Robert Bosch GmbH(pronunciation (·)), or Bosch, is a German multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components measured by 2011 revenues. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886.
Bosch comprises more than 350 subsidiary companies. In addition to automotive components, which generate around 60% of its revenues, Bosch produces industrial machinery and hand tools.
Although most of the company's plants and employees are located in Germany (112,300 employees), Bosch is a worldwide company.
Bosch entered India in 1922, when Illies & Company set up a sales office in Calcutta. For three decades, the company operated in the Indian market only through imports. In 1951, Bosch set up its first manufacturing plant in India.
About 60% of Bosch's worldwide annual sales are produced in automotive technology. Bosch invented the first practical magneto, an early ignition electrical source, which provided the spark to ignite the fuel in most of the earliest internal combustion engines, and is still used in general aviation engines. Bosch's corporate logo to this date depicts the armature from a magneto. Bosch was an early manufacturer of Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), and as time passed, Bosch became a leader in such specialized fields as traction control systems (TCS), the Electronic Stability Program (ESP), body electronics (such as central locking, doors, windows and seats), and oxygen sensors, injectors and fuel pumps. Even in such humble technological areas as spark plugs, wiper blades, engine cooling fans and other aftermarket parts, Bosch has over $1 billion in annual sales.
Bosch's subsidiary Bosch Rexroth is a supplier of industrial technology, producing hydraulic, electric, and pneumatic machinery for driving, controlling, and moving machines in applications ranging from automotive to mining.
Bosch caters to the areas of consumer goods and building technology with its power tool, thermotechnology, and security systems, as well as with its household appliances business within the BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH joint venture. In the US, power tools are provided by the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation based in Mt. Prospect, Illinois.
In 2001, Bosch bought Detection Systems and Radionics, Inc., to build their business in the North American security and life safety products manufacturing/supply business. Through the Detection Systems acquisition, Bosch also obtained additional sales channels in Latin America, Asia-Pacific (including Australia), and Europe.
Bosch also used to create mobile phones for a short time. Their first three mobile phones were the Com 906, Com 738 and World 718, all from 1996. In 1997, they released two other phones: Com 207 and Com 607. The Com 908 came out in 1998, and in 1999 they released their final phones: the Com 509, the 909 Dual and the 909 Dual S.
BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, in which Bosch and Siemens AG each hold a 50% share, is one of the world's top three companies in the household appliances industry. In Germany and Western Europe, BSH is the market leader. Its portfolio includes the principal brand names Bosch and Siemens, Gaggenau, Neff, Thermador, Constructa, Viva, and ufesa brands, and further six regional brands. Bosch household appliances for the North American market are mainly manufactured at its factory near New Bern, North Carolina. The distribution of manufacturing workforce in household appliances is:
- 36% in Germany
- 30% in Western Europe (excluding Germany, but including Turkey)
- 15% in Asia
- 10% in Eastern Europe
- 5% in North America
- 4% in Latin America
Bosch owned 50% of Purolator Filters in a joint venture with Mann+Hummel until 2013. In 2013 the Mann+Hummel Group has taken over the remaining 50% stakes from Bosch.
In June 2008 Bosch formed SB LiMotive, a 50:50 joint company with Samsung SDI. The company held ground breaking ceremony for a 28.000 m lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant in September 2009 and it is scheduled to start production for hybrid vehicles in 2011 and for electric vehicles in 2012 The plant will generate a 1.000 jobs in Ulsan, Korea in addition to the 500 employees in Korea, Germany and the USA. SB LiMotive was officially ended in September 2012 with both companies focusing on automotive batteries alone.
Robert Bosch GmbH, including its wholly owned subsidiaries such as Robert Bosch LLC in North America, is unusual in that it is an extremely large, privately owned corporation that is almost entirely (92%) owned by a charitable foundation. Thus, while most of the profits are invested back into the corporation to build for the future and sustain growth, nearly all of the profits distributed to shareholders are devoted to humanitarian causes.
Almost all Bosch locations are both ISO 9001 certified (quality) and ISO 14001 certified (environmentalprotection). In addition to that, their management is compliant with OHSAS 18001.
