Bosch India drives‘Beyond Mobility’

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Bosch, which was once known as Mico and identified as an automotive solution provider, has been catering to almost all areas in the mobility sector in India. Now the European supplier of technology and services is boosting its beyond mobility business with smart solutions based on growing infrastructure and consumer demand. Jaishankar Jayaramiah of Automotive Lead writes in detail.

The one-day conference titled ‘Beyond Mobility’ that was organized at Bosch India’s headquarters in Bangalore on November 20 throws light the company’s capability in several other sectors including energy and connected products, such as power tools and security systems.

With this,  Bosch focuses on   Cross-functional teams as a key to success in the IoT era and it is pursuing a “3S” strategy:- sensors, software and services.

“Our business is in a process of profound transformation from a hardware focus to models that focus more on services and data. We have the capability to develop greenfield technology that can power industries in a new-age manner,” says Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch Limited and President, Bosch Group, India.

Fueled by the impetus from the Indian government amid structural reforms, such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the country is undergoing rapid transformation as well. It is changing conventional business areas to digital by transforming businesses beyond mobility.

Beyond Mobility

Over the past few years, beyond mobility solutions have gained 35% and have contributed greatly to the Bosch Group’s turnover. Bosch’s initiatives in India are leading it into new verticals with digital solutions in the core. Be it connected industry, energy efficiency, smart home or other areas, Bosch is continuously growing due to successful collaboration of its cross-divisional teams, engineering heritage and strong presence on the Indian market.

The company integrates local talents into the development of solutions for the country’s market. “The key to success will be partnership with local players to drive connectivity forward and a localized strategy to meet consumer demand,” adds Soumitra Bhattacharya.

Robots & Auto Sector

Hans Bangert, Managing Director, Bosch Rexort India Pvt Ltd, provided various datas during his presentation titled ‘Robotics & Automation’. Bangert said the automotive tops among other sectors across the world in using robots followed by the segments like Electrical/Electronics, Metal, Chemical & Plastics and Food.

The supply of industrial robots has been witnessing a steady increase  in India since 2011. The country witnessed a sales of 2,627 robots in 2016, recording 11% CAGR in 2011-2016). He also said the automotive industry has 79 robots per 10,000 employees in India as compared to the global ratio of 1,261 robots.

Bosch Rexorth India in partnership with robotic company Plazma Technologies will expand its presence in robotics market. Megatrends like connectivity, IoT & AI coupled with the demands from the industries like automotive and infrastructure will drive robotics & automation market in India, Bangert added.

Bosch is gaining increased relevance by implementing robotics and automation solutions that augment its smart manufacturing and connected industry solutions in the country. This is being achieved by developing solutions that include collaborative robots, IoT and machine learning.

With its goal to make the “Factory of the future” a reality, Bosch India is partnering with OEMs across industries, and also implementing robotics and automation solutions across its manufacturing facilities, to deploy modern solutions that are improving productivity and safety.

Power Tools

Bosch is providing affordable and localized solutions for the Indian market to improve working conditions, performance and businesses of  other industrial and institutional customers. Innovative cordless technology, connected power tools and connected work sites ultimately benefit end customers.

With other new business models, such as rental power tools and digital services for customer support, channel partners and sales force, the company is boosting construction industry’s growth and employment.

Addressing the gathering Andreas Wolf, Joint Managing Director, Bosch Ltd, Executive Vice President, Manufacturing & Quality, said that India is creating an enabling eco-system for smart manufacturing and the government’s initiatives like ‘Digital India’, ‘Make-in-india’, ‘Smart City’ and ‘Start-up-India’ are supporting this factor.

As far as the infrastructure is concerned, Wolf said that around 80% of the country has access to 4G LTE connectivity and mobile phone penetration in India is set to increase to 85-9-% by 2020.

In automation, he said there are 3 robots per 10,000 employees in India as compared to the world average of 74 robots.

IoT Drive

In his presentation, Dattatri Salagame, Business Head, Digital Business, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, said that IoT is driving digital transformation across all the segments.

IoT market is expected to increase from Euros 250 billion in 2020 to Euros 570 billion in 2023, Salagame added.

Mohandas Mekanapurath, Business Head, Bosch Energy and Building Solutions (BEBS), Bosch Ltd, made presentation on how the company is contributing in the energy sector, promoting renewable energy in the industrial segment.

Mekanapurath said that India is the third largest carbon emitter and 64% of power generated in the country is from fossil fuel based power plants. In the total generation power, Industrial and Commercial sector alone consumes 64%.

Bosch has set up 19 megawatt rooftop power plant and integrated heating & cooling solution at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s plant. With this, Honda is generating 29 million units of power per year while reducing 20,200 tonnes of carbon that also prompted the two-wheeler maker to save Rs 231 million a year.

Through its 7 years of successfully enabling customers to achieve their sustainability goals and reducing energy costs, BEBS is offering services for commercial and industrial facilities, with the objective of decreasing their energy consumption. The company also offers value added solutions for easy monitoring and controlling of energy consumption. Bosch Energy and Building Solutions (BEBS) is thus becoming the energy partner of choice as enterprises are increasingly switching to more energy efficient methods of operating their facilities.

Smart Solutions

Bosch is transforming the face of India’s security systems by providing connected solutions. The country’s population of more than 1.3 billion people is constantly on the move, metro stations and airports are crowded and require smart security solutions with big data analysis to increase people’s safety.

Bosch’s security solutions, such as intelligent cameras, public address systems and other technologies, are helping cities solve the urban transportation and safety issue by providing seamless digital platforms.

Bosch Smart Factories

A key component of Bosch’s beyond mobility offerings is Industry 4.0 technologies. Bosch is building smart factories with the focus on automation, digitalization, AI and IoT that are boosting productivity, quality and safety. Bosch leverages a unique dual-strategy of being a leading user and provider of Industry 4.0 solutions on the market and is thus well placed to build an ecosystem of business and technology partners to create affordable digital solutions for SMEs and customers.

Innovation hub for the world by adopting new-age technologies across industries
At the heart of all these changes lies innovation, and Bosch is turning itself into an innovation hub for the world by developing solutions based on AI, Blockchain, sensors and other futuristic technologies to build sustainable ecosystems across industries for the future. Bangalore is one of the global innovation centers for AI solutions and transformations are being driven through Bosch’s “3S” strategy – where it uses sensors, software and services.

Bosch’s innovation accelerates this growth with robust distribution networks, India-specific innovations, consumer centricity, prompting the company to enter into the new market segments.

Bosch India Experience Center

During the event, the company has also taken the participants to the Bosch India Experience Center, which is first of its kind for Bosch. The center highlights the story of Bosch and its products with several displays.