Annual financial results 2018; Bosch in North America registers healthy growth
Region records highest sales in history
- $14.5 billion in sales in North America
- Bosch invests more than $500 million in region in 2018
- Number of associates increases to 35,400
-
Bosch to reduce carbon footprint to zero at its 400 locations around
the globe by 2020
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bosch, a leading global supplier of technology and services, ended its
2018 fiscal year with $14.5 billion (12.3 billion euros) in consolidated
sales in North America, thus registering healthy growth of 6% compared
with the previous year’s sales.
“North America continues to be an important market for Bosch, with sales
equaling 16% of Bosch’s total sales,” said Mike Mansuetti, president of
Bosch in North America. “In 2019 we expect a moderate increase in sales
across all Bosch business sectors in North America, despite an expected
cooling of the North American economy and the mobility market,
specifically.”
The number of associates employed at Bosch in North America in 2018 rose
to 35,400, a year-over-year increase of more than 2.5%. This number is
expected to remain at a similar level in 2019.
Continuous investment in North America
Bosch invested more than $500 million in North America in 2018. The
investment, primarily for Bosch’s Mobility Solutions business sector,
went toward expanding manufacturing operations, including new equipment.
In addition to expansions of Mobility Solutions plants in Charleston and
Anderson, South Carolina, as well as a dishwasher plant and central
distribution center in New Bern, North Carolina, the company is
investing $120 million in a new plant in Celaya, in the Mexican state of
Guanajuato. The approximately 225,000-square-foot facility will
manufacture electronic control units – key components for connected
mobility – for the American market. In November 2018, Bosch opened a new
technology and innovation hub in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Bosch expects to invest a similar amount in North America in 2019.
Positive development across all Bosch business sectors
Bosch’s four business sectors – Mobility Solutions, Industrial
Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology – all saw
growth in North America in 2018.
Mobility Solutions is Bosch’s largest business sector. With sales
of $9.5 billion in 2018, the sector accounted for 66% of Bosch’s North
American sales.
Bosch
and Daimler announced last year that San José, California, would
become the pilot city for an automated driving on-demand ride-hailing
service. With their joint development work, Bosch and Daimler aim to
improve the flow of traffic in cities, enhance road safety, and provide
an important building block for the way traffic will work in the future.
Continuing to build its capabilities in the area of mobility services, Bosch
invested in Mojio, a technology platform and SaaS provider for
connected cars. Bosch and Mojio also signed an innovation agreement to
co-develop a suite of advanced connected car services. At
CES 2019, the organizations announced their first connected mobility
joint development, an IoT-integrated emergency response solution.
Bosch also announced
a strategic technology partnership with SiTime Corp. to accelerate
innovation in micro-electro-mechanical systems timing. SiTime will work
with Bosch to develop processes for next-generation MEMS resonator
products. These MEMS resonators enable higher speeds of 5G, long battery
life of IoT devices and increased reliability of driver assistance
systems.
Consumer Goods, at $2.6 billion in sales, composed 18% of sales
in North America. In this sector, Bosch is known for its home appliances
and power tools.
Bosch Home Appliances recently
announced that it is expanding its Home Connect
with new connected refrigeration, wall ovens, induction cooktops and
ventilation. Features include Amazon Alexa voice-control interface,
security through remote monitoring, and interaction with digital and
physical products from the robust Home Connect partner ecosystem.
In the power tool market, Bosch continues to solve problems for its
users. For example, Bosch
Nail Strike is the first wood-boring bit to withstand nail hits – as
many as 30 per bit.
Industrial Technology’s $1.5 billion in sales equates to 10% of
Bosch’s North American sales in 2018. The sector has long been focused
on Industry 4.0, or Connected Industry. Exchanging information among
people, machines, parts and products shows how Bosch uses its expertise
across software, sensors and services to improve operations.
Bosch
Rexroth’s Factory of the Future offers remarkable adaptability, with
the walls, floor and ceiling of the facility remaining fixed, while
everything else inside the factory is mobile. Assembly lines are
modular, with machines that move and reorganize themselves for each
application. Wireless power and data communications are delivered to
each machine through the factory’s intelligent floor. Bosch is in a
unique position as both a key developer as well as a key user of this
technology, so this vision is already reality in many of Bosch Rexroth’s
plants today.
Energy and Building Technology’s sales, at $900 million, reflect
6% of the total sales in North America.
Bosch
recently launched a fixed-dome security camera series with wireless
remote commissioning capabilities, allowing the use of an app to
position the camera once it has been mounted. Installation and setup
time are reduced by up to 75%.
At the Smart
Columbus Experience Center in Ohio, Bosch shows how intelligent
sensors can be used to create safer and more sustainable ecosystems.
Using Video as a Sensor technology, Intelligent
Video Analytics classifies and counts pedestrians, bicyclists, cars
and trucks at intersections, on highways and at curbs in order to
measure traffic flow and detect lane changes and pedestrians in the
crosswalk. This technology has the potential to improve not only traffic
efficiency but also safety.
Research and Development
Last fall, Bosch announced a research partnership with Astrobotic
Technology Inc. to
send experimental sensor technology, called SoundSee, to the
International Space Station (ISS) as early as this year. Bosch’s
SoundSee technology is a deep audio analytics capability that uses a
custom array of microphones and machine learning to extract actionable
information out of noise patterns. SoundSee’s analytics will investigate
whether audio data from machines and equipment onboard the ISS can be
analyzed to detect anomalies and improve Space Station operations.
Bosch is building up a team of leading AI experts at its Pittsburgh
Technology Center. The Bosch
Center for Artificial Intelligence Research Lab opened there last
year to conduct advanced research in AI technologies. Bosch also
announced at that time that it would provide more than $8 million to
sponsor AI research at Carnegie Mellon University. The BCAI Research Lab
is the second BCAI location in the U.S. Established in 2017, the BCAI
initially brought together global expertise from Sunnyvale, California;
Bengaluru, India; and Renningen, Germany, to deploy cutting-edge AI
technologies across Bosch products and services.
Climate action and air-quality measures
One of Bosch’s values is responsibility and sustainability. Bosch is
intensifying its efforts to combat climate change and improve air
quality. Bosch in North America is committed to Bosch
Global’s initiative to be climate-neutral as early as 2020.
At the annual press conference in Renningen, Germany, Dr. Volkmar
Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, said,
“Climate change is not science fiction; it’s really happening. If we are
to take the Paris Agreement seriously, then climate action needs to be
seen not just as a long-term aspiration. It needs to happen in the short
term.” He added, “We’re also committed to meeting public demand for good
air quality in cities. As an innovation leader, we want to deliver
technological solutions to ecological problems.”
An example of these efforts to reduce its CO2 output is in
San Luis Potosi, Mexico. There, power sourced from the Dominica wind
farm covers more than 80% of the energy requirements of all Bosch
locations in Mexico. And in Charleston, South Carolina, Bosch is using
tools like the Bosch Energy Platform to identify high-energy-usage
equipment and deviations from known benchmarks. In this way the
Charleston site has reduced carbon emissions by more than 30% in the
last decade, even while increasing production output.
Ongoing commitment to communities
As part of its culture, Bosch has a history of investing in the
community. This care for the community is exemplified both in funding
and in volunteering.
The Bosch Community Fund has awarded nearly $25 million in grants to
educational institutions and non-profit organizations since 2012. The
U.S.-based foundation focuses on the enrichment of science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) education and environmental sustainability.
Building on a seven-year program, the Bosch Community Fund now awards
grants in 45 communities where Bosch is located.
Many Bosch associates throughout the U.S. volunteer with STEM programs
in their communities. A good example of this is FIRST® (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Bosch
began supporting FIRST in 2008 and has continued to increase its
investment. Total investment is now more than $700,000 annually, and Bosch
committed to becoming a FIRST Strategic Partner in 2018. In
addition, more than 120 Bosch associates will volunteer more than 30,000
hours this season, mentoring students on 115 robotics teams.
The focus on providing STEM experiences to families continues through “The
Bosch Experience, Powered by Mind Trekkers.” Through this
partnership with Michigan Technological University’s Mind Trekkers
student group, the team brought science and technology to several
science festivals near Bosch locations in the U.S., bringing science to
life and providing children with role models for careers in STEM.
Bosch Group outlook 2019
The Bosch Group expects global economic development to be subdued in
2019. Despite the difficult environment in industries and regions that
are important for the company, Bosch expects its sales in the current
year to slightly exceed their 2018 levels.
About Bosch
Having established a regional presence in 1906 in North America, the
Bosch Group employs 35,400 associates in more than 100 locations, as of
December 31, 2018. In 2018 Bosch generated consolidated sales of $14.5
billion in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. For more information, visit twitter.com/boschusa,
twitter.com/boschmexico
and www.bosch.ca.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and
services. It employs roughly 410,000 associates worldwide (as of
December 31, 2018). The company generated sales of 78.5 billion euros
($92.7 billion) in 2018. Its operations are divided into four business
sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and
Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers
innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility,
and connected manufacturing. It uses its expertise in sensor technology,
software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its
customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The
Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to create solutions for a connected
life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and
services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch
creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group
comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 460 subsidiary and regional
companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners,
Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers
nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future
growth is its innovative strength. At nearly 130 locations across the
globe, Bosch employs some 68,700 associates in research and development.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com,
www.iot.bosch.com,
www.bosch-press.com,
www.twitter.com/BoschPresse.
Exchange rate: 1 EUR = $1.1811
Contacts
Alissa Cleland
Phone: +1 248-876-1587
Alissa.Cleland@us.bosch.com
Linda Beckmeyer
Phone: +1 248-876-2046
Linda.Beckmeyer@us.bosch.com
Tim Wieland
Phone: +1 248-876-0288
Tim.Wieland@us.bosch.com