Collaboration, Re-vision, connection and Innovation
At a glance
Ahead of the curve in IT and now IoT
Innovation especially in Information Technology has been a key area of Bosch’s local operations. A small software center founded by Bosch India in 1998 has been incredibly successful. It was transformed into Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Limited (RBEI) in 2008, and is now a global provider of development services and IT solutions.
It is no wonder then that R&D has been the cornerstone for Bosch’s success story in India. Of its 31,000+ workforce the company employs a whopping 18,500 people in areas relating to R&D. That is a long-term calculated bet on the engineering talent in the country and Bosch had ambitious plans to leverage this talent pool further - to capitalize on opportunities arising from the next industrial revolution and the IoT.
In fact, as early as 2014, the company invested Rs 1,200 crore in R&D to explore IoT offerings across automotive and other allied manufacturing businesses. It established the Research & Technology Centre in Bangalore, to this effect, to research Industry 4.0 applications. According to VK Viswanathan, Chairman, Board of Directors, Bosch Limited, “India has also gained some ground with respect to next generation technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation. The adoption and penetration of such technologies will fundamentally alter the way products and services are conceived, designed, manufactured, delivered, consumed and paid for. The winner will clearly be the one who is able to anticipate and be ready for such transformational disruption.”
Bosch India
Research Driven Forward Thinking
Bosch, indeed plans to be leading the charge towards Industry 4.0. Bosch’s vision for 2020 entails that every product is connected via the Internet of Things (IoT). According to the group Smart manufacturing can improve India’s productivity and optimize operations, apart from initiating and bringing about a structural reform in operations as it paves way for newer, agile and flexible business models. India’s core pressure points in the manufacturing sector have been reducing cost, improving quality and process visibility, among others. It is precisely in these where Bosch is preparing to provide solutions.
“At Bosch India, we expect the future to be driven by key trends such as digitization, growing energy needs, urbanization and better ecological solutions.” states Vijay Ratnaparkhe, managing director and president, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions. National initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India,’ intend to build the competitiveness of India’s core sectors, and Ratnaparkhe is of the firm belief that, “Digitization will improve India’s competitiveness while also helping businesses move faster to market.”
To this effect the group recently announced an investment of 1.2 billion Euros in the Asia- Pacific region. Of this nearly Rs 1,300 crore is directed towards the IoT space in India. Further, the company is also exploring the option of discovering new tech-based Indian startups to collaborate and invest in, which is a direct result of its DNA (Discover, Nurture and Align) strategy. Bosch’s product portfolio has by design focused on smarter devices that will take the lead in the future; including injection systems, sensors, semiconductors, refrigerators, washing machines and hammer drills. Currently, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Private Limited offers this coveted home-grown capability to enterprises that want to capitalize on the opportunity of a “deviced world”.
Offerings span four key areas:
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Business Innovation - Bosch sees itself not only as a service provider that can offer technical solutions in this new environment, but also as a development consultant for new business models. This capability comes from expertise in redefining many of Bosch’s business models both new and disruptive.
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Market - The “Internet of things” opens up an entirely new market segment that can be exploited to significant business advantage helping partners capitalize on opportunities. Their road-mapping strategy ensures that enterprises not only tap into newer frontiers of market potential, but fully exploit existing potential.
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Competencies - Software and systems expertise, paired with industry knowledge and creativity,
are core capabilities for the development of innovative solutions and business models. Deploying collaborative models like co-innovation and co-development, the team at Bosch tailors solutions that accentuate partner capabilities.
- Technology - Internet technology both supports and drives this development. Embracing an open-source approach accelerates development and creates open standards and communities. It is this flexible, agile and scalable model that we infuse into our partner platforms.
Bosch India
Fifteen manufacturing sites, seven R&D centres, and 31,000+ people employed, make Bosch one of the largest and oldest international companies present the country. Established in 1922 (as MICO), today the conglomerate has over 12 subsidiaries operating in India under the parent umbrella of Bosch India Limited. The German giant in engineering and technology solutions also has its largest development centres outside Germany in India.
Bosch has always had a keen focus on India in for its domestic market, manufacturing and high-end research and development. The company has grown on the back of great local demand for MICO engineering products in independent India’s bourgeoning automotive sector. As a result, the parent company and has gradually increased its stake over the years in the local subsidiary from 9% initially to the 70% it currently holds. In 2004 the company made plan to invest INR10bn in capacity building to increase manufacturing of CRS products for the automotive sector.
Following this in 2007, the organization consolidated all India operations under a geographic matrix structure that Bosch was rolling out across international operations. As part of the changes, the India operations had to undergo tremendous structural and process changes. The result was a greater integration among the group companies in India and greater integration with the global product divisions. The streamlined new businesses were better equipped to pursue R&D and
develop diverse products for the Indian and global market. Now the focus is on Smart Manufacturing.
Business Challenge
R&D has been the cornerstone for Bosch’s success story in India. Of its 31,000+ workforce the company employs a whopping 18,500 people in areas relating to R&D. That is a long-term calculated bet on the engineering talent in the country and Bosch had ambitious plans to leverage this talent pool further - to capitalize on opportunities arising from the next industrial revolution and the IoT.
Industry 4.0 solution
In November, 2016, Bosch India hosted a smart manufacturing conclave in Mumbai, primarily targeting customers, suppliers and other relevant stakeholders to showcase some of its ‘Smart’ manufacturing solutions to the industry including the APAS robotic arm and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality demonstration. Some of the best examples of the innovations at Bosch are the ones that are tailor made for a diverse range of companies operating in various verticals.
01: In the consumer goods space, Bosch has partnered with one of India’s leading air conditioning and commercial refrigeration company to create the complete blue print for its digital journey. This includes connecting its research and development, manufacturing, and customer experience through Industry 4.0 solutions. As part of the pilot project, the company will automate the entire production planning, apart from implementing condition monitoring for selected machines. Additionally, Bosch India will also enhance the company’s customer experience through augmented reality showroom solutions.
02: For one of India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturers Bosch India has identified areas, in the maintenance function that could further be improved. Bosch has proposed a solution that combines preventive maintenance and status dashboards, operator mobility solutions on tablets and mobile phones, and remote diagnostics including real time status and control. The dash board provides detailed information on the breakdown, such as name and description of the breakdown, location, date, time, duration, operator and shift details. The maintenance solution will allow operators flexibility and mobility solutions as they can access notifications on the go. The remote diagnostics tool enables analysis of breakdowns over the Intranet and the Internet.
Perhaps the best case to illustrate Bosch’s capabilities, dedication and expertise in Industry 4.0 is its own widespread manufacturing network in India. In 2015, Dr Andreas Wolf, Joint Managing Director, Bosch Limited, made a decisive plan to roll out Industry 4.0 across all 18 plants. That was an ambitious and landmark decision. Fueled by the idea of ‘Lean Manufacturing’, the work began across the factory network with the aim to connect every tool, machine, material, process, command and person. “Automation coupled with connectivity can improve transparency, facilitate real-time data analysis and continuously improve quality and environmental performance. They should be able to strike the right balance between level of automation and the degree of human interface to limit excessive use of resources. This will help companies deliver top-quality products using clean technology”.
Today, Pravin Pathak, Project Leader for Industry 4.0, and his team are working towards actualizing that goal with pay-offs guaranteed in merely two years. The focus is on areas such as digitalization of shop-floor management through virtual reality solutions, usage of machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity, energy management, and implementation of manufacturing executing systems. As a result several legacy assembly lines have been restructured to achieve higher efficiency and increased productivity.
Key benefits
| Area | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Quality | Mining and mobilizing this data is critical for Bosch India’s move to smart manufacturing. For instance, a data mining and parametric modeling initiative resulted in 50 percent reduction in testing time for a single-cylinder PF51 pump at the Bangalore plant. Another key development is the imminent 2019 shift to a state-of-the-art plant in Bidadi. The futuristic center will optimize space by 30 percent and streamline smart manufacturing in terms of production, connectivity and quality. |
| Operational Benefit | In 2017 Bosch – Bidadi Plant won “Smart copy award” out of 276 + of Bosch Plants. |
| Productivity & Throughput | Introduction of collaborative robot along MES system (Nexeed) resulted in OEE improvement of 10% .Similarly, the MES Pro Master implementation at the Chakan plant (part of Bosch Chassis and Systems India Private Limited), has led to an increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by a significant amount thus solidifying its status as a benchmark for OEE productivity among plants with manual lines. |
| Cost Savings | Pathak firmly believes that Bosch India is uniquely placed to turn the vision of a smart factory into reality because “The power of Industry 4.0 is more obvious than ever.” Whether it’s as simple as marking assets with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to reduce inventory by 30 percent or repurposing a complex integrated Transport Management System (iTMS) to manage elements of transportation like network design, monitoring, freight cost clearance, performance and analytics; the team at Bosch Limited is making this transition dynamic and profitable. |
Technologies used
What they said
"India has also gained some ground with respect to next generation technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation. The adoption and penetration of such technologies will fundamentally alter the way products and services are conceived, designed, manufactured, delivered, consumed and paid for. The winner will clearly be the one who is able to anticipate and be ready for such transformational disruption"
"At Bosch India, we expect the future to be driven by key trends such as digitization, growing energy needs, urbanization and better ecological solutions."
"Digitization will improve India’s competitiveness while also helping businesses move faster to market."
"The power of Industry 4.0 is more obvious than ever."