In January 2008, the worldwide number of Bosch Engineering employees passed the 1000 threshold. By July, this figure was 1200 and growing, according to Bihr, who added: “We have just doubled our human resource personnel to be able to hire the required two-digit number of new engineers every month
While the company’s financial results are only published within the results for the whole Bosch Group (sales 2007: €46.3 billion), the speed of growth suggests that Bosch Engineering is inline with the general requirements of the group, which announced a sales growth of 6% (automotive +4.5%) in 2007 at a profitability of 7 to 8%. Only the motor-racing activities of the engineering company, which is working for Audi, Porsche, and Peugeot (Le Mans diesel direct injection) and providing technology for the DTM series and to NASCAR, are just about in the black, said Bihr. Managing the speed of growth is one of the daily challenges, he agreed
As we have to live up to the expectations linked to the name Bosch, we sometimes find it hard to say no to a project. On the other hand, we have to be careful not to overheat this growth. Getting young new people up to speed and to our corporate standards is a daily challenge.
Though the market for engineers is a difficult one in Germany, the manager sees it far from the Japanese situation “where the availability of qualified engineers impacts development cycles
Today, the work for small customers and niche models Simulation Bosch Engineering grows with niche projects A Bosch Engineering vehicle dynamics software solution was developed for Bombardier Recreational Products’ new three-wheeler, the Can-Am Spyder roadster. Its steel frame in surrounding spar technology has a low number of welds and high structural integrity. The frame’s low weight and slender shape help to bring down the center of mass.
technology report aei-online.org aei DECEMBER 2008 45 of big OEMs mostly consists of adapting software of series products to the special needs of low-volume models. Ninety-five percent of our work is software and system configuration, he said. It is not surprising that the company’s share of software experts is between 40 and 50% of all employees or associates as the engineering specialist prefers to call them. Said Bihr Our only asset is people
Given the importance of project management and software development, the company has one process quality level for all work in place. We have CMMI maturity level 3, which is the result of a lot of effort,” he explained. A recent example of the company’s business is a vehicle dynamic control solution for Bombardier Recreational Products’ (BRP’s) new three-wheeled vehicle called the Can-Am Spyder roadster.
To make this powerful 79-kW (106-hp) vehicle safe for driving, Bosch Engineering adapted software modules from its ESC library to come up with a new software solution that meets the requirements of a threewheeler and helps to keep the vehicle from rolling over at high cornering speeds.
