Bosch Forms New Automation Technology Group
12 January 1998
Bosch Forms New Automation Technology Group
RACINE, Wis., Jan. 12 -- Robert Bosch announced today that it
is integrating three North American business units into a single organization,
to be known as Bosch Automation Technology. This organization will provide
manufacturers with a single source for Bosch hydraulic and pneumatic
components, automation products, and industrial electronics, controls and
drives.
The new organization is comprised of Robert Bosch Fluid Power Corporation,
Racine, Wisconsin; Bosch Automation Products, Buchanan, Michigan; and Robert
Bosch Corporation, Electronics Division, Avon, Connecticut.
"The combined strengths of Bosch's automation control product lines will
allow us to provide our customers with better support and more solutions than
ever before," said Mike Hadfield, president and CEO of Bosch Automation
Technology. "Simply put, we now offer an unsurpassed range of automation
products, with comprehensive customer and technical support to meet our
customers demands for single-source solutions to make them more competitive.
"A customer who needs a fastening system, for example, probably needs
controls and drives for that system," Hadfield continued. "He may also need a
conveyor system, and hydraulics or pneumatics. Since Bosch Automation
Technology can provide and integrate all these and more, that customer can now
considerably reduce system cost and the time previously spent dealing with
many different sources and handling multiple transactions."
The individual Bosch business units have always focused on filling
customer needs, according to Hadfield, who cited as examples the development
of open-architecture controls systems and the Whisper(TM) pump (a vane pump
that operates at noise levels as low as 67 decibels at pressures up to 3,000
psi).
"Making so many innovative products available through a single source,
with expanded customer support around the country, is a major step toward our
goal of becoming North America's premier provider of standard automation
products," he explained.
Hadfield said the former business unit facilities will continue to be
responsible for product development, manufacturing and customer service for
their respective product lines, while sales and marketing is being centralized
to better serve customers. The European operations of Bosch Automation
Technology were similarly realigned in 1996.
As part of its focus on customer support, Bosch Automation Technology
plans to provide local service, training, application support, and product
demonstrations from regional Customer Technical Support Centers in strategic
locations. The first, in the Detroit area, will open this month. Several
others are expected to open in late 1998.
Bosch Automation Technology is a leading provider of automation solutions
for the automotive, plastics, electronics, woodworking, and other industries.
The company's standard products include industrial and mobile hydraulics,
pneumatics, conveyors, workstations, framing systems and components, fastening
systems, industrial drives, CNC controls, and PLCs.
SOURCE Bosch Automation Technology