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Bosch, the world’s leading technology and services provider, expects industrial technology sales to grow from 7 billion euros today to more than 10 billion euros ($10.96 billion) by 2028. The goal is to achieve profitable growth.
“We want to increase results rather than sales and to increase the value of the company sustainably. To this end, Bosch will invest a total of more than three billion euros in industrial technology in 2022 and 2023 to ensure organic and inorganic growth,” said Bosch Director said Dr Stefan Hartung.
The acquisition of US hydraulics company HydraForce and its approximately 2,100 employees means that Bosch’s largest acquisition to date is in its industrial technology business. The merger enables Bosch Rexroth to expand its global leadership in hydraulics, providing technology for excavators, cranes, tractors as well as equipment and machinery for factories.
development potential
Industrial technology offers Bosch enormous growth potential. This is driven by the growing demand for automation and Industry 4.0 solutions, the “convergence” of electrical and hydraulic systems, and the growing demand for green technologies for the ecological transition of the economy.
“By strengthening Industrial Technology, we are creating a better balance between our business areas. As a global technology company, our broad diversification makes Bosch even more creative and dynamic,” said Hartung.
Within the Bosch Group, Industrial Technology is also an important service provider, equipping around 240 Bosch plants worldwide with manufacturing technology to ensure resource-efficient, customer-specific production.
This saves the group from placing orders worth more than 5 billion euros per year. At the Hannover Messe (April 17-21, 2023), Bosch is presenting its industrial technology portfolio, which includes innovations in collaborative robots, control technology for Industry 4.0, energy-efficient hydraulics, electric mobile machines, Stationary fuel cells, and automatic battery recycling.
Green Technology
Industrial technology is evolving as all sectors of the economy move towards climate neutrality and the emergence of a circular economy.
“The ecological transition of business is unthinkable without capital goods. Industrial technologies enable sustainable transitions in different sectors of the economy,” says Hartung.
Bosch is developing solutions that conserve resources, reduce energy consumption, protect the environment and mitigate global warming. In 2022, Bosch’s sales of industrial environmental protection technologies will exceed 1 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 25%. In other words, Bosch achieved its sales target for 2023 a year earlier than originally planned. The company is continuing to expand its GreenTech product portfolio. For example, Bosch Rexroth is launching its eLION combination solution for the electrification of mobile machinery such as excavators, wheel loaders and tractors.
With more than 80 motor models, graded by power and size, the company offers the industry’s broadest product range, helping to reduce carbon emissions on construction sites, mining and ports. International customers such as Sennebogen and Kalmar Cargotec are already using the new Bosch drives in their products, thereby promoting the electrification of mobile machinery.
The demand for green technology in factories is also increasing. As a result of climate action measures, companies are modernizing installed machines and equipment on the one hand and building new manufacturing facilities, such as batteries and fuel cells, on the other.
At the Hannover Messe, Bosch is presenting manufacturing technologies for battery production and recycling. “The only way we’re going to make electric vehicles successful is by recycling the raw materials we use,” Hartung said.
Bosch Rexroth has developed an automatic battery discharge system that not only simplifies recycling, but is also more efficient than the manual process. REMONDIS and Rhenus Automotive are using the technology for the first time at their Magdeburg plant in Germany.
hydrogen
In addition to storage media such as batteries, “conversion artists” such as fuel cells are an important part of a climate-neutral future. At the Hannover Messe, Bosch is presenting a stationary solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with an overall efficiency of more than 85 percent. These distributed energy converters are currently being tested in approximately 60 pilot plants.
One of these is the Hydrogen Campus in Salzgitter, Germany: At this Bosch plant, ten SOFC fuel cell systems are integrated into the plant’s energy supply system. Bosch aims to commercialize stationary fuel cells by 2025.
These components are manufactured using Bosch’s own expertise and technology. From cells to stacks to complete systems: Bosch’s dedicated mechanical units provide more than 50% of the manufacturing equipment required for fuel cell production. In the future, the Bosch portfolio will also include components for electrolyzers. The core part of the electrolyser, known as the stack, is planned to be commercially available in 2025.
Industry 4.0: Bosch software saves resources
Energy, factory supplies, raw materials—resources are rare and precious. “Our response to the shortage is to increase efficiency. Anyone looking for sustainable manufacturing needs to embrace Industry 4.0,” says Hartung. For example, Bosch Connected Industry’s Nexeed Industry 4.0 software has increased factories’ plant efficiency by an average of 5 percent, reduced maintenance costs by 25 percent, and reduced waste. Nexeed has already been tested in more than half of Bosch’s approximately 240 plants and more than 100 international customers.
Software also helps in combining traditional and new technologies. An example is hydraulics: for more than 200 years, fluid mechanics has been used whenever large loads have to be moved with minimum force, for example in plastic machines or presses. Thanks to load-dependent control, Bosch Rexroth variable-speed pump drives are now always in their optimum operating mode. They switch to standby mode when not in use. This reduces the energy consumption of the hydraulic system by up to 80% compared to conventional drives.
Automate and reduce complexity
Aging society, labor shortages, limited resources: the challenges are growing. Bosch focuses on education and training activities as well as technologies that support companies and ease certain tasks for workers. For example, Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX AUTOMATION modular automation system understands more than 30 programming languages ​​and allows users to develop their own applications and services. More than 600 customers already rely on this pioneering form of automation.
“The only way we can overcome the pressing challenges of our time is by joining forces to make a bigger difference. ‘Co-creation’ and making systems open to others are important considerations here,” Hartung said.
Bosch Rexroth is also taking this approach in hydraulics. Whereas the control technology was previously associated with hardware, the company has now moved it into software modules. This means that mechanical engineers can continue to use existing automation architectures; specific hydraulic know-how is no longer required.
Automation also directly supports workers, for example by freeing them from monotonous or onerous tasks. At Hannover Messe, Bosch Rexroth is showing articulated fine motor lightweight collaborative robots that can go around corners on seven axes and help workers load, palletize and inspect workpieces. These collaborative robots are very popular. The global industrial automation market is growing rapidly: while sales of automation technologies were just under EUR 200 billion in 2021, they are expected to grow to over EUR 400 billion worldwide by 2030 – an annual growth rate of more than 8% (source: Priority Research, 2022).
“Megatrends such as digitalisation, an aging society and efforts to increase sustainability are driving the need for automation. Factory automation is a strategic business area for Bosch and we aim for double-digit growth every year – thereby accelerating market growth,” added Hartung. — trade arab news agency
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