Thailand’s automotive market is booming: in 2016, nearly two million cars were manufactured there, significantly more than in the U.K. or Italy. Bosch is responding to this rising demand.
“We continue to focus on sustainable growth in Southeast Asia” said Peter Tyroller, the member of the Bosch board of management responsible for Asia Pacific
A booming automotive market
Following a one-and-a-half-year construction phase, the company is opening a new plant for injection technology in Hemaraj, 130 kilometers east of Thailand’s capital Bangkok. It is the first smart factory in Thailand, and the second Bosch Mobility Solutions plant there.
Expansion of the company’s manufacturing expertise in Southeast Asia
- 80 million euros invested in a second Bosch Mobility Solutions plant in Thailand
- 60 million euros to be spent on expanding pushbelt manufacturing in Vietnam
- Peter Tyroller, the member of the Bosch board of management responsible for Asia Pacific: “We continue to focus on sustainable growth in Southeast Asia”
- Thailand and Vietnam driving growth for Bosch in Southeast Asia
Bosch is represented in Thailand by four entities generating sales of 10.8 billion baht (285 million euros) in fiscal 2015. Bosch automotive spare parts, power tools, security systems, thermotechnology, drive and control technology and packaging technology are distributed in Thailand by Robert Bosch Limited. Automotive machinery and service of hydraulic equipment and machinery are in the Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate in Chonburi.
BSH Home Appliances Limited sell and service home appliances in Thailand. Bosch’s workforce in Thailand stood at 1,145 employees in 2015.
The new location in Hemaraj also includes a research and development center, where some 60 associates work on the further development of gasoline injection systems.
“It is our first R&D center in the country, and we are especially proud of this,” Tyroller says. He adds that the country of 68 million inhabitants is a gateway to Southeast Asia as a business location, which underscores Thailand’s strategic importance for the Bosch Group in Southeast Asia and worldwide.
By 2020, it is planned to create 800 new jobs in total in Hemaraj – 300 associates are already employed there. A booming automotive market: Bosch opens first smart factory in Thailand – Automotive World