Bosch Group (China) FY2011
Business Highlights
New headquarters in Shanghai
-The Bosch Group announced that it has opened its new Bosch China headquarters in Shanghai, China. With a total investment of some 980 million Chinese yuan (103 million euros), the new headquarters becomes the largest for the Bosch Group in the Asia Pacific region. The Bosch China headquarters provides a total floor space of over 78,000 square meters. It will house some 1,500 Bosch associates by the end of 2011 and an additional 500 associates by the end of 2012. All three Bosch business sectors are represented in the new premises. The headquarters also provides R&D facilities such as an advanced materials laboratory. (From a press release on April 20, 2011)
-On October 30, 2011, United Automotive Electronic Systems (UAES) held a ceremony to celebrate the release of its first fuel distributor off the production line at its Liuzhou Plant. Previously, UAES had been manufacturing fuel distributors at its Wuxi Plant. The company decided to transfer the operation to Liuzhou to ensure an efficient supply system to support SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile and other customers in southern China. On November 30, 2011, the facility started mass production of oil pump bracket assemblies. With three production lines which has thereby commenced full-scale production, the facility has a capacity to manufacture 1.1 million fuel distributor assemblies and 700,000 oil pump bracket assemblies a year. During 2012, it is expected to manufacture products worth 220 million yuan in total. (From a press release, December 20, 2011)
UAES's Wuhu Plant starts operation
-United Automotive Electronic Systems Co., Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Bosch corporation, held a ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new plant in Wuhu, Anhui Province on March 21, 2011. (From a press release on March 21, 2011)Automotive electronics products:
New orders
United Automotive Electronic Systems (UAES), a subsidiary of Bosch, has been awarded a program to supply electronic control module for the DQ380 next generation dual clutch transmissions to Volkswagen. The business is expected to add about 500 million yuan to the company's annual sales each year. The DQ380 transmissions will be installed on Volkswagen and Audi vehicles produced in Europe and China. UAES has also been chosen by General Motors as a supplier of body control modules, immobilizers, RF antennas and other electronic components. Mass production of these products is expected to begin in 2014 to generate approximately 200 million yuan in sales. (From a press release, December 6, 2011)Bosch Suzhou new plant start operation
-On September 8, 2011, Bosch (China) Investment Ltd. opened its new plant in Suzhou. The company has invested approximately 200 million yuan in this facility, which will manufacture chassis control technologies such as ABSs, ESPs and sensor products. The newly completed plant has a building area of 29,000 square meters, more than double that of the existing Suzhou facility. It is located adjacent to a technical center and a vehicle proving ground, enabling the company to carry out development, production and testing in a seamless manner. The facility will also function as a delivery center for Bosch’s other products such as yaw rate sensors, airbag ECUs, and airbag sensors. (From a press release, September 9, 2011)
Production of regenerative braking systems for HEV/EV in China
-On April 20, 2011, Bosch Corporation announced that it will start manufacturing its regenerative braking system for hybrid and electric vehicles in China. The brake technology called the HAS hev converts the rotating energy of wheels into electric energy to the maximum extent and stores it into the battery, which helps extend the driving range, save fuel, and reduce CO2 emissions significantly. In 2010, Bosch initiated new energy vehicle technology pilot projects through the team of Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Technology founded in its joint venture, United Automotive Electronic Systems Co., Ltd., aiming to launch local production of key parts in 2012. New energy vehicles equipped with Bosch's technologies are expected to be mass produced in 2013. (From a press release on April 20, 2011)
R&D
Expanding test center
-Bosch Automotive Diesel Systems Co., Ltd. has completed its expansion project at the Diesel Technical Center, its development center for diesel systems in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. The technical center will thereafter focus on development of high-performance clean diesel exclusively for the Chinese market. Bosch has invested 10.5 million euros in the expansion work.（From a press release on November 24, 2011) -Bosch Group (China) is expanding its production facility and testing center to upgrade its safety system business. Bosch Automotive Products (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. is now constructing a second plant, which is scheduled to go into production soon. In the area of testing, construction of a second test road at Bosch’s winter test center will start this year. In addition, the first phase of the construction of a summer test center in Donghai, which began in October 2010, is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2012. Local production of the new generation of Bosch’s ABS and ESP systems is expected to begin this year in response to growing demand for advanced safety technologies in China. (From a press release on April 20, 2011)
Product development
-Bosch Automotive Diesel Systems Co., Ltd., which is a joint venture between Bosch Corporation and Weifu High-Technology Co., Ltd., will officially release the CRS1-16 economy type, high pressure common rail systems for passenger vehicles and light-duty commercial vehicles in late 2011. The common rail systems that meet the China lV emissions standards are optimally designed for use in mini vans and mini trucks. Bosch is going to sell the Denoxtronic 6 exhaust gas aftertreatment device for commercial vehicles in 2012. The gas treatment system, which is compliant with the China lV and other tighter emissions standards, can be tailored specifically to the needs of Chinese customers for various driving conditions. (From a press release on April 20, 2011)Technological alliance
-Bosch Group (China) and Hunan Jianglu & Rongda Vehicle Transmission Limited Company signed an agreement to conduct joint development of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) for compact passenger vehicles. The agreement was signed in Changsha, Hunan Province on February 25, 2011. Bosch will offer technical training to Hunan Jianglu, which will procure parts made by Bosch. The intellectual property rights associated with the CVT will be owned by Hunan Jianglu & Rongda Vehicle Transmission. Incorporating Bosch's latest technology, the new CVT unit will be able to encompass a torque converter and the powertrain system of a hybrid vehicle to meet customer needs. It will provide improved gear shifting, a 15 percent reduction in product weight, and a 20 percent saving in cost. Bosch is expecting the percentage of CVT vehicles made by Chinese automakers to increase from below 10 percent to 22 percent by 2016. Hunan Jianglu & Rongda Vehicle Transmission Limited Company was established in 2003. The company became the first company in China to develop CVT on its own. It now has the capacity to produce transmissions for 50,000 vehicles per year. (From news releases issued by multiple sources, February 26, 2011)-The Bosch Group announced that it has signed comprehensive strategic cooperation agreements with Great Wall Motors. Bosch will work with Great Wall Motors for research and development of products such as engine management system and chassis brakes. The cooperation between Great Wall Motors and Bosch began in 2005. Great Wall Motors developed, in joint efforts with Bosch, the electronically controlled high-pressure common-rail diesel engine in 2006. The engine was applied to Haval series. In May 2011, Bosch's common-rail system was adopted in the diesel-powered Green Static 2.0T engine which matches Wingle 5. (From a press release on October 8, 2011)
Investment Activities
New Plant
>-United Automotive Electronic Systems Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Bosch Corporation, is constructing a new plant in Wuxi. The facility will produce high-pressure direct injection systems for the Chinese market, which has been so far relying on imported products. The expansion will allow automakers to switch to lower-cost products made by the company. The construction project was launched in August 2011, and the main building was completed in November. The whole facility with a building area of 29,300 square meters on 51,500 square meters of land is expected to be completed in the middle of 2012. It will be capable of producing 910,000 high-pressure pumps, 7.7 million high-pressure injectors, and 290,000 high-pressure rail assemblies a year. Sales are forecast to reach 1.2 billion yen a year. (From a press release, December 20, 2011) -On September 6,2012, Bosch Automotive Products (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. broke ground for its new spark plug production facility at the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone, which will serve as Bosch’s largest spark plug plant in the world. Bosch is investing over 1.1 billion yuan in the construction project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013. In addition to having the capacity to produce 100 million spark plugs, the facility will manufacture 80 million brake pads and 25,000 automotive diagnostic systems a year. The new, Nanjing plant will hire more than 3,000 employees. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on September 13, 2011)
-On August 26, 2011, Bosch and the authority of the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone signed a formal contract regarding Bosch’s 96-million-euro-project to establish a new, chassis control systems plant. The construction program will be carried out in three phases. Bosch aims to start operations initially in 2013, when the first phase is completed. The new facility will manufacture and sell ABSs, ESPs and sensors. It will have enough capacity to serve the whole Chinese market, when the third phase is completed. The plant’s annual production volume is expected to reach 2 billion yuan. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on August 27, 2011)