Bosch honors top suppliers

Stuttgart – The Bosch Group has recognized 44 suppliers from 11 countries with the Bosch Global Supplier Award. This marks the fifteenth time the supplier of technology and services has honored outstanding performance in the manufacture and supply of products or services – notably in the areas of quality, costs, innovation, and logistics. Bosch presented the coveted awards before an audience of some 100 representatives of the supply industry. The theme of this year’s award ceremony was “Partners in success.” Dr. Volkmar Denner, the chairman of the Bosch board of management, emphasized the special role of the increasingly interlinked cooperation between Bosch and its suppliers: “In the connected world, partnerships are becoming more and more important. Hierarchical value chains are turning into value-added networks. With our open platform technologies, we are in an ideal position to seize the opportunities offered by digitalization in our partner networks; for example, exchanging Industry 4.0 data using the Production Performance Management Protocol.”

In the connected world, partnerships are becoming more and more important. Hierarchical value chains are turning into value-added networks. With our open platform technologies, we are in an ideal position to seize the opportunities offered by digitalization in our partner networks; for example, exchanging Industry 4.0 data using the Production Performance Management Protocol.

Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management

Transformation affects entire value chains

“Our goal is to achieve supply chain excellence, which requires maintaining the highest quality standards. In the future, we must react even more quickly and flexibly to the demands of the market and of our customers. This will work only when all partners are intelligently connected with one another, working closely together with the aid of automated processes,” said Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, the deputy chairman of the Bosch board of management and in charge of purchasing and logistics. In preparation for the impending shift, Bosch continues to invest heavily in new technologies and markets, to drive innovative purchasing and logistics strategies forward, and to train its associates for this new world.

Suppliers’ software expertise increasingly important

As an innovation leader, Bosch is shaping and actively driving transformation on the internet of things. “By 2020, all Bosch’s new electronic products will be connected. This means that our demand for software will also be constantly on the rise. By 2023, we expect to triple our software purchasing volume to over three billion euros,” Denner said. The Bosch CEO is convinced that the company’s suppliers will also find it increasingly important to develop their organizational structures for the internet of things, a move that will primarily involve expanding their software-related expertise. Denner believes that companies’ sharing of ideas and knowledge is a key success factor: “We have to work together to further expand our existing business in connected products and Industry 4.0. Indeed, this is the only way to stay competitive over the long term.”

A tradition of international partnerships

Bosch has been working with many of its partners for decades. In fact, for three of the award winners, this is the eighth time they have been so honored. More than half the awardees are headquartered outside Germany, and just about one-third of those are located in Asia. Dr. Karl Nowak, the president of the Bosch corporate sector for purchasing and logistics, said, “Bosch’s success is based in no small part on competitiveness, innovative strength, and agility – qualities we can achieve only with fruitful international partnerships.” Bosch conferred awards in a total of six categories: innovation, raw materials and components, electronics and electromechanics, mechanics, resale goods, and purchasing of indirect materials.

Suppliers play a key role in innovation

Bosch’s suppliers have long been more than mere deliverers of parts and components: they are also partners in development and innovation who help Bosch stay competitive. Currently, the Bosch Group’s purchasing and logistics volume amounts to some 60 percent of its total sales. Most of the purchases are of electronic and mechanical components, but Bosch also buys resale goods, software, services, capital goods, and operating equipment.

A list of all the award winners can be found here.