Odd Joergenrud is the regional president, Automotive Aftermarket, North America with Robert Bosch LLC.
What is the current state of Bosch’s global business?
Last year's global economic crisis affected the business development of the Bosch Group and overall our sales fell by 15 percent. The Bosch Group has made a good start to the current fiscal year, and intends to make up for much of the loss of sales in 2009 this year. At the Annual Press Conference, Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the Bosch board of management, said: “We want to return to a positive result in 2010.” There were clear signs of recovery in all regions, he said. Mr. Fehrenbach did, however, warn that recovery should not be “taken for granted.”
In the first quarter of this year, Bosch Group sales were up roughly 25 percent year on year. But the first quarter of 2009 was also the lowest point of that crisis year, so current sales are still significantly below their 2007 level. All in all, sales in the current fiscal year are expected to grow by more than 10 percent. Due to increased demand for vehicles, especially outside Europe, automotive technology will make the greatest contribution to this growth.
How was Bosch Automotive Aftermarket business affected by the 2009 global business crisis?
The Bosch automotive aftermarket business did not fully escape the global financial crisis. Bosch OES channel business was negatively affected. However, Bosch IAM business had a reasonably stable year, experiencing growth throughout 2009 for North America. We have seen substantial strengthening over the first quarter.
Bosch has a long tradition of investment in research and development. Why is this so important to the company?
Bosch is firmly committed to providing the high quality, innovative products required to meet the demands of its customers. These high-performance, safe and eco-friendly products often require a long development process involving multiple patents. Going back to our founder, Bosch believes that quality is the most important asset we have to offer to our customers and we spare no time or expense to ensure that we deliver just that. Quality, safety and environmental responsibility are what “Invented for life” is all about.
What is the company’s current level of investment in research and development?
At the Annual Press Conference, Bosch announced that, even in this challenging economic environment, we have upheld our commitments and, during 2009, invested $5.0 billion in R&D. At Bosch, we believe strongly that by dedicating 33,000 associates globally to R&D and obtaining patent protection for our innovations – e.g., some 3,800 applications filed in 2009 alone, an average of 15 per working day – we continue to build value in the market for our customers and end-consumers. This is important to the entire Bosch organization, including us in the Automotive Aftermarket business.
How does Bosch protect its interests and its investment in R&D?
It is of the utmost importance to us at Bosch that we protect our products and intellectual property rights including our vital patent rights. Bosch, for example, has a portfolio of 200 patents on “beam” or “bracketless” wiper blade technology. Earlier this month in a patent infringement suit pertaining to beam type wiper blades brought by Bosch against Pylon Manufacturing Corp., a jury found that Pylon’s wiper blades, which are acquired from third party manufacturers Unipoint and Chin Pech, infringed Bosch’s patent rights. Also, in March, we filed a patent infringement suit against Old World Industries.
We will continue to pursue action against other infringers in order to protect our interest, our business, and our patents in the Automotive Aftermarket We are compelled to take these actions to ensure our ability to reinvest in our products and, therefore, deliver the highest quality and most innovative products to our customer and to consumers.
Would you give us more details pertaining to the technology of Bosch’s bracketless blades? Specifically, what are some examples of recent Bosch innovation?
Bosch was the first company to successfully commercialize a bracketless or beam type wiper blade as it is known throughout the world today. We first introduced it at Automechanika, the leading international industry trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany in September of 1999. Bosch’s beam blades went on to receive critical acclaim by winning the Automotive News PACE award and the Automechanika award for innovation in 2002, and the Frost & Sullivan award for innovation in 2008 under the Bosch ICON™ brand.
The Bosch beam blade, with a dual steel spring and flexible rubber wind spoiler, offered significantly improved wiper blade performance and represented substantial change at all levels of the wiper blade market. Bosch added advanced dual rubber solutions, which increased both wiping performance and durability.
Patented multi-adapter solutions have also been added to both increase vehicle application coverage and provide consumers and installers with a more user friendly installation experience.
Why is it important to Bosch and to its aftermarket business to protect its products and intellectual property rights?
We value our relationship with our aftermarket customers and appreciate the opportunity to work together to grow and strengthen our respective businesses. As the world’s original equipment and innovation leader, we are committed to providing our customers with the innovative aftermarket products and services they require to serve their customers. We believe by bringing these values to the market, we strengthen all of our markets and we look forward to continuing to invest in this future growth for the aftermarket. That’s why Bosch is an enthusiastic supporter of the AASA Know Your Parts™ initiative. Together, all quality brand-name part suppliers are working to get the message out to our customers that true value cannot be measured by price alone. It is a function of price and quality that will advance the aftermarket and deliver safe and reliable products to today’s motorists.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, some 275,000 associates generated sales of $53 billion (38.2 billion euros) in fiscal 2009. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its more than 300 subsidiaries and regional companies in over 60 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is repre¬sented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for growth. Each year, Bosch spends more than $5 billion (3.5 billion euros) for research and development, and applies for some 3,800 patents worldwide. With all its products and services, Bosch enhances the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial.
In the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the Bosch Group manufactures and markets automotive original equipment and aftermarket products, industrial drives and control technology, power tools, security and communication systems, packaging technology, thermotechnology, household appliances, solar energy and healthcare products. Having established a regional presence in 1906, Bosch employs over 20,000 associates in more than 70 locations, with reported sales of $7.3 billion in fiscal 2009.
