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It’s not often that we get invited to annual press conferences where men in nice suits stand in front of a microphone talks about sales figures and market share for an hour or two but that’s exactly what happened today at the Bosch Power Tools Training Centre in Petaling Jaya today – and the experience was enlightening. Martin Hayes, president of Bosch Southeast Asia and managing director of Bosch Malaysia together with his team at Bosch Malaysia were excellent hosts and for once, listening to a non-automotive manufacturer, parts supplier proves to be refreshing.
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The global economy didn’t exactly take off in 2013 and global sales for Bosch recorded an increase of just 3.1%. What’s interesting to note is that automotive related sales increased by 6.7%. In Asia Pacific, Bosch achieved sales growth of 5.8 percent (13.8 percent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects) to roughly RM 46.4 billion (11.1 billion euros). Especially in the Chinese growth market, demand for automotive and industrial technologies picked up significantly over the course of the year.
In Southeast Asia, Bosch closed its 2013 fiscal year at RM 2.6 billion (629 million euros) in consolidated sales on the domestic market, remaining at a similar level from the year before. The total net sales of RM 5.8 billion (1.4 billion euros), which includes deliveries to other Bosch companies, amounted to a year-on-year increase of almost 10 percent. Southeast Asia is currently one of the most important growth regions for Bosch. Over the past several years, the company entered the emerging countries of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and expanded its presence in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Malaysia meanwhile is the third-largest revenue contributor within Southeast Asia for Bosch. Total net sales in the country increased by 20 percent to RM 2.9 billion (698 million euros) in 2013 and in view of strong demands for 2014, the company increased manpower by around 3 percent to almost 2,100 employees over the course of 2013, constituting the largest associate number in Southeast Asia with over 45 percent.
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“Bosch remains on the course of growth in Malaysia. Our business divisions developed positively, we expect demand for our products and services to increase as purchasing power across the Southeast Asia region grows. Our figures for the first quarter of 2014 in Malaysia are very encouraging and our sales in the local market are expected to rise accordingly this year,” said Martin Hayes, president of Bosch Southeast Asia and managing director of Bosch Malaysia.
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Among all the divisions in Bosch Malaysia, the Car Multimedia division saw the biggest growth, with a year-on-year increase of over 40 percent in sales, largely attributed to increasing global demand for in-car infotainment technologies. And quite a number of technologies developed and manufactured for the global market are actually manufactured in Malaysia (specifically Penang), which is not really surprising given that among their biggest client, Proton relies heavily on Bosch components such as ABS, navigation and ESP modules just to name a few to complete their models. Considering that there has been various manufacturers setting up CKD operations here, Bosch seems to be on the right track in emphasizing more on the automotive sector here in Malaysia
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“Our business divisions are delivering a wide portfolio of innovative products and solutions invented for life for the Malaysian market. Additionally, Malaysia is one of our key locations in Asia to develop world-class technologies for both the local and global markets,” said Martin Hayes.
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The press conference also gave us the opportunity to see some key innovative products such as the Connectivity Control Unit (CCU) which an integral module for the eCall system developed by the Car Multimedia manufacturing plant in Penang and is already available on the European market. Based on pan-European standards, eCall is an innovative emergency system that transmits data such as location and time to centralised monitoring centres when an accident occurs. These centres then relay critical information that are triggered by sensors within the vehicle to emergency rescue services, thus reducing their response times to the scene of accident, especially in rural areas. Imagine that in an accident, all occupants are unconscious and is unable to make any calls to any rescue department. An automated distress call as seen in luxury vehicles such as Mercedes Benz and BMWs can save more lives. To have this feature in a Proton or other sub-RM100k vehicle is unheard of and could be a selling point. Also, insurance companies may adopt this as a differentiating point between it and other competitors.
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“Bosch is at the forefront of automotive safety with the Internet of Things (IoT), such as connecting vehicles onto the internet, which eCall is an example for,” said Hayes. “Malaysia’s landscape is well-suited to deploy these connected technologies. Coupled with accident preventive equipment in the vehicle such as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Program® (ESP), the technologies will save lives by increasing driving safety and reducing the number of accident fatalities.”
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Bosch expects sales to grow by between 3 and 5 percent in 2014 worldwide. Internet-enabled products and internet-based services are one of the focal points of the company’s future business. “Bosch’s traditional strengths – our innovative strength, high standard of quality, global presence, and the integrative force of our corporate culture – are also valuable in the connected world,” said Dr. Volkmar Denner, the Bosch CEO. Moreover, Bosch is global market leader in the area of micromechanical sensors (MEMS), a key technology when it comes to networking things on the internet. Sensors enable a new form of technical assistance in day-to-day life – in automated driving, for example, or the smart home. Bosch’s strategic objective is to create solutions for connected mobility, connected manufacturing, connected energy systems, and connected buildings.
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