Bosch

Robert Bosch GmbH, more commonly known as Bosch, is a German multinational engineering and technology company based near Stuttgart in Germany. It was founded by Robert Bosch in 1886 as the 'Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering'. By 1897 Bosch had become the only supplier of a reliable ignition within the automobile industry. Its first factory was opened in Stuttgart in 1901 and from the early twentieth century Bosch became a leading automotive supplier. Bosch was transformed into a corporation in 1917.

Gradually, Bosch began manufacturing an increasing range of components for automobiles, including headlights, windscreen wipers and injection pumps for diesel. By 1932 the company had also developed its first power drill and car radio. As early as the end of 1933, negotiations between the company and the German National Socialist party bean on relocating parts of armaments production to the interior of Germany. Bosch founded two such alternative plants in 1935 and 1937, one near Berlin and another in Hildesheim. The factories were built under great secrecy and in close cooperation with the Nazi authorities and were used exclusively for armaments production. In 1937 Bosch became a limited liability company – GmbH in German.

By the last years of the war, no new German tank ever drove without the starter elements from the Bosch factory in Hildesheim. Bosch also had a monopoly position in the outfitting of German Luftwaffe aircraft. Over the course of the war, production of Bosch’s other goods was further decentralized, with the company relocating parts of its production to 213 plants in more than 100 locations.

In the post-war era, Bosch has established a number of partnerships, including with the Japanese company Denso. The company’s most well-known inventions include the oxygen sensor (1976), the electric motor control (1979), the traction control system (1986), the xenon light for cars (1991), the electronic stability control (1995), the common rail direct fuel injection (1997) and the direct fuel injection (2000).

Today Bosch's core operating areas are spread across four business sectors: mobility (hardware and software), consumer goods (including household appliances and power tools), industrial technology (including drive and control) and energy and building technology.