OREANDA-NEWS. At yesterday's 2014 Excellence Award ceremony of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in Brussels, Belgium, the Bosch Group received a total of four accolades. The winner of the Excellence award - and thus the overall winner of the competition - is the Bosch plant in Bari, Italy. The Italian plant garnered a further three prizes in the "Creating a sustainable future", "Managing with agility," and "Succeeding through the talent of people" categories. The Bosch plant is the first Italian organization to win the overall award in the "Large enterprises" category. "We are delighted to have received the EFQM excellence award, especially in its 25th anniversary year. We have achieved a lot: even so, I would like to encourage our associates to continue to strive for business excellence," said Dr. Rolf Bulander after the ceremony. Bulander is the member of the Bosch Group board of management responsible for automotive powertrain and quality. He is also member of the Board of Directors of EFQM. For the Bosch Group, one of the founding members of the EFQM, the award is a further acknowledgement of its activities in the area of business excellence. Bari is the third Bosch plant to be named overall winner, following the successes of Bursa, Turkey (2003 and 2008), and Bamberg, Germany (2012).

Bari plant: high degree of associate commitment

The EFQM judges were particularly impressed by the strong commitment and motivation of the associates in Bari. "The plant has been able to achieve a near-perfect blend of passion and precision," said Marc Amblard, chief executive officer of EFQM. "The speed with which they adapt to changes in their operating environment enables them to deliver sustainable and outstanding results." On behalf of the 2,000 associates currently employed at Bari, the plant management accepted the award at the ceremony in Brussels. "We would like to thank all our associates for their great dedication and their active contribution to achieving our strategic objectives," said Jens Last, the commercial manager of the Bari plant. "Their passion for continuous improvement is the basis of our success story."

Ongoing work on competitiveness

After the award ceremony, Bulander quoted the company founder Robert Bosch: "In my experience, there is nothing worse for a company that wishes to prevail and remain at the cutting edge than to have no competition." Bulander continued, "no company can afford to rest on its laurels. Only if we believe this can we continue to earn such laurels."

Bosch set up operations in Italy in 1904, when the first representative office was inaugurated in Milan. The Bari plant is an operational unit of the Diesel Systems division, which itself is part of the Bosch Group's Mobility Solutions business sector. Bari plant produces common-rail diesel injection pumps. It is the largest Bosch entity in Italy, as well as the largest manufacturing facility for automotive components in southern Italy.

EFQM is committed to help organizations improve performance through the EFQM Excellence Model, a management framework used by over 30,000 organizations. The objective of the EFQM Excellence Award is to recognize excellent performance by organizations, whether private, public, or non-profit.

of success in turning strategy into action and continuously improving their organization's performance. All applicants are assessed by a team of independent, trained assessors, who spend an average of 500 hours assessing each applicant.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In 2013, its roughly 281,000 associates generated sales of 46.1 billion euros. (NB: Due to a change in accounting policies, the 2013 figures can only be compared to a limited extent with the 2012 figures). Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 360 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 50 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. In 2013, the Bosch Group invested some 4.5 billion euros in research and development and applied for some 5,000 patents. This is an average of 20 patents per day. The Bosch Group's products and services are designed to fascinate, and to improve the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. In this way, the company offers technology worldwide that is "Invented for life."

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 up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future. 92 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.