Bosch to continue expanding its operations in Romania

The Bosch Group is one of the biggest investors in Romania’s automotive industry, with both its manufacturing sites and engineering centre having seen steady development over the years. Business Review talked to Mihai Boldijar, the General Manager of Robert Bosch S.R.L. and the representative of the Bosch Group in Romania, Vice-president with regional responsibilities to get some insight into the company’s plans.

By Aurel Constantin

How has Bosch’s business in Romania developed up to this point?

Romania is a strategic market for the Bosch Group, which invested approximately EUR 700 million here between 2005 and 2021. Last year alone we made investments that reached EUR 83 million, mainly in the development of our production units in Cluj and Blaj. In parallel, we recorded encouraging financial results, which allowed us to continue with the business development process. The successful outcome was made possible by the extraordinary engagement and resilience of our associates, as together we’ve managed to overcome many major challenges.

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What are the main investments Bosch has made in Romania?

Bosch’s investments in Romania are considerable and they underline the Group’s commitment to this country. In 2021, we inaugurated a third production plant in Cluj, where we manufacture electrical control units. The Bosch Engineering Centre in Romania has started the construction of a new office building in Cluj-Napoca, which will be completed next year, following an investment of EUR 21 million. In addition, we’ve extended the Bosch Engineering Centre in Bucharest and we currently have more than 1,200 employees across all the sites of the engineering centre, out of a total of approximately 8,800 in Romania, all involved in state-of-the-art technology projects.

What measures have you taken to counterbalance the rise in prices for energy and raw materials?

The increased prices of raw materials and energy have affected the entire economy. We have implemented several energy efficiency projects within the Bosch units in Romania, including solutions for energy consumption monitoring, replacing old lighting with LED technology, using motion and brightness sensors, and installing solar panels. The annual average energy generated by this system is 8,252 MWh, enough to cover the needs of approximately 4,000 households. The savings are important and we are taking the first steps towards energy independence. The total investment in solar panels amounts to more than EUR 5 million, and the project in our plant in Cluj is among the biggest in the country considering the total power installed on the roof.

What are your plans for the near future?

We plan to continue our investment and development plans in 2023, as our commitment to Romania is very strong. At the moment, we have hundreds of open positions within our organisation and we want to expand our teams with professionals who adhere to the values of the Bosch Group. We also continue to support young people who are just starting out their careers with over 1,000 opportunities available for juniors, young graduates, and students. We will also continue our partnerships with the top universities in the country. Last but not least, there will be further development in our production units and engineering centre.

What are the top trends in the automotive industry and what is Bosch’s approach towards them?

There are several important development directions in the automotive industry, and I am happy to say that Bosch is one of the market leaders in terms of innovation. We are systematically adjusting our Mobility Solutions business segment to areas of future importance such as electromobility, automated driving, and future electronics architectures. At the Engineering Centre in Cluj, we are already working on a series of interesting projects, and in the future we intend to continue to grow in terms of the number of projects and our skills as well as take on more responsibility in several areas. For example, in Cluj we develop software for electric cars, such as control units for battery management or cloud-based services to increase battery life and performance. In addition, we continue to invest in AIoT solutions, which represent a combination of AI and IoT.