify this, the board of management had formulated the BeQIK Be Better Be Bosch mission in 1999. The focus was on quality, innovation, and customer focus, and also on speeding up internal processes and securing result. The means to this end was the idea of small companies within the company, in which middle and lower management were granted more responsibility and greater freedom to make decisions. The media saw the project as a minor revolution in a company traditionally perceived as being hierarchical. The change in culture initiated by Scholl thus took its course, and was followed in 2002 by the formulation of the companys fundamental values and their worldwide roll-out. A shift of another kind, this time in company strategy, was to be seen in the acquisition of Mannesmann Rexroth in 2001. Following the sub sequent merger of Bosch Rexroth AG and Bosch Automation Technology, the Industrial Technology business sector went on to generate nearly 10 percent of total sales revenue in 2002. That was up from barely 4 percent in the previous year, when Automotive Technology had accounted for the lions share at 71 percent. Another milestone in the restructuring of the company was the acquisition in 2003 of Buderus, a long-established manufacturer of heating systems. The merger of Buderus and Junkers was

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Left: Renewable energy is set to become one of Boschs future core competencies. The Drive and Control Technology division is a market leader in gearboxes for wind turbines. The picture shows the assembly of gear systems in 2001.

successful because the two companies product ranges and distribution channels complemented each other well. This focused diversification was a prescient move to further reduce the companys dependence on the automotive industry. The idea behind it was to achieve a more balanced sales structure and a broader spread of opportunities and risks. In practical terms, focused meant achieving above-average growth in areas such as consumer goods, building technology, industrial technology, and in some cases in completely new fields, without neglecting the market opportunities presented by the automotive sector. Acquisitions also played a role in building up the new Security Systems division that was created in 2002, and included Philips Communication Security Imaging, Telex Communications, and CCTV Extreme. Bosch similarly expanded its portfolio in the packaging machinery sector, acquiring Sigpack, Pharmatech, and Paal in 2004, 2007, and 2008 respectively. But some business areas were also spun off to form independent entities. Bosch Sensortec GmbH, set up in 2005, markets microelectromechanical sensors originally developed for the automotive market for applications in cellphones, laptops, and other consumer goods. Despite the period of economic volatility that began in 2001, Bosch continued to invest in the expansion of significant manufacturing sites operated by its largest business sector, Automotive Technology. These sites included Bursa in Turkey, Jihlava and eske Budjovice in the Czech Republic, Wrocaw in Poland, and Miskolc, Hatvan, and Eger in Hungary. At the same time, Bosch started building a new engineering center for brake control systems in Abstatt, to the north of Stuttgart.

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Right: In addition to diesel and gasoline injection systems, Bosch also manufactures hybrid components. Bosch is utilizing its experience from the development of electric motors, power electronics, and battery technology to develop all-electric powertrain systems. This picture, from 2008, shows quality controls being carried out at the Tamm site.

On July 1, 2003, Franz Fehrenbach replaced Hermann Scholl as chairman of the board of management. Scholl, who had been a general partner of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG since 1995 and the chairman of the shareholders meeting since 2000, now also became the chairman of the supervisory council. Fehrenbach, a graduate in industrial engineering, began his career at Bosch in 1975 as a trainee. As chairman, he continued to promote the Bosch Groups strategy of fostering above-average growth in non-automotive business sectors in order to further reduce the groups dependence on the automotive business. His primary focus was on issues such as globalization, environmental protection, resource conservation, and energy efficiency.

Responding to climate change promoting green technologies

By mid-2004, the number of Bosch associates worldwide had risen to some 242,000, with part of the growth attributable to the reviving global economy. The companys sales figures for South America, which grew by almost 30 percent in 2004, were a clear indicator of the upswing. The good numbers were also due in part to the successful integration of Buderus and Rexroth, and to unflagging innovation in all product fields, particularly in automotive technology, Boschs greatest sales driver. Both before and after 2004, Bosch was able to present a large number of innovations in this field, including driver assistance systems that employ sophisticated sensors to prevent accidents and make driving simpler. The systems,

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Left: In 2008, Bosch and its Korean partner Samsung SDI set up the joint venture SB LiMotive. Its aim is to develop and manufacture batteries for hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Batteries are a key technology for the electric vehicles of the future.

which were very well received, included ACC adaptive cruise control, night vision enhancement, and automatic emergency braking. The positive business performance at Bosch during this period provided a sound basis for new strategic approaches. Franz Fehrenbach placed great emphasis on the environmental aspects of globalization, pointing to the technological solutions required to tackle challenges such as global warming, as well as to adhere to ever more stringent emissions limits. Fehrenbachs credo was that environmental protection requires more, not less, technology. Climate change presented a twofold challenge for Bosch, requiring the company to continue reducing the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of conventional gasoline and diesel engines, while at the same time given the finite nature of oil fostering development of alternative powertrain designs. The challenge motivated Bosch to develop components for hybrid drive systems, which it saw as an important interim technology on the path to all-electric vehicles. The first vehicles featuring Bosch hybrid technology went into series production in 2010. But batteries, the heart of both hybrid drive systems and all-electric vehicles, remain too heavy, too expensive, and too weak. In September 2008, Bosch and its South Korean partner Samsung SDI Co.Ltd. established the joint venture SB LiMotive. Its purpose is to develop and manufacture light, high-performance batteries based on lithium-ion technology for the electric vehicles of the future. In 2009, the two partners laid the foundation stone for the Ulsan production plant in South Korea that went into operation in 2010.

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Right: With the acquisition of ersol Solar Energy AG, Bosch bolstered its business in the key field of renewable energy. One of the companys first major projects was the solar power plant it installed on the roof of the parking garage at the new trade fair center in Stuttgart in 2009.

The other business sectors, too, placed resource conservation at the forefront of their development activities. Examples of products that help to conserve resources include household appliances that consume less water and energy, and economical space-heating systems. In order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Bosch did not rely on energy efficiency alone. The company also drove forward its business with systems that generate power from renewable sources such as the sun, water, wind, and geothermal energy. As early as 1983, Bosch Thermotechnology was selling solar collectors for water heating systems. Through the acquisition of Rexroth, Bosch became a leading provider of gearboxes for wind turbines. It now produces these gearboxes not only in Germany, but also in China. Since 2007, Bosch has stepped up its commitment to renewable energy even further, building a new production plant for solar collectors in Portugal, and becoming the world market leader in geothermal pumps through its acquisition of the Swedish company IVT. Bosch acquired the German solar-cell manufacturer ersol in the spring of 2008, creating the Bosch Solar Energy subsidiary. It also acquired a majority holding in aleo solar AG, a producer of solar modules, in the fall of 2009, thus gaining access to an international sales network for photo voltaic products. It was only natural at this point for the media to start using the term green Bosch when referring to the company. The worldwide recession, which began with the imminent collapse of the banking system in the fall of 2008 and did not reach its low point until mid-2009, left Bosch with a 15 percent drop in sales in fiscal 2009 and for the first time since the second world war an operating loss. This loss came to some 1.2 billion euros, with global sales revenue amounting to

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38.2 billion euros. Early 2010 brought a clear upswing in all areas of business, propelled mainly by strong growth in the Asian emerging economies. The crisis has not had any lasting effect on the companys long-term strategy, especially where R&D is concerned. Bosch researchers continue to work on all kinds of innovative projects, including a wide variety of automotive powertrain designs, and novel solutions for generating power from renewable resources, such as organic photovoltaics.

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Above: The new Bosch s emiconductor plant in Reutlingen was officially opened on March 18, 2010. Guests of honor at the ceremony included (from left to right) Christoph Kbel, president of the Automotive Electronics division, Hermann Scholl, chairman of the supervisory council, Stefan Mappus, governor of Baden-Wrttemberg, Horst Khler, the German federal president, Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the board of management, and Volkmar Denner, member of the board of management.

Securing the companys long-term future reconciling business interests, social responsibility, and environmental concerns
Boschs long-term strategy is by no means based exclusively on tapping into promising new product areas. It also involves a broader understanding of corporate social responsibility a further refinement of the principles of the company founder Robert Bosch. For him, corporate social responsibility essentially implied striking a balance between economic and social needs. In our times, it has become necessary to extend this concept to include environmental protection. The overriding objective for us is [] securing the companys long-term future. But we also aim to achieve this long-term objective by finding a balance between business interests on the one hand and social and environmental concerns on the other. That is how Franz Fehrenbach formulated the principle in 2007. At its heart is the belief that companies can only be successful in the long term if their business models are sustainable, and they do not run contrary to social and environmental interests. Throughout its history, Bosch has always retained its exceptional ability to unite ostensibly conflicting goals. The company has succeeded in operating as a profitable business while at the same time upholding its principles of corporate social responsibility and commitment to civic

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initiatives. Moreover, it has done so both by creating innovations to meet the demands of the worlds most sophisticated markets and by catering to the needs of regional markets with products that are developed and sold locally. What makes Bosch really special is its capacity to unite attributes that might appear to be diametrically opposed strong regional roots and an international presence. Today, the company preserves its close ties to the region in which it began. One example is the new wafer production plant Bosch opened in Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, in March 2010 at a cost of some 600 million euros. However, Boschs regional ties did not prevent it from entering markets outside Germany a move which it first made in 1898. Since then, Bosch has grown rapidly to become the global company it is today. In the first decade of this century, some of its most important regional organizations including those in China, the United States, South Africa, and Australia celebrated their 100th anniversaries. As Franz Fehrenbach put it, Bosch was global before anybody had even started talk ing about globalization.

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Associates and working environments

There must be something special about working for Bosch. It is not unusual for several generations of the same family to work for the company, top managers often regard their work as a mission, and, as international surveys have repeatedly shown, four out every five associates say they are proud to work for Bosch. A high degree of staff loyalty was something the founder Robert Bosch consid ered important, and his company still shares that belief today. A well trained, highly motivated workforce not only makes for a good working environment, but is also essential for the future success of the company.

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The best thing about Bosch its associates

Top right: Bosch associates have a wide range of qualifications. Here, a group photo of the Corporate Intellectual Property department in 2009. Below right: Over the years, joint leisure-time activities have also helped to strengthen the feeling of belonging among associates. Staff of the Berlin sales office on a trip to Lake Sebnitz in 1928. Previous page: The rise in associate numbers reflects the companys radical transformation from a small workshop to an international corporation.

t is not easy to define the Bosch spirit. But much of what binds the associates together today can be traced back to the values held by Robert Bosch himself. Cooperation is a must within the company, he once said and he

meant it. His willingness to cooperate and pull together with others is still visible at Bosch today. Good working conditions, competitive pay, social benefits beyond what is legally required, a wide array of opportunities for training and development, fair treatment across the board these are all things that help Bosch associates strongly identify with their company. This identification is what sustains the Bosch culture. And a high degree of staff loyalty remains a crucial factor, also for the companys future success. When he became chairman of the board of management in July 2003, Franz Fehrenbach wrote an e-mail to associates around the world. What is the best thing about Bosch? he asked, and went on to answer: You are. You alone can ensure that our company has more than a great past. It can have an even greater future.

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We could use him recruiting associates

Right: Robert Bosch himself placed great emphasis on the recruitment of good workers. In the companys early years, he was still personally involved in the selection process. Small wonder, then, that the companys first master craftsmen exude an air of self-confidence in this picture from 1905.

Robert Bosch always devoted a great deal of thought to the selection and training of associates. After all, the success of his company depended in large part on his associates performance: Whenever you cannot do something yourself be it for lack of skill or lack of time the main thing is to know who the right people are for the job. In the early years, when he still knew every associate by name, Robert Bosch took care of recruitment and professional development himself. In 1901, he transferred this responsibility to a specialist department, making Ernst Ulmer, who would later serve on the board of management, head of human resources. When appointing senior executives, Robert Bosch relied on the advice of Gustav Klein, who was appointed head of the sales organization in 1906. When it came to employing relatives, Robert Bosch found it very difficult to make objective decisions. In the case of his brother-in-law Eugen Kayser, who was being considered for the post of director of the metalworking plant in Feuerbach, he left it to Gustav Klein to assess Kaysers suitability. The story goes that Gustav Klein spent the night drinking with Kayser, putting him through his paces, as it were. His final report to Robert Bosch was succinct: Kayser? We could use him. Ive put him to the test. The methods used today to assess potential associates may be somewhat more modern and sober than the rather unconventional tactics employed by Gustav Klein, but the human resources department still places great importance on accurately assessing each candidates personality. Assessment centers, personal interviews, and aptitude tests are used to determine whether applicants are a good fit for the company. A number of different programs are in place to recruit young associates. Bosch utilizes university partnerships, scholarships, campus recruit-

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Left: With their groundbreaking flight simulator, Bosch apprentices came first in the Working Worlds category of the national youth science competition Jugend forscht in 2007. Above: At its national and international On Track events, such as this one in India in 2009, Bosch establishes close contacts with potential junior managers at a very early stage.

ment tours, and national and international On Track events to make early contact with high-potential candidates. But it is not just university students interested in Bosch who have a chance to experience its business and technology firsthand schoolchildren are invited as well. Girls Day, for instance, is an opportunity for young women to get to know the company from the inside. Such programs are carried out not only in Germany, but in many other parts of the world as well. In company surveys undertaken across Germany, Bosch regularly ranks as one of the countrys most popular employers.

I jumped at the chance associate development

At Bosch, associate development was given the same importance as recruitment almost from the very start. The tradition dates back to 1913, when Robert Bosch set up a department dedicated to apprentice training. In 1927, in-house training was extended to include high-school graduates, who were offered a year of practical work experience before beginning their university studies. And, starting in 1929, systematic training of sales representatives was introduced. Especially when there was a shortage of suitably qualified workers, Bosch relied on training and retraining of its associates. This started during the first world war, when women were recruited to do the work of the men fighting at the front.

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Left: In 1959, Bosch began recruiting associates from abroad to compensate for the lack of personnel in Germany. In 1961, this Italian worker jumped at the chance to work in the Feuerbach plant.

During the 1950s, a period of rapid post-war growth, skilled workers were in short supply. To resolve this problem, Bosch began recruiting guest workers from other European countries in 1959. The new recruits were trained on the job. During the same period, the human resources departments began making training activities more systematic, developing programs such as the Bosch step-by-step plan for adults. That program enabled unskilled laborers to obtain recognized professional qualifications without having to sacrifice wages. The participants were very often men who, as adolescents during the war, had been compelled to break off their training to replace an absent or deceased family member as the breadwinner in their families. For them, the program represented the chance of a lifetime. One associate who completed the program in 1966 appreciatively commented: I jumped at the chance. [] Now I finally have a proper profession. Today, life-long learning is a matter of course not just because specialists have again become scarce, but also because of the rapid technological progress shaping our working world. Regardless of their age and level in the hierarchy, all associates nowadays must keep pace with an endless array of new computerized systems and information technology. To help them develop their specialist and interpersonal competence, Bosch offers and continually updates a broad range of training programs. E-learning courses have been on offer since 2004, for example, allowing associates to train without having to leave their workplaces. In recent years, Bosch has invested some 200 million euros annually in associate training.

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Leadership, too, is something that must be learned executive education

Right: Bosch offers commercial and technical trainee programs to promising junior executives. In 2005, members of the program met at Abstatt for an event entitled Innovation meets Tradition.

Since 1981, Bosch has had something akin to its own university: the Robert Bosch Kolleg, which was set up by Hans L.Merkle, the chairman of the board of management at the time. He felt it was important for specialists and managers to have an opportunity now and again to distance themselves from their daily work, and to gain new insights by exchanging ideas with members of the academic world and with practitioners from other divisions. This is how the campus on the company premises was born. So at Bosch, intensive training is also offered for managers. As Robert Bosch wrote in 1920, Leadership, too, is something that must be learned. For decades now, more than 90 percent of Bosch executives from department heads upward have been recruited from within the company, with a team of human resources development specialists and experienced managers tracking their progress and providing them with support over a number of years. By participating in a wide range of projects, taking on different functional roles, and working in other divisions or countries, junior executives learn how to interact with people who represent differing viewpoints and perspectives. A posting in another country, for instance, requires that managers demonstrate a high degree of openness and flexibility as they experience the cultural diversity that is a hallmark of Bosch. Until the early 1990s, most executives at Bosch locations around the world were of German origin, but that has since changed. More and more management positions abroad are now being filled with local talent, and the figure is set to rise to at least 80 percent in the future. Cultural diversity at Bosch also means equal opportunities for people of all nations.

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A female department head at last women at Bosch

Top left: On October 1, 1950, Boschs first six female apprentices began a mechanical and commercial apprenticeship with the company. All of them had to complete basic technical training. The picture shows some of their successors four young female apprentices, photographed in 1960. Below left: Offering young women apprenticeships is not restricted to Germany, but is something Bosch has practiced worldwide for many years. Taken in 2010, the photograph shows a female apprentice in India.

But ensuring equal opportunities goes further than that it also embraces gender equality. The first female associate at Bosch began work as a stenographer and typist on March 1, 1905. By the outbreak of the first world war in August 1914, Bosch employed 678 women alongside 4,048 men. The proportion of female associates doubled during the first world war, a phenomenon that was repeated during the second world war, mainly owing to the large number of semi-skilled workers who were taken on. Bosch did not appoint its first female manager until 1970, when Ursula Blaich became the head of the local human resources department at cor porate headquarters. An agreement on equal opportunities for women was ultimately concluded in 1988 between the works council and the management. It soon became known internally as the equal opportunities plan for women The goal of the agreement was to encourage more women to join Bosch, and to make it easier for them to balance a career and family life. In 1994, the board of management set up the women in leadership positions working group, and a womens network today known as women@bosch was launched a year later. A project office for the advancement of women followed in 1997, renamed equal opportunities in 2004 and diversity in 2010. Today, the diversity steering group, together with the board of management, is responsible for planning strategic goals and coordinating activities in this arena. In 2009, one-fifth of all associates worldwide were women. The number of women in management positions has also risen consistently, and has now reached 8 percent at the level of section and department heads.

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Benevolence without sentimentalism or paternalism good working conditions

From a purely practical point of view, equal opportunities for women hinge on the ability to combine motherhood with a career. It is a balancing act that has always depended on good working conditions and flexible working hours. Today, Bosch has more than 100 flextime working models in place, which differ markedly from country to country. This, too, is a legacy of Robert Bosch: in 1906, he became one of the first industrialists in Germany to introduce the eight-hour working day. Four years later, in 1910, he began giving his associates Saturday afternoons off. He also introduced vacation arrangements based on length of service. In every sense, Robert Bosch was an entrepreneur with foresight. Even when building his very first factory in 1901, he placed great emphasis on good lighting and proper ventilation. Bosch was also one of the first
Above: The company employs a medical officer at each of its major locations. With the help of state-of-the-art equipment, he or she can provide rapid support in the event of accidents or acute illnesses. In the interests of their health, Bosch staff receive regular check-ups like this associate in Feuerbach in 2009. Right: In 1940, factory welfare officers were responsible for workplace safety. The work of the factory nurses, who were employed at Bosch as early as April 1917, has evolved over time to include the provision of counseling services.

companies to provide services promoting the well-being of its workforce. As early as the first world war, Bosch employed factory nurses later renamed factory welfare officers. Over time, their work has evolved to include the provision of counseling services. The companys first canteen opened at the Feuerbach plant in 1919. Starting in 1939, there was a fulltime company doctor in Stuttgart. Also, since 1953, associates in Germany have been able to subscribe to the Bosch health insurance program. Since then, occupational health and safety measures have evolved in step with changing conditions in the workplace. Where protection against noise, dirt, and dangerous substances used to be the main concern, guidelines for working with computers have now become increasingly important since the advent of workstations in the 1980s.

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Above: Discussion between employer and employee representatives at the works councils m eeting in Fellbach in 1995: Hermann Scholl, the chairman of the board of management (center), Gerhard Sautter, the vice-chairman of the central works council (left), and Tilman Todenhfer, the director of indus trial relations (right)

Company pensions, too, have a long tradition at Bosch. Launched as assistance for white-collar staff in 1921, the scheme was extended to blue-collar workers in 1927. Called Bosch-Hilfe, the company pension was as the in-house newspaper Bosch-Znder stressed at the time benevolence without sentimentalism or paternalism. It does not aim to engender grateful subservience, but is the result of level-headed reasoning: how do I build up and retain a workforce that is eager and able to perform? Such considerations also resulted from the experience of hyperinflation in 1923, during which many associates lost their life savings. Bosch continued to lead the way in the provision of company pensions. In 2002, it became the first company in Germany to set up its own pension fund. In other countries, too, Bosch ranks in the top third of all enterprises when it comes to company pension benefits. Through these and other social benefits, Bosch has been able to consistently foster staff loyalty. Indeed, staff turnover in the Bosch Group is well below the international average for large companies.

The ties that bind corporate culture

This loyalty to the company, which rapidly became known as the spirit of Bosch, has never solely been a question of material benefits. It is also an expression of a specific corporate culture propagated by Robert Bosch himself: Only mutual understanding can bring about a satisfactory relationship, he said in 1927. When his company had grown too big for him to

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maintain personal contact with all his associates, he launched the BoschZnder in-house newspaper. The preface to the first edition, published on March 15, 1919, announced: This newspaper was born out of a wish to involve the people who work for us more in the day-to-day life, the fate, the anxieties, and the hopes of the company. It is a wish that the BoschZnder editors still respect today. Since 2005, the Bosch-Znder has been published in nine languages, reflecting the international diversity of its readers. The first associate surveys were organized in the mid-1950s, originally involving only the Stuttgart sites. The initiative has since become international in scope, and now covers the entire world. At regular two-year intervals, Bosch associates all receive questionnaires, either in paper form or electronically. The questionnaires are available in more than 30 different languages and give associates an opportunity to express their views and propose improvements. This is not to say that relations between management and the workforce have always been harmonious. Even Robert Bosch himself was con fronted with strikes the first in 1913. The experience was a personal disappointment for a man who had endeavored to pay good wages and introduce shorter working hours. But the setback by no means dissuaded him from acknowledging workers rights to represent their own interests: Iwelcomed the union movement that gradually arose. In later years, too, work conflicts whether centering on rationalization measures, wages, or working hours were often a source of unrest and controversy at Bosch. But no matter how turbulent the conflicts, solutions were always found. The clearest example of this spirit is seen in the

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Left: March 15, 1919, saw the publication of the first issue of the in-house newspaper Bosch-Znder. In setting it up, Robert Bosch wanted to improve communication not only between management and associates, but also among the associates themselves. Right: Bosch-Znder has won numerous national and international awards. Since 2005, the newspaper has been published in nine languages to reflect the international diversity of the Bosch workforce.

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Vision

Mission

Bosch Business System Corecompetencies Values

Above: The House of Orientation, the strategic frame of reference for Bosch associates, was set down in writing in 2005. It comprises the Bosch vision, mission, values, and core competencies, as well as the management methods of the Bosch business system. Right: When the House of Orientation was introduced in 2005, workshops were held to familiarize the associates with the new concepts.

response to the recession of 2008 and 2009, the most severe since the second world war. When the works council, union representatives, and management sat down to negotiate, they looked for win-win solutions. The top priority on all sides was to preserve the core workforce of qualified associates on which the company relied, and that included taking into account different labor laws in different countries. Today, the Bosch workforce is more international than ever, and value added in the emerging economies of Asia and the Americas is on the rise. Both engineering and manufacturing are networked globally, and most of these networks are located in all the three major economic regions. In 1960, only some 10 percent of the companys associates were employed outside Germany; within a decade that figure had doubled to almost 20 percent; and by 2000 it had reached almost 55percent. With a higher number of associates beyond Germanys borders than within them, Bosch faced new demands on its organization and communication structures. Bosch had become too large to be run from a single location, and divisions began to operate more and more autonomously. Electronic forms of communication were also becoming increasingly important. The Bosch Corporate Network the predecessor of what is now known as the Bosch GlobalNet was put in place in 1995, and the company intranet in 1997. E-mail and videoconferencing are two more channels that have brought associates all over the world closer together. But the board of management went a step further to draw the international workforce into an even tighter network: it reformulated the companys values and objectives. In Germany alone, people of 110 different nationalities work for Bosch. To promote workforce identification

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with the company, it is no longer sufficient to appeal to the legacy of the founder Robert Bosch. True, many of the Bosch values originally stem from the founder, but changing structures demand a more contemporary idiom than that in which they were originally expressed. Thus, in 2002, the Bosch values were reformulated as: future and result focus, responsibility, initiative and determination, openness and trust, fairness, reliability, credibility and legality, and cultural diversity. Subsequently, these values were joined by a vision, mission, core competencies, and management methods. In 2005, all these elements were brought together in the House of Orientation, which succinctly describes what drives us, what we have in common, and what we stand for. This rejuvenated Bosch corporate culture helps associates everywhere to understand and shape change at Bosch. As Franz Fehrenbach put it in 2009: The values create a common basis, and promote understanding and tolerance. Without this, no company can achieve sustainable success worldwide.

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Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility means striking a balance between business interests on the one hand and social and environmental interests on the other. This is nothing new to Bosch; in fact, corporate social responsibility has a long tradition at the company. Robert Bosch himself noted that it was not always easy to find a happy medium between business needs and social commitment. And since the oil crisis of 1973, protecting the environment and conserving resources have become ever more pressing. The parameters within which Bosch must maintain its balance are now more complex than ever. Nonetheless, it is the companys task to remain dynamic and grow robustly within these parameters.

The work he needs lasting success versus short-term profit maximization

Right: In 2008, Hermann Scholl (center) was inducted into the symbolic Hall of Fame of the German business peri odical manager magazin. Explaining its choice, the magazine stated that Hermann Scholl had made Bosch a world leader in its field without sacri ficing the companys outstanding tradition of social-mindedness. Previous page: In 2008, Bosch associ ates and citizens of Bangalore planted 2,700 seedlings. The seedlings were donated by the management of the Robert Bosch Stiftung as part of a campaign organized by the Art of Living Foundation in conjunction with the United Nations. The goal of the campaign was to plant 100 million trees all over the world.

n economic terms, corporate social responsibility is primarily about striving to achieve lasting success success that guarantees entrepreneurial freedom and safeguards jobs around the world. In both respects,

Robert Bosch felt duty-bound to his associates, as illustrated by a reminiscence from 1936. Bosch spoke of the technician Richard Schyle, who

years before had just become the first Bosch associate to purchase his own house in Stuttgart. Bosch recalled wondering at the time: Year for year, will I be able to give the man the work he needs to pay off his house? Relieved, and not without pride, he added: Schyle paid it off, and many more after him were able to buy houses, too. This was possible only so long as the company remained competitive, but for Robert Bosch, preserving this competitiveness did not mean maximizing profit at all costs. He clearly perceived the danger of sacrificing long-term success at the altar of short-term benefit. His successor Hans Walz commented in 1961 that Robert Bosch never saw income as a value in itself. Later chairmen of Bosch upheld the same view. Result, that is, profit, is just a yardstick. It is not the companys objective, remarked Hans L. Merkle in an interview in 1978. Seven years later, Marcus Bierich concurred in an address to the first joint seminar for senior executives. Profitability, for him, was not an end in itself, but instead merely the condition of fulfilling our obligations to our suppliers and our associates as well as to society at large. This includes our obligation to protect the environment. Bierich went on to say that a surplus was also needed to finance the future of the company and the charitable and civic causes of the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

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These principles remain the same today: a long-term future and result focus remains the most important value at Bosch. As Franz Fehrenbach said in an interview in 2009, The struggle to achieve, maintain, and safeguard long-term economic success is much harder than short-term profit maximization. That struggle calls for courage, entrepreneurial initiative, and determined action. All corporate processes and structures must be subjected to constant review and improvement if the company is to stay competitive. Some decisions are difficult, especially when the future of associates is at stake. There are conflicting goals, which need to be resolved again and again. In the long run, no company can afford to retain structures that are outdated or products that are no longer competitive least of all because it wants to defer painful cutbacks. That would be irresponsible jeopardizing the entire company and all its jobs for the sake of just one part, said Hermann Scholl at a 2009 symposium on corporate social responsibility. And he added: Indeed, we are always responsible for the consequences of our actions both those that are desired and those that are not. At the end of the day, what this means for an entrepreneur is that a decision that looks socially minded in the short term can prove to be the opposite in the long term and measures that, at first glance, create social hardship, may, in the long term, be of great social benefit. No entrepreneur can escape this paradox.

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Facing crises together responsibility for the workforce

Right: Forty-seven employee repre sentatives from 26 countries met in Abstatt for their second international conference in 2009. In an open and constructive dialog with the Bosch board of management, they discussed the consequences of the economic and financial crisis for the company and its workforce.

Ultimately, the companys long-term strategy and sustainable actions are designed to prevent hardship for its associates as far as is possible. Whenever it has proved impossible to do this, Bosch has tried to mitigate the consequences for those affected. When many associates lost their jobs from 1929 to 1932 in the wake of the Great Depression, the Bosch fund was set up. Initiated by Robert Bosch himself, the fund was a precursor to todays social compensation plans in Germany and provided financial support for associates who had lost their jobs. Nonetheless, management had to keep an eye on the competitiveness of its locations at all times, not just during economic slumps. As globalization has gathered speed, Bosch has pursued a more sophisticated location policy. This has meant, for example, expanding production in emerging markets while at the same time taking measures to safeguard jobs in the industrialized economies mainly by cutting costs and launching new products. Where specific production lines were no longer competitive, there was no option but to shut them down or transfer production elsewhere. In some cases, for example when the heating systems plant in Neckartenzlingen was closed down at the end of the 1980s, Bosch was able to provide the associates with alternative employment. They were offered the option of being retrained to work at the nearby Reutlingen plant. The process was very similar when car-radio production in Salzgitter was discontinued in the early 1990s because of competitive pressure from Asia. In the early 1980s, Bosch had built up a plant for electronic control units in the close vicinity, and many of the associates who lost their jobs at the car-radio plant found work there.

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Keeping the core workforce intact and maintaining its members skills and abilities that was the ambitious goal pursued by the board of management during the economic and financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the worst since 1945. If we are sure that we are only experiencing an economic dip, we strive to retain our core workforce by means of reduced working hours, either with state support or as part of collective agreements, said Franz Fehrenbach in an interview in 2009. By displaying flexibility and in some cases forgoing a substantial proportion of their income, the associates helped Bosch to overcome the crisis. Those in charge were aware of the risks involved, and spoke openly of a necessary balancing act between cost cutting and investments. But they were determined not to repeat the experience of the recession of the early 1990s, when many highly qualified and motivated associates were obliged to leave the company and were sorely missed when the next upswing set in. This time, the company aimed to keep on as many well-trained associates as possible, despite the serious economic downturn. However, that did not prevent management from tackling structural problems head-on to preserve the competitiveness of the company as a whole. Thus, for instance, the decision was made to close down the alternator plant in Cardiff, U.K., and to sell off the aftermarket and audio components business of Blaupunkt, a segment with a long tradition.

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An honest and fair approach to doing business principles of corporate management

Right: The name Robert Bosch stands for a special understanding of corporate responsibility, one that is still alive in the company today. Robert Bosch endeavored to strike his own distinctive balance between economic and social interests not always an easy undertaking.

The board of management has never made such decisions lightly, particularly as it bases its own actions on values such as fairness and trust. There are not only moral reasons for adhering to such principles in good times and bad; it also makes good economic sense. As Robert Bosch said in 1921: In the long term, an honest and fair approach to doing business will always be the most profitable. And the business world holds such an approach in much higher esteem than is generally imagined. A key component of this honest and fair approach to business at Bosch has always been the principle of strict legality. The board of management fleshed this out in a memorandum to all executives in 1967, which a short time later became a binding part of their employment contracts. This principle forms the steel core of the Code of Business Conduct, which was sent to all associates worldwide in 2008. The principle of unconditional compliance with the law applies in all countries irrespective of any potential cost or benefits to the Bosch Group. Bosch has never tolerated and will never tolerate any violations of this principle. Since such an honest and fair approach to doing business knows neither exceptions nor boundaries, Bosch also signed up to the United Nations Global Compact initiative in 2004. In doing so, the company demonstrated its explicit support for the principles of the Global Compact, which include respecting human rights; eliminating all forms of forced labor, child labor, and discrimination; combating corruption; and actively working to protect the environment.

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Helping people in need social responsibility

Above: Tin-Tin lives in the Elsie Gaches Village childrens home in the Philip pines. With donations and volunteer work, Bosch and the associate initia tive Primavera have been supporting this home for mentally and physically disabled children since 1999. Right: The Jewish Museum Berlin conferred its Award for Understanding and Tolerance on the Bosch Group in 2009. From left to right: on behalf of the company, Christof Bosch and Franz Fehrenbach accept the award from Henry Kissinger and Michael Blumenthal.

Corporate social responsibility does not stop at the factory gate. Bosch has never restricted its actions to endeavors that are ostensibly purely business-driven, to business for its own sake. Instead, it has always lent support to people in need, whether they be victims of war or of natural disasters. During the first world war, for instance, Robert Bosch donated the profits from his companys armaments contracts to build the Neckar Canal. The interest from the endowment went to the city of Stuttgart to assist people in hardship. Robert Bosch later set up the Robert-Hilfe to aid the children of war victims. This tradition of helping people in need is one that Bosch and its associates continue to this day. After the devastating earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan in 2008, Bosch associates responded without a second thought, donating some 175,000 euros. Along with its regional subsidiaries and joint ventures in China, Bosch also contributed, raising the total amount donated to some 1.4 million euros. Another example is the non-profit association Primavera Aid for Children in Need, which resulted from an initiative prompted by an article published in the Bosch-Znder in 1990. The article had reported on the slums near the companys locations in Brazil. Both current and former associates organized aid projects for people living in slums, mainly in Brazil and India. In addition to providing medical care, the association supports kindergartens and schools in these impoverished districts in an effort to offer the young people there a better chance in life.

182

183

184

Sponsoring talent educating and nurturing the next generation

Left: Getting children fascinated in technology from a very early age that is the self-proclaimed goal of the Knowledge Factory. Bosch was one of the founding members of this initiative. In 2007, for instance, children from the St. Sebastian kindergarten in Theilheim visited Bosch Rexroth in Schweinfurt. During the visit, an apprentice explained to the children how a block and tackle works. Above: Bosch-Jugendhilfe (youth welfare) not only offers its scholarship holders financial support, it also aims to ease their entry into working life. At a joint seminar held in 2010, the young people learned in workshops, for example, how to make effective use of their voices in everyday work situations.

Education has always been a focal point of Boschs social commitment. As early as 1910, the company founder made his first major donation to what was then the Stuttgart Polytechnic. Intent on helping talented students afford university studies, Robert Bosch founded the Frderung der Begabten (sponsoring talent) association in 1916. Another initiative, Bosch-Jugendhilfe (youth welfare), followed in 1938, and has helped some 3,250 young people finance their studies to date. Here, too, the company is still guided by the ideals of its founder. In 1958, for instance, Bosch set up the Hans-Walz-Stiftung, a foundation to promote medical research and teaching. In 1990, the company donated 15million dollars to set up the Carnegie Bosch Institute for Applied Studies in International Management in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At a wide variety of locations around the world, Bosch has endowed academic chairs, notably in 1999 at Tongji University in Shanghai (endowed professorship for automotive systems) and in 2007 at Stanford University in California (Department of Mechanical Engineering). And its commitment to German education remains strong. In 2009, Bosch provided support to establish the Robert Bosch Center for Power Electronics at the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences and the University of Stuttgart. For Bosch, it has never been a contradiction to combine social commitment and economic interests. The preface to the companys 2007 2008 report on corporate social responsibility states for instance: For us, responsibility is not some ethical demand that conflicts with the interests of our company, or indeed somehow supersedes them. Instead, taking on responsibility for social and ecological concerns is something that also makes sense for us economically. If society does not give us well-trained

185

Above: Notice the difference in your electricity bill . Even in 1936, the Bosch refrigerators low power consumption was a big argument in its favor. Right: Seventy years on, Bosch refrig erators and freezers are still extremely economical. This eases the strain not only on the household budget, but also on the environment.

junior executives, or if the environment and climate are not protected, then the Bosch Group will not be able to achieve a strong and meaningful development over the long term.

Clean and economical protecting the environment through innovation

The environmental movement did not begin to gain wide public support until the 1970s, but it had been anticipated by Bosch much earlier. For example, when the company introduced its first refrigerator in 1933, it was not only its round shape that attracted attention, but also its low power consumption. The developers had done everything possible to keep running costs to a minimum. In those days, purchase decisions were made mainly on the basis of price, but in the years leading up to the 1970s this gradually gave way to greater emphasis on resource conservation and eco-friendly designs. Meanwhile, modern technology was being increasingly berated as the source of smog and the cause of congested roads, and the public was growing more concerned about the worlds finite reserves of fossil fuels. But this new public awareness by no means led Bosch to abandon its technological approach to solving the problems of everyday life. On the contrary, the companys response was to work toward improved technological solutions in all business sectors. In the words of Franz Fehrenbach: Anyone who thinks ecologically has to act technologically. In 1974, Hans L. Merkles response to the first oil crisis had been to launch the 3S program, aimed at making driving safer, cleaner, and more economical. In the case

186

Wir geben Ihrer Kche ein neues Farbhighlight. Doch unsere Technik bleibt grn.
Die neuen NoFrost Khl- und Gefrierkombinationen in den Energie-Efzienz-Klassen A+ und A++.

Fr unsere Ingenieure muss ein Bosch Khlschrank mehr knnen als nur khlen. Er hlt Obst und Gemse bis zu zweimal lnger frisch dank HydroFresh Technologie. Er lsst Sie nicht lange suchen: LED-Licht leuchtet den Innenraum optimal aus. Von auen hingegen sorgt die Glasfront fr frische Farbe in Ihrer Kche. Und auf der Stromrechnung sieht er genauso gut aus: mit den Energie-Efzienz-Klassen A+ und A++. www.bosch-home.com/de

Right: In 2008, the Solar Decathlon house was examined from every angle by associates at Schillerhhe. Built by students from the Technical University of Darmstadt in cooperation with Bosch, the house is self-sufficient in its energy requirements, taking all the energy it needs from the sun. In 2007, the build ing won the internationally renowned Solar Decathlon, which is staged by the U.S. Department of Energy.

of internal-combustion engines, that meant developing fuel-injection systems that reduced fuel consumption and toxic emissions. This work ultimately made it possible to cut diesel-engine emissions by over 96 percent during the period from 1990 to today. Boschs main contribution in the fields of industrial and building technology has been to enhance energy efficiency. Today, a modern condensing boiler in combination with solar collectors uses up to 60 percent less oil or gas than boilers built 30 years ago and with no loss in comfort and convenience. Similar advances have been made in industrial technology where, for example, a number of different improvements have allowed plastic molding presses to consume 75 percent less electricity now, with no loss in productivity. Researchers and developers in all business sectors at Bosch continue to work flat-out on finding solutions to the challenges of climate protection. In 2009, no less than 45 percent of R&D expenditure was directed toward eco-friendly, resource-conserving products. Boschs efforts to protect the environment and conserve natural resources naturally also extend to its own manufacturing and administrative processes. Here, too, the guiding example is that of the company founder Robert Bosch, who became frustrated if ever he saw his staff wasting materials of any kind. He reprimanded anyone who carelessly discarded a paper clip or left the lights on unnecessarily as numerous anecdotes confirm. As early as 1935, the Feuerbach plant introduced a waste management system that allowed Bosch to recycle up to 600 kilograms of iron a day from foundry waste. Sustainability officially became an integral part of the Bosch Groups corporate principles in 1973, with the adoption of the first company-wide

188

environmental protection guidelines. Each year since then, Bosch has continued to increase its spending in this important area whether for more economical building technology, more efficient production machinery, or the construction of new waste disposal centers. Taking 2007 levels as a baseline, Bosch has undertaken to reduce both its CO2 emissions and its power consumption by at least 20 percent by 2020. This ambitious target will require Bosch to make many changes, both large and small, in all its business sectors throughout the world. One example is the new heat exchanger that Bosch installed in 2009 for a hardening furnace at its Buyong plant in South Korea, which has since reduced energy consump tion by over 300 megawatt-hours a year. And the architects and planners of Boschs new southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore were honored with a Platinum award the highest distinction in Singapores Green Mark Scheme for sustainable practices for their consistent use of green technology. The new headquarters not only produces its own electricity by means of photovoltaic panels, but also uses a good 30 percent less energy than comparable industrial buildings in Singapore.

189

A strong and meaningful development exploiting opportunities responsibly

Right: For Bosch, corporate respon si bility and economic success go hand in hand. The company is systematically expanding its renewable-energy port folio, for example by supplying gear boxes for wind turbines.

For Bosch, a responsible attitude toward the environment involves both acting as stewards of our planets finite resources and creating benefits for the companys stakeholders. Speaking at the annual press conference in 2006, Franz Fehrenbach coined the term ecological globalization to describe an approach that goes beyond purely commercial interests but nonetheless embraces the growth prospects for Bosch offered by climate protection measures and more stringent emission standards worldwide. Our ambition is to use our wide-ranging technological competence to help solve urgent challenges facing the world. Today, all the companys business sectors are guided by the slogan Invented for life. This slogan does not simply mean long-lasting, reliable technological solutions that enhance quality of life and improve safety. Rather, it also means technology that will protect the environment and conserve resources. With this in mind, Bosch has in recent years expanded its product portfolio to include photovoltaics and heat-pump technology, and expanded its manufacturing capacity in the field of large wind-turbine gear units. The companys sales of renewable-energy systems passed the one-billion-euro mark for the first time in 2009. This distinctly upward trend demonstrates that there is much to be gained by shouldering responsibility for the environment. In his will, Robert Bosch urged his successors to continue to run the company according to the values he held dear, to secure for these activities not only their bare existence but also to ensure a strong and meaningful development. After 125 years of company history, it is clearer than ever that dynamic growth and corporate social responsibility go hand in hand at Bosch.

190

Appendix

 194 Robert Bosch and his successors 198 Locations worldwide 202 Sales revenue and associates, 18862010 206 Milestones 212 The Bosch Group 214 Picture credits

Robert Bosch and his successors

It is uncommon to find a company that, in 125 years of existence, has been headed by no more than five successors to its original founder. But this clearly demonstrates the commitment to continuity that characterizes the history of Bosch. Robert Bosch was 25 when he opened his first workshop in November 1886, and he did not retire from the business until 40 years later, in 1926. His chosen successor was Hans Walz, in whom he had absolute confidence. Robert Bosch had known Hans Walz since 1912, when he had appointed him his private secretary. Personal ties such as this were no longer possible when it came to his later successors. Nor were the latter appointed to the post of chairman by a single person, as Walz had been, but by a joint decision of the shareholders and the supervisory council. In each case, however, these decisions were guided by the same wish: to ensure that the person chosen to lead the organization was someone with a longterm view. But, of course, every new chairman brought a slightly new approach, and each successor to Robert Bosch made his own mark on the company to ensure its continuing success.

194 | Appendix

Robert Bosch
Born September 23, 1861, in Albeck near Ulm, Germany Died March 12, 1942, in Stuttgart From 1876 to 1879, Robert Bosch trained as a precision mechanic in Ulm. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked for a variety of German companies to gain practical experience as a precision mechanic and electrical engineer. He then briefly attended the Stuttgart Polytechnic in 1883. Finally, he broadened his horizons with employment abroad: with a year at the Edison Machine Works in the U.S. in 1884 and several months at Siemens Brothers in the U.K. in 1885. On November 15, 1886, Robert Bosch founded his own company in Stuttgart, the Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. He equipped anautomobile with a magneto ignition device for the first time in the fall of 1897. Thisdevice, which had previously been installed only in stationary engines, was the initial step in the companys rise to a global industrial group. Robert Bosch opened sales offices worldwide starting in 1898, and moved into his own factories in Germany and abroad starting in 1901. From 1913 onward, he greatly expanded the companys range of automotive products. He transformed the company into a stock corporation (AG) in 1917. After the automotive industry crisis of 1925 and 1926, hedrove forward a diversification of the company into power tools and household appliances, as well as into television, radio, and camera technology. In 1937, Robert Bosch again changed the legal status of the company, this time turning it into a close corporation (GmbH). In his will, he laid the foundation for the present corpo rate constitution.

Hans Walz
Born March 21, 1883, in Stuttgart Died April 23, 1974, in Stuttgart Hans Walz joined the company in 1912 as Robert Boschs private secretary. In 1919, he was appointed to the supervisory council of Robert Bosch AG, and from 1924 onward was a member of the companys board of management. After Robert Boschs retirement from active management in 1926, Walz took over the running of the company together with Hermann Fellmeth and Karl Martell Wild. In 1933, under theNazi regime, his title was changed from chairman of the board of management toBetriebsfhrer, or company leader. In 1945, the U.S. military government in Germany dismissed him from the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Between 1942 and 1963, Walz chaired the group of executors appointed to administer Robert Boschs will. Together, he and the other executors succeeded in creating the conditions for todays corporate structure: in 1964, Vermgensverwal tung Bosch GmbH (Bosch Asset Management) acquired a majority stake in Robert Bosch GmbH from the company founders heirs. In the same year, the voting rights accruing to this majority stake were transferred to Robert Bosch Industriebeteiligung GmbH. Since 1976, this industrial trust has been known as Robert Bosch Industrie treuhand KG. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust. Hans Walz was appointed chairman of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH in 1948, was re-elected to the companys board of management in 1952, and became its chairman again one year later, retiring from the board in 1963.

Appendix | 195

Hans L.Merkle
Born January 1, 1913, in Pforzheim, Germany Died September 22, 2000, in Stuttgart After finishing school, Hans L.Merkle completed a commercial apprenticeship in his fathers business, a printing office, from 1931 to 1933. In 1935, he began his professional career at Ulrich Gminder AG in Reutlingen, Germany, rising through the ranks to become vice-president there in 1939, and ultimately joining its board of management in 1949. Merkle joined the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH in 1958, becoming CFO one year later. In 1963, Merkle was appointed chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, a post he held through to 1984. He was a member of the group of executors of Robert Boschs will from 1961 onward. In1964, he was appointed a limited partner of Robert Bosch Industriebeteiligung GmbH, becoming its chairman the following year. From 1976 onward, he was a general partner of the newly established Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG (RBIK), the successor to Robert Bosch Industriebeteiligung GmbH, and remained its chairman until 1993. He was also chairman of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH from 1984 to 1988. Merkle was held in great esteem by the German business world, and sat on the supervisory boards of many international companies.

Marcus Bierich
Born April 29, 1926, in Hamburg Died November 25, 2000, in Stuttgart Marcus Bierich studied natural sciences, mathematics, and philosophy in Hamburg and Mnster from 1945 onward, completing his studies with a PhD in 1951. Inthe same year, he began working for the Hamburg-based private bank Delbrck, Schickler&Co. Bierich became CFO at Mannesmann AG in 1961, and a member of the companys board of management in 1967. He left Mannesmann AG in 1980 to join the board of management of Allianz-Versicherungen AG. From 1984 to 1993, Bierich was chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, becoming chairman of the supervisory council in 1993, apost he held until 2000. He had already been a member of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH between 1976 and 1980, during his time with Mannesmann. Bierich was appointed a limited partner of Robert Bosch Industrie treuhand KG in 1978, holding the post of chairman from 1993 until 2000.

196 | Appendix

Hermann Scholl
Born June 21, 1935, in Stuttgart Hermann Scholl began studying electrical engineering at the University of Stuttgart in 1954. He majored in communications technology, graduating in 1959. He followed this with a doctorate in engineering at the same university in 1961. The following year he started his career at Robert Bosch GmbH. As an engineer in the Advance Engineering, Automotive Equipment department, his work focused in particular on the development of electronic gasoline-injection systems. Scholl became head of development for alternators and electronic gasoline-injection products in 1968. In1971, he was appointed a member of the executive management of the Engine Equipment division. He became a member of the executive management of Robert Bosch GmbH in1973, being appointed to the companys board of management two years later. From1989 onward, he held the position of chairman of the Automotive Technology business sector. On July 1, 1993, Scholl took over as chairman of the board of management, a position he held until 2003. At the same time, he became a limited partner of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. He was appointed general partner of this governing body in 1995, and chairman of the shareholders meeting in 2000. Since July 1, 2003, Scholl has also held the post of chairman of the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH.

Franz Fehrenbach
Born July 1, 1949, in Kenzingen, Germany Franz Fehrenbach began studying industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe in 1969, receiving his degree there in 1975. In the same year, he joined Bosch as a trainee. He became head of the materials planning and logistics department at the Feuerbach plant in 1978, and was promoted to the position of commercial plant manager at the Hildesheim plant in 1980. In 1985, he became vice-president with responsibility for finance and administration at the production facility in Charleston, South Carolina, which was run by the U.S. regional subsidiary Robert Bosch Corpo ration. Three years later, he was appointed to the executive management of the subsidiary. In 1989, Fehrenbach became executive vice-president, with responsibility for finance and administration, of the Bosch Starters and Alternators division, and president of that division in 1994. Fehrenbach was nominated executive vice-president for finance and administration of the Diesel Systems division in 1996, advancing to the post of president of the division in 1997. He joined the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH in 1999, and has been chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH and a limited partner of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG since July 1, 2003.

Appendix | 197

Locations worldwide
Robert Bosch was quick to realize that his magneto ignition devices for automobiles had a good chance of success everywhere not just in Germany. As early as 1898, he opened the companys first sales office outside Germany in London. By 1905, Bosch was manufacturing in France, and by 1912 in the United States. Today, the Bosch Group has some 300 manufacturing sites in over 60 countries.
Germany
Locations Abstatt Ansbach Arnstadt Augsfeld Bad Neustadt Bamberg Barbing Berlin Bietigheim Blaichach Bochum Brandenburg an der Havel Braunschweig Breidenbach Bremen Bretten Bhl Bhlertal Chemnitz Cologne Crailsheim Dillingen Ditzingen Dresden 198 | Appendix Dsseldorf Eibelshausen Eisenach Elchingen Erbach Erfurt Essen Fellbach Feuerbach Frankfurt Frth Giengen Gttingen Grasbrunn Gunzenhausen Hamburg Hannover Herne Hildesheim Homburg Horb am Neckar Ichtershausen Immenstaad Immenstadt Karlsruhe Ketsch Kusterdingen Leinfelden-Echterdingen Leipzig Leonberg Lohr Lollar Magdeburg Mrfelden-Walldorf Munich Murrhardt Nauen Neukirchen Nuremberg Oberramstadt Oldenburg Ottobrunn Plochingen Prenzlau Ratingen Ravensburg Regensburg Remshalden Reutlingen Rodgau Rutesheim Salzgitter Schillerhhe Schwbisch Gmnd Schweinfurt Schwieberdingen Sebnitz Straubing Stuttgart Tamm Traunreut Viersen Volkach Waiblingen Wernau Wettringen Wetzlar Willershausen Witten

Western and eastern Europe (excluding Germany)

Country Austria Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Hallein Linz Minsk Aartselaar Sofia Zagreb esk Budjovice Jihlava Esbjerg Krnov Prague Sandved Brno Denmark Estonia Finland France Ballerup Tallinn Vantaa Angers Bonneville Chelles Drancy Forbach Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Athens Budapest Eger Dublin Bari Brembate Cernusco Correggio Milan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Riga Kaunas Luxembourg Amsterdam Boxtel Breda Deventer Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russian Federation Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ski Lodz Abrantes Aveiro Blaj Engels Belgrade Bernolakova Nazarje Michalovce Skofia Loka Warsaw Braga Lisbon Bucharest Moscow Timisoara St.Petersburg Wroclaw Ovar Eindhoven Hoevelaken Nijmwegen Schiedam Tilburg Weert Modena Modugno Nonantola Offanengo Pavullo Reggio Emilia Turin Udine Vezzano Hatvan Miskolc Lipsheim Mondeville Moulins Rodez St.Ouen St.Thgonnec Seclin Tremblay Vendme Vnissieux Brussels Tienen Pasching Ternitz Locations Vienna

Czech Republic Albrechtice

Appendix | 199

Country Spain Aranjuez Barcelona Buelna Castellet Esquiroz Sweden Switzerland Mellansel Stockholm Beringen Buttikon Ecublens Turkey Ukraine Bursa Cerkezky Krakovets Cirencester Clay Cross Denham United Kingdom Alfreton La Cartuja Llica Madrid Montaana

Locations Santander Treto Vigo Vitoria Zaragoza

San Sebastian Trans Vagnhrad Frauenfeld Geroldswil Solothurn Istanbul Manisa Kiev Glenrothes Greetland Milton Keynes St.Neots

St.Niklaus

Stowmarket Worcester

Nafta
Country Canada Mexico Mississauga Aguascalientes Hermosillo Juarez USA Albion, IN Anderson, SC Atlanta, GA Bethlehem, PA Broadview, IL Burnsville, MN Charleston, SC Charlotte, NC Excelsior Springs, MO Fairport, NY Farmington Hills, MI Fayetteville, NC Welland Mexicali Mexico City Saltillo Fort Lauderdale, FL Fountain Inn, SC Hebron, KY Hoffman Estates, IL Huntington Beach, CA Kentwood, MI Lancaster, PA Lexington, KY Lincoln, NE Lincolnton, NC Londonderry, NH Morrilton, AR Mount Prospect, IL New Bern, NC New Richmond, WI Palo Alto, CA Peoria, IL Plymouth, MI Raleigh, NC Rochester Hills, MI South Bend, IN St. Joseph, MI Watseka, IL West Memphis, AR San Luis Potosi Toluca Locations

South America
Country Argentina Brazil Buenos Aires Alphaville Aratu Atibaia Belo Horizonte Contajem Columbia Peru Venezuela 200 | Appendix Bogota Callao Caracas Campinas Curitiba Joinville Pomerode So Paulo Sorocaba Vitoria Locations

Oceania
Country Australia New Zealand Clayton Melbourne Auckland Rowville Sydney Locations

Asia
Country Greater China Beijing Changsha Chuzhou Dalian Dongguan City Gaomi City Guangzhou India Ahmedabad Bangalore Bommanahalli Chakan Chennai Indonesia Japan Jakarta Funabashi Higashi-Matsuyama Misato Musashi Odawara City Kazakhstan Malaysia Philippines Singapore South Korea Thailand United Arab Emirates Vietnam Almaty Penang Manila Singapore Buyong Busan Amata City Dubai Hai Duong City Ho Chi Minh City Daejeon Gunpo-Si Bangkok Rayong Yongin Petaling Jaya Shah Alam Ota-City Takasaki Tochigi Tokyo Tomioka Tsuchiura-shi Yokohama Yorii Hangzhou Hong Kong Jinan Nanjing Ningbo Shanghai Shenzhen Coimbatore Jaipur Jalgaon Koramangala Manesar Mumbai Naganathapura Nalagarti Nashik Tumkur Locations Suzhou Taipei Wu Jin Wuxi Xian Zhuhai

Africa
Country South Africa Brits Midrand Locations

As per January 1, 2011. This list includes countries and locations with 100 or more associates, as well as locations of non-consolidated subsidiaries and the locations of the major regional companies.

Appendix | 201

Sales revenue and associates 18862010

Year

Bosch worldwide sales in German marks 5,700 9,300 15,000 19,000 25,500 35,100 27,600 30,000 38,900 80,600 101,700 163,300 236,000 295,900 369,500 Not available Not available 842,500 1,726,000 3,624,000 Not available 7,938,000 12,836,000 19,628,000 22,286,000 33,147,000 26,862,000 23,560,000 33,126,000

Percentage of sales generated outside Germany

Total Bosch associates worldwide, average for the year1 3

German marks

1886/87 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915

1 1.7 1.5 2.2 12.9 22.4 7.4 8.5 3.3 9.4 14.7 15.8 Not available Not available Not available Not available Not available Not available 78.9 86.7 87.7 89.6 87.2 86.5 83.8 88.7 77.1 12.7

Not available Not available Not available 10 25 2 4 Not available 14 Not available Not available 28 37 45 80 150 300 472 611 944 1,103 2,066 3,002 3,552 4,959 4,542 3,611 3,895

Appendix | 202

Year

Bosch worldwide sales in German marks/ reichsmarks 47,513,000 77,652,000 73,462,000 62,539,000 Inflation Inflation Inflation Inflation 49,445,000 72,825,000 47,521,000 71,370,000 83,029,000 85,227,000 67,465,000 55,940,000 48,443,000 60,314,000 96,605,000 111,129,000 134,705,000 158,319,000 182,900,000 217,927,000 225,446,000 248,080,000 328,782,000 368,845,000 364,652,000 50,351,000 49,209,000 57,137,000 85,000,000 188,000,000 258,000,000 385,000,000 419,000,000 469,000,000 599,000,000 757,000,000 860,000,000 967,000,000 1,153,000,000

Percentage of sales generated outside Germany 9.8 8.5 8.5 14.8 57.4 40.2 49.2 Inflation 34.6 31.6 41.1 34.1 40.6 43.5 46.5 48.6 55.7 34.8 22.0 16.5 15.9 17.4 11.6 9.3 10.3 9.9 11.1 12.7 7.4 0 0 4.1 5.4 10.3 10.5 13.3 13.6 16.7 18.0 17.0 18.8 18.4 19.8

Total Bosch associates worldwide, average for the year1 5,639 8,253 9,249 6,208 7,794 6,444 8,491 10,621 9,769 13,808 6,752 10,267 11,333 10,292 8,367 8,658 8,548 11,455 15,216 16,396 18,599 19,817 23,103 21,580 23,161 24,650 25,288 22,879 22,124 4,975 9,432 10,541 10,812 12,533 20,836 19,432 20,493 26,441 31,357 37,997 38,488 44,459 51,001

1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 Reichsmarks 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 German marks 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958

Appendix | 203

Year

Bosch worldwide sales in German marks 1,495,000,000 1,741,000,000 1,883,000,000 2,031,000,000 2,232,000,000 2,650,000,000 2,970,000,000 3,168,000,000 3,051,000,0004 3,751,000,000 4,719,000,000 5,508,000,000 5,606,000,000 5,765,000,000 6,461,000,000 7,076,000,000 7,281,000,000 8,319,000,000 9,160,000,000 9,618,000,000 10,804,000,000 11,809,000,000 12,950,000,000 13,812,000,000 14,352,000,000 18,373,000,000 21,223,000,000 21,719,000,000 25,365,000,000 27,675,000,000 30,588,000,000 31,824,000,000 33,600,000,000 34,432,000,000 32,469,000,000 34,478,000,000 35,844,000,000 41,146,000,000 46,851,000,000 50,333,000,000 54,579,000,000 61,717,000,000

Percentage of sales generated outside Germany 19.2 19.1 20.5 19.6 35 (21)
3

Total Bosch associates worldwide, average for the year1 60,0002 71,000 70,000 69,500 75,048 87,112 89,723 85,720 84,714 93,367 109,897 119,502 114,800 107,483 113,023 115,171 105,553 105,827 110,459 117,754 120,487 121,584 115,869 112,154 109,660 131,882 140,374 147,378 161,343 165,732 174,742 179,636 181,498 177,183 164,506 156,464 158,372 172,359 179,719 188,017 194,335 196,880

1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
5

35 34 36 39 40 40 39 40 46 48 52 52 51 49 49 51 54 56 56 55 53 54 51 50 51 52 51 48 47 49 54 56 61 65 65 66 72

1984 1985 19866 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

204 | Appendix

Year

Bosch worldwide sales in euros 34,029,000,000 34,977,000,000 36,357,000,000 40,007,000,000 41,461,000,000 43,684,000,000 46,320,000,000 45,127,000,000 38,174,000,000 47,259,000,000

Percentage of sales generated outside Germany 72 72 71 72 73 74 75 74 76 77

Total Bosch associates worldwide, average for the year1 218,377 225,897 229,439 238,847 248,853 257,754 267,562 282,758 274,530 276,418

Euros

2001 2002 2003 20047 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
8

1 2 3 4

Up to 1958 without regional organizations. Headcount is given as a year-end figure through 1966. As from 1967, the average annual figure is given. From 1959 through 1962, the associate figures available for the Bosch Group as a whole are rounded only. Until 1962, exports as a percentage of total sales; from 1963 onward, exports and sales of regional subsidiaries. As from January 1, 1968, all sales are expressed net of VAT. Prior to 1968, sales were calculated as gross figures, inclusive of all types of value-added and sales tax. If this method of calculation is used, the sales figure for 1967 was DM 3,210,000,000. As of January 1, 1984, the sales revenue of Telefonbau und Normalzeit Lehner&Co (Telenorma) is included in consolidated group sales. By way of comparison, group sales in the previous year (1983) including Telenorma amounted to DM 16,126,000,000. In 1987, Bosch-Siemens Hausgerte (Germany) and ANT Nachrichtentechnik GmbH were included in the consolidated financial statements on a pro rata basis. By way of comparison, group sales in the previous year (1986) including these two investments on a pro rata basis amounted to DM 23,807,000,000. Comparatively adjusted figures for 2004 based on IFRS accounting: sales: 38,954,000,000 euros; associates worldwide (annual average): 234,000 (rounded); of which in Germany: 107,000 (rounded) The consolidated financial statements 2005 were prepared for the first time on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Prior to that, the accounting regulations of the German commercial code (HGB) were applied.

Appendix | 205

Milestones
1886 1902 1906

1861 Robert Bosch born in Albeck near Ulm on September 23. 1886 Robert Bosch opens his Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering in Stuttgart on November 15. 1887 Construction of the first Bosch magneto for stationary internal-combustion engines 1897 First successful installation of the Bosch low-voltage magneto ignition device in a motor vehicle 1898 First Bosch sales office outside Germany opened in the United Kingdom. 1899 Sales subsidiary for France and Belgium opened in Paris. 1901 Move to the first company-owned factory building at 11 Hoppenlaustrasse in Stuttgart 1902 Delivery of the first high-voltage magneto ignition system with Bosch spark plugs 1905 First Bosch manufacturing site outside Germany opened in Paris.

1906 Introduction of the eight-hour working day 1906 Establishment of Robert Bosch New York Inc., the companys first U.S. subsidiary 1906 First sales office for South Africa 1907 First sales office for Australia and New Zealand 1909 Walter Schrff&Co. in Shanghai becomes Boschs first agent for China. 1909 Start of production for the Bosch oiler a lubricating pump for motors 1909 Plot of land purchased in Feuerbach for the construction of a factory. 1911 Andrews and George&Co. becomes Boschs first agent for Japan. 1912 Start of production in Boschs first U.S. plant in Springfield, Massachusetts 1913 Establishment of an apprentice training department with a dedicated workshop for apprentices at the main Stuttgart plant 1913 Market launch of the Bosch automotive lighting system

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From left to right: First company plaque  Model HdH high-voltage magneto ignition system with spark plug  Bosch Magneto Company in New York City  Bosch Service logo  First Bosch diesel injection pump  Advertisement for the Forfex hair trimmer

1921

1927

1928

1916 Donation of 20 million marks for civic initiatives 1917 Company transformed into a stock corporation. 1918 Gottlob Honold designs the armature in a circle as the new Bosch trademark. 1919 First issue of the in-house newspaper Bosch-Znder 1920 First sales of Bosch products in Korea 1921 First Bosch Service repair shop opened in Hamburg. 1921 Vermgensverwaltung Bosch GmbH set up, now Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH. 1922 Bosch sales office set up in the British Raj. 1927 Start of series production for Bosch fuel- injection pumps and nozzles for diesel engines 1928 Market launch of the Forfex hair trimmer, the first Bosch power tool 1929 Establishment of Fernseh AG 1931 Establishment of C.A.V.-Bosch Ltd. in London (Acton)

1932 Purchase of the heating systems business of Junkers&Co. GmbH in Dessau, Germany 1932 Launch of the Bosch hammer 1932 Market launch of the first series-production car radio in Europe 1932 Introduction of electric drills and screwdrivers 1933 Acquisition of Ideal-Werke AG fr drahtlose Telephonie in Berlin (now Robert Bosch Car Multimedia GmbH) 1933 Launch of the Bosch refrigerator 1934 Acquisition of Eugen Bauer GmbH in Untertrkheim near Stuttgart, a manufacturer of cinema film projectors 1936 Series production of diesel injection systems for passenger cars 1936 Presentation of the first Fernseh AG television for the home 1937 Robert Bosch AG transformed into a close corporation (Robert Bosch GmbH).

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1932

1932

1933

1937 Series production of gasoline injection pumps for aircraft engines 1939 Establishment of Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd. to manufacture Bosch injection pumps under license in Japan 1940 Opening of the Robert Bosch Hospital inStuttgart 1942 Robert Bosch dies in Stuttgart on March 12. 1951 Start of production for gasoline injection systems for passenger cars with two-stroke engines 1953 Market launch of Bosch hydraulic appliances 1953 Robert Bosch Corporation set up in New York City. 1953 Start of production for spark plugs at Motor Industries Co.Ltd. (Mico) in Bangalore, India 1954 Brazilian regional subsidiary set up in SoPaulo. 1955 Start of production for spark plugs and diesel injection systems in Clayton, Australia

1956 Start of production for diesel equipment at Mico in Bangalore, India 1959 Power tool manufacturing becomes the companys first independent division. 1960 Market launch of the first VM diesel distributor pump 1963 Acquisition of Erich Wetzel Verpackungs maschinen GmbH 1964 The non-profit organization Vermgens verwaltung Bosch GmbH acquires a majority stake in Robert Bosch GmbH. 1964 Robert Bosch Industriebeteiligung GmbH set up (now Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG). 1965 Robert Bosch South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. set up in Johannesburg. 1967 Foundation of Bosch-Siemens Hausgerte GmbH (known since 1998 as BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerte GmbH) 1967 Start of production for Jetronic electronic gasoline-injection system

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From left to right:  First series-production car radio in Europe, the Blaupunkt AS 5  Junkers gas-fired hot water boiler, model W32KA  Advertisement for the first Bosch refrigerator  First Bosch gasoline injection pump for passenger car engines, model PFM2  Volkswagen 1600E with control unit for the D-Jetronic  Lambda sensors

1951

1967

1976

1968 Move to new research centers in GerlingenSchillerhhe (corporate research) and Schwieberdingen (automotive electrics) 1970 Start of series production for semiconductor components at the Reutlingen plant, Germany 1972 Robert Bosch (Japan) Ltd. established. 1973 U.S. production plant built in Charleston, South Carolina. 1974 Launch of the 3S program safe, clean, economical for product development 1975 Start of production for VE distributor-injection pumps for diesel engines 1976 Production of lambda sensors begins. 1976 Development of the worlds first swivel-arm industrial robot begins. 1978 Acquisition of Fbrica Espaola Magnetos S.A. (FEMSA) in Spain 1978 Start of series production for ABS, the elec tronically controlled antilock braking system

1979 Start of series production for the Bosch Motronic electronic engine management system 1980 Start of production for airbag control units 1981 Full takeover of Teldix GmbH 1981 Acquisition of a controlling majority share in Telenorma Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH&Co. in Frankfurt am Main 1983 Re-acquisition of the trademarks expropriated by the U.S. during the war; unrestricted right to use the Bosch brand name worldwide 1983 Start of series production for electronic transmission control for automatic gearboxes 1984 Market launch of the hammer drill with a rechargeable battery 1986 Market launch of electronic control for diesel injection pumps 1986 Series production of the TCS traction control system commences. 1989 Establishment of Bosch Korea Ltd.

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1978

1989

1995

1989 Market launch of the first independent vehicle navigation system in Europe: TravelPilot 1991 Start of production for Motronic with the CAN controller area network 1991 Introduction of the continuous improvement process (CIP) 1995 Start of production at a new semiconductor plant in Reutlingen, Germany 1995 Start of series production for microelectro mechanical sensors (MEMS) 1995 First five joint ventures set up in China. 1995 Start of production for the worlds first ESP electronic stability program 1996 Purchase of the brakes business of AlliedSignalInc. 1997 Start of production for the common-rail high-pressure diesel injection system 1999 Majority stake in the Japanese Zexel Corporation (formerly Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd.; now Bosch Corporation)

1999 Establishment of Chinese holding company Bosch (China) Investment Co. Ltd. 1999 Introduction of the BeQIK mission 1999 Steering systems joint venture set up with ZF Friedrichshafen AG. 2000 Series production of the DI Motronic gasoline direct injection system 2001 Industrial leadership of Mannesmann Rexroth AG, and its merger with the Automation Technology division to form Bosch Rexroth AG 2003 Acquisition of Buderus AG, Wetzlar, Germany 2003 Market launch of the Ixo cordless drill/driver with a lithium-ion rechargeable battery 2004 Acquisition of the Swiss packaging machinery manufacturer Sigpack Systems AG (now known as Bosch Packaging Systems AG) 2004 Opening of the engineering center in Abstatt, Germany 2004 Start of production for Denoxtronic, an exhaustgas treatment system in commercial vehicles

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From left to right:  Comparative test with (right) and without (left) Bosch ABS antilock braking system  TravelPilot IDS navigation system  Size comparison of Bosch MEMS microelectro mechanical system with an insect  High-pressure common-rail diesel injection system  Stage technology from Bosch Rexroth  Parallel full hybrid drive for passenger cars

1997

2001

2010

2005 Introduction of the House of Orientation as a frame of reference for all associates 2005 Acquisition of the Swedish heat pump specialist IVT Industrier AB 2005 Start of production for the Night Vision driver-assistance system 2006 Acquisition of Telex Communications HoldingsInc., Minneapolis, Minnesota 2007 Takeover of the telehealth solutions provider Health Hero Network in Palo Alto, California 2008 Establishment of joint venture Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems GmbH&Co. KG for exhaust-gas turbochargers 2008 Acquisition of the Swedish capital goods specialist Hgglunds Drives AB 2008 Acquisition of the solar cell manufacturer ersol Solar Energy AG (now Bosch Solar Energy AG) 2008 SBLiMotive Co. Ltd. joint venture set up with Samsung SDI.

2008 Acquisition of Innovations Softwaretechnologie GmbH in Immenstaad, Germany (now Bosch Software Innovations GmbH) 2010 Worlds smallest motorcycle ABS presented. 2010 Start of production at a new semiconductor plant in Reutlingen, Germany 2010 Full parallel hybrid powertrain for passenger cars goes into series production. 2010 Start of production for lithium-ion battery cells at SB LiMotive in Ulsan, Korea 2011 Start of production for drive components for e-bikes in Mondeville, France 2011 First manufacturing site in Vietnam opens.

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The Bosch Group at a Glance

Right: Bosch Haus Heidehof, the train ing and conference center for Bosch executives worldwide, is situated on the grounds of the former residence of Robert Bosch in Stuttgart. This combination of the old and the new is a striking embodiment of the link between tradition and modernity which is characteristic of our company. The Robert Bosch Stiftung is situated in both buildings.

he Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, some 285,000 associates

generated sales of 47.3 billion euros in fiscal 2010. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its more than 350 subsidiaries and regional companies in over 60 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spent 3.8 billion euros for research and development in 2010, and applied for over 3,800 patents worldwide. With all its products and services, Bosch enhances the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861 1942) as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-two percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust. The remaining shares are held by the Bosch family and by Robert Bosch GmbH.

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Picture credits

Bundesarchiv, image 151-06-29: 81  Bert Bostelmann/manager magazin: 177  Bosch Group: Cover: left, top right, center right, bottom right; 4, 10 (Karl Meckes, Ulm), 11, 13 (Karl Meckes, Ulm), 14, 15 (H. Brandseph, Stuttgart), 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 33, 35, 36, 38 (Atelier Hackh, Stuttgart), 39, 41, 42, 43, 44 (W. Brooks, London), 45, 46, 49, 51, 52-53, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69 top, 69 bottom, 70-71, 72 top, 72 bottom, 75, 76, 78, 79 left, 79 right, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86 top, 86 bottom, 89 top, 89 bottom, 91, 92-93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 103, 104, 106-107, 108, 109, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119, 121, 122, 124 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 127, 130, 131 (Wladimir Schuba, Minsk), 133 (Jrg Kunze, Ditzingen), 134, 135 (Jrg Kunze, Ditzingen), 136, 137 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 139, 140, 142, 145, 146 (Ralf Grmminger, Kornwestheim), 149 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 150-151 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 155 bottom, 157,

158 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 159, 160, 163 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 164 top, 164 bottom, 166 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 167, 168 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart), 170, 171, 173, 175, 179 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 181, 182, 184, 185 (Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 186, 187, 189 (Kraufmann& Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart / Thomas Hrner), 191, 195 top, 195 bottom (B. Holtmann, Stuttgart), 196 top, 196 bottom (J. H. Darchinger, Bonn), 197 top, 197 bottom, 206 left, 206 center (Niels Schubert), 206 right, 207 left, 207 center, 207 right, 208 left, 208 center, 208 right, 209 left, 209 center, 209 right, 210 left, 210 center, 210 right, 211 left, 211 center, 211 right, 213 (Peter Walser, Stuttgart)  Jdisches Museum, Berlin, photographers S. Pietschmann / G. Lopata: 183  Kraufmann & Kraufmann GmbH, Stuttgart, photo by Kraufmann und Scherer: 110

Mercedes-Benz Classic, Stuttgart: 99 Robert Bosch Stiftung, Stuttgart: 20  Schmitt, Alexander, Stuttgart: 155 top  Schultes, Rolf, Bad Waldsee: 128 Editors note: In some cases it was impossible to determine the rights owners of photographs, despite extensive research. The respective rights owners are asked to come forward and assert their legal rights.

Cover images Left: Robert Bosch, 1936 Top right: Tracking the sun: solar systems featuring crystalline modules made by Bosch Solar Energy AG, 2010 Center right: Two passenger cars on the banked curve of the Boxberg proving ground, 2001 Bottom right: Launched in 2003, the Ixo was the worlds first cordless drill/driver to be fitted with a lithium-ion recharge able battery. Shown here: a 2007 model Page 4: Robert Bosch, 1931

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Published by Robert Bosch GmbH Corporate Communications C/CC Postfach 10 60 50 70049 Stuttgart Germany Vice-President: Uta-Micaela Drig Project manager Dr.Kathrin Fastnacht Historical Communications C/CCH Authors Dr. Kathrin Fastnacht, C/CCH Dietrich Kuhlgatz, C/CCH Dieter Schmitt, C/CCH Christine Siegel, C/CCH Photo editor Vera Dendler, C/CCH Corrector Ludger Meyer, C/CC Translation Burton, van Iersel & Whitney, Munich Editorial staff Ellen Bernard, C/CCE Philip Mann, C/CCE Stephen Smith, BMS Design Edenspiekermann AG Wood and paper products bearing the PEFC logo originate from responsibly managed forests. For more information visit www.pefc.de Printed by GZD, Heimerdingen 2011 Robert Bosch GmbH All rights reserved.

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