OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2015. The Bosch Group is forecasting strong growth over the next few years for India, this year’s partner country of Hannover Messe 2015. The company expects to see positive development in the country over the medium and long term. As early as this year, India’s economy is expected to grow by six percent. “The new Indian government is systematically addressing key issues such as infrastructure, education, and reducing bureaucracy. We are confident that this will positively impact the country’s development,” said Dr. Steffen Berns, president of the Bosch Group in India. Bosch has been active in India since 1922 and continues to see a healthy business climate on the subcontinent. “Especially in the areas of mobility, infrastructure, industry, energy, security, packaging, and healthcare, there are many opportunities for our products and solutions. The field of connected production also opens up possibilities for Bosch in India,” Berns said.

Bosch uses connected production in India
The new “Make in India” business initiative, for example, aims to advance industrialization in the country and modernize production. “We believe that the use of intelligent and connected solutions in manufacturing will play an increasing role in India. Bosch is very well positioned for this,” Berns said. With regard to connected industry, Bosch is a leading global provider and exponent. The supplier of technologies and services offers a broad range of solutions such as drives, automation solutions, sensors, software, and predictive maintenance. In order to meet the standards required for connected production, Bosch is also cooperating closely with partners in Germany and abroad. One example is the company’s partnership with IT companies Tech Mahindra in India and Cisco in the United States. In conjunction with these two partners, Bosch is driving forward connectivity in industrial tools as part of the Industrial Internet Consortium.

Industry 4.0: examples from India
Bosch’s largest development center outside Germany is located in Bangalore and Coimbatore in southern India, and employs some 15,000 associates. One of the center’s areas of focus is on developing solutions for connected industry. For instance, its engineers have developed software which links all the machinery in a manufacturing facility and enables the collection and analysis of data in real time. This enables production status to be monitored and material shortages as well as machine failures to be resolved quickly.

Since 2014, the development center in Bangalore has also been focusing on big data analytics. A software model for analyzing big data collected in manufacturing was also developed there. The model performs statistical analysis on the basis of algorithms, thus enabling specific predictions to be made and changes to be detected. It can be employed in factories, for instance, to reduce throughput times, enable predictive maintenance, and optimize resource use, as well as to improve the management of capacity, inventory, and logistics. Bosch uses manufacturing data at its plants in Bangalore and Jaipur, for example, to shorten throughput times in the testing and calibration of diesel injection pumps.

Worldwide, 20 of Bosch’s more than 250 plants are already equipped with RFID (radio frequency identification) logistics solutions. These are used in Bosch’s diesel plant in Nashik, for example, where RFID radio tags monitor the workpieces’ progress through the factory by identifying the position of transport crates. The tags enable precise details to be known about the process steps each piece undergoes and when the injectors will be ready. This information can then be used as the basis for drawing up a schedule for packing, shipping, and installation.

Technologies “Invented for life” and tailored to local requirements
In emerging markets like India, Bosch focuses on locally developed solutions that are tailored to the requirements of the local market. For instance, Bosch in India has successfully developed an electronic hitch control for Indian tractor manufacturers as well as a common-rail system for small engines. One of the Bangalore development center’s recent innovations is a compact retinal camera with special software that can detect conditions such as cataracts at an early stage. Last year, Bosch also developed an affordable and robust engine management system that is specially designed for the booming Indian two-wheeler market.

A proven model for developing skills
“The well-educated workforce and ease of communication in English increase India’s attractiveness,” Berns said. Bosch has operated a training center in India for more than 50 years using the proven Bosch model of dual education. Every year, around 60 young people start an apprenticeship at the Bosch Vocational Center in Bangalore. Bosch trains more people than it actually needs in India, and in this way fulfills its social responsibility to provide vocational training for young people.

Bosch in India
Over the past ten years, Bosch has more than tripled its sales in India, generating 1.2 billion euros in 2013. The company currently employs more than 28,000 associates at eleven manufacturing and development sites. Since 2010, the Bosch Group has invested around 680 million euros in the expansion of manufacturing and research facilities in India, including some 160 million euros in the past year alone. In 2014, a new research and technology center opened in Bangalore which is focused on the development of connected technologies for the internet of things. (Remarks: 2014 Bosch India sales will be announced in May 2015)