Who we are
About Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions (BAMS)
Founded in 1954, Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions (Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions) is a division of Bosch Australia & New Zealand, specialising in providing advanced manufacturing solutions.
Initially a well-kept secret within the Bosch Group, Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions played a pivotal role in the manufacturing success of Bosch in the Oceania region.
In 2013, Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions underwent a transformational expansion to extend its services to external customers, from Robotics and Automation for custom design and delivery of automated production equipment and lines to Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS), Manufacturing Consulting and Equipment Servicing. This move marked a significant shift, leveraging Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions' expertise to support broader manufacturing endeavours both domestically and internationally.
To further enhance its offerings, Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions invested $17 million in 2021 to establish a state-of-the-art Manufacturing Automation Centre in Clayton, Victoria. This unique facility serves as a hub for prototyping various projects, laying the groundwork for customers' diverse needs. Here, a team of over a hundred highly skilled engineers and support staff develop bespoke manufacturing lines and other innovative solutions, conducting rigorous testing and quality checks before setting them up at the customers' desired locations.
With a strong commitment to supporting Australia's economy and global manufacturing initiatives, Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions has empowered hundreds of businesses to realise their manufacturing aspirations, achieve greater efficiency, and reach their full potential.
Our values
Our values reflect the manner in which we run our business: our professional ethics in dealing with our business partners, investors, employees, and society.
Future and result focus
Our actions are result-focused. This allows us to secure our future. It also creates a sound basis for the social initiatives of the company and the foundation.
Responsibility and sustainability
We act prudently and responsibly for the benefit of society and the environment.
Initiative and determination
We act on our own initiative, take entrepreneurial responsibility, and pursue our goals with determination.
Openness and trust
We communicate important company matters in a timely and open fashion. This is the best foundation for a relationship built on trust.
Fairness
We deal fairly with our colleagues and business partners, and view this fairness as a cornerstone of our corporate success.
Reliability, credibility, legality
We promise only what we can deliver, accept agreements as binding, and respect and observe the law in all our business transactions.
Diversity
We appreciate and encourage diversity for the enrichment it brings, and see it as essential for our success.
In the long term, an honest and fair approach to doing business will always be the most profitable.
Our team
Our team at Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions is comprised of over 100 highly skilled engineers and support staff, dedicated to delivering innovative manufacturing solutions. With years of experience and continuous training, our team stays at the forefront of industry trends and technologies.
When you work with the team at Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions, you gain access to:
- Experienced professionals: Our team brings a wealth of expertise in automation, machine-building, engineering, and digitalization.
- Bosch’s global network: As part of the Bosch Group, our team can leverage the experts and resources from Bosch’s vast network of global centres of excellence.
- Proven track record: With Bosch being a former manufacturer in Australia ourselves, we understanding of the complexities and challenges faced by Australian manufacturers. We have delivered hundreds of successful projects for a wide range of clients, helping them to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance product quality.
Our Manufacturing Automation Centre
Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions is proud to introduce our state-of-the-art Manufacturing Automation Centre, established in 2021 with a $17-million investment. This cutting-edge facility serves as a hub for innovation and collaboration, providing a space for customers to witness firsthand the latest advancements in manufacturing technology.
At the Manufacturing Automation Centre, we offer a range of services, including:
- Product building, prototyping and testing: A 2,600-square-metre facility for developing and testing new manufacturing solutions in a controlled environment. From single machines to complete production lines, we can handle projects of any size and complexity.
- Technology demonstrations: Showcase the latest automation technologies and their potential applications.
- Customised solutions: Collaborate with our experts to develop tailored solutions for your specific needs.
- Training and support: Receive expert guidance and hands-on training to maximize the benefits of our solutions.
Visit our Manufacturing Automation Centre today to learn how we can help you drive innovation and achieve your manufacturing goals.
Bosch’s global centres of excellence
Bosch operates a vast network of over 270 locations worldwide, housing specialised teams of experts in various manufacturing and industrial fields. These centres of excellence offer a wealth of knowledge and resources, from advanced manufacturing technologies to data analytics and sustainability initiatives.
Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions frequently leverages the expertise of these centres to develop innovative solutions and address specific customer needs. Whether you're looking to optimise production processes, implement new technologies, or improve sustainability, Bosch's global network can provide the support and resources you need.
History of manufacturing at Bosch
From manual to mechanical
The evolution from the early years of building individual products by hand to today’s highly automated and connected approach to manufacturing constitutes a giant leap forward. Robert Bosch recognized at an early stage in the game that innovative manufacturing technology was the key to remaining competitive. As a result, the continuous improvement and linking of processes, machines, and equipment have long been part of the very fabric of the company.
A small automated guided vehicle (AGV) approaches a machine workstation to deliver parts for assembly. It rolls on to the next station, all while neatly avoiding a collision with a human colleague. The AGV stops and provides an associate and the collaborative robot right next to her with material. With all of the machines on the shop floor connected to each other wirelessly, the manufacturing unit was able to order the new supplies itself. All production and logistics data is available in real time. Thanks to flexible and compatible control software, adapting and adjusting products and processes in no time flat is a piece of cake.
Science fiction? No, a glance inside the Bosch lead plant for Industry 4.0 in Stuttgart-Feuerbach. Since November 2020, production has been underway using the company’s first 5G campus network. This local cellular network, which has been adapted to the demands of industrial communication, is another important component of Industry 4.0 that makes managing the entire manufacturing network in a more targeted manner even easier than before. In production, it fulfills key criteria by being economical, sustainable, technically flexible, and connected.
With caution and conviction
A little over 130 year ago, things looked a bit different at Robert Bosch’s Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. He and his associates experienced the ups and downs of everyday life at a small workshop for skilled trades. Bosch assigned his technicians and fitters their tasks at the start of the working day. The work was very diverse, with associates switching from simple precision-mechanical repairs in the workshop to complex electrical installations on site. If rush orders came in, it was not unknown for the boss to call associates working at a customer’s place of business back to the workshop – with colleagues sometimes having to return by express train. Robert Bosch even lent a hand nailing crates to ensure that the goods would be delivered on time.
From the very start, Robert Bosch placed great value on making sure his workshop was well equipped with machines and tools. He was a firm believer that proper equipment was essential to manufacturing high-quality products. The reliability and quality of the company’s first major success, the magneto ignition device for automobiles, would prove him right. The master craftsmen at the company made sure that special machines and equipment were built as needed in order to make production processes simpler, faster, and more efficient.
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After the changeover to assembly-line work: bicycle lamp production in Stuttgart, 1925 -
Ready to start production: manufacturing department at the new factory in Springfield, MA, USA, 1911
The early years of industrial technology at Bosch
As a result, industrial technology made its first inroads into the company’s portfolio in the years just after 1900. While most technicians still preferred to make products one at a time, the sharp rise in demand for magneto ignition systems made it difficult to manufacture large volumes of the devices using the customary methods. In 1922, plant manager Alfred Häcker had this to say about the production process: “The principle of dividing up labor and performing the individual stages of the manufacturing process on special machines is commonplace at our plants as well.”
The crisis in the car industry in the mid-1920s further intensified the need for an economical and rational approach to production. Bosch director Max Rall, who went to the United States to study the methods used there, was both fascinated and alarmed by the assembly-line production techniques in place at Ford, where staff worked at “breakneck speed …, throwing together 8,000 generators and 8,000 starters a day.”
In order to be successful in the international market, Bosch switched to assembly-line production, allowing it to save the necessary amount of time and money.
Rationalization and automation
The use of new, continuously improved machines and tailored work processes made it possible to consistently rationalize production. Industrial technology received a major boost as a result of the advancements in microelectronics from the late 1960s onward. Electronic control technology initially helped optimize large-scale production and brought industrial robots to the shop floor to perform tasks such as welding and coating. While robots were capable of providing support for arduous, repetitive tasks, it was their integration into the overall assembly and handling system that would prove decisive.
Production by hand would continue to dominate for some time to come, especially for the assembly of small and medium-sized production runs. But the times were changing. Product cycles grew shorter, reducing batch sizes altogether. High inventory levels became a cost risk, as did fluctuations in the utilization of production equipment. With 20 to 50 percent of a product’s manufacturing costs attributable to assembly, minimizing assembly costs was essential to securing the competitiveness of the company.
In 1980, Bosch unveiled its modular flexible assembly system. The program’s modules offered customers the greatest possible flexibility and covered the entire spectrum of assembly-related tasks. The modules could be combined with each other as needed, with transfer systems transporting workpieces over a network of conveyor belts and supply technology applications bringing missing parts to the assembly line. Ergonomically designed manual workstations were as much a part of the approach as programmable monoaxial and multiaxial robot units from the world of handling systems. Other hardware included standardized racks, workbenches, and other components, as well as electrical equipment and software solutions to manage the entire process and support customers along their journey from planning to operation.
Connected manufacturing technology
As a full-package solution, the flexible assembly system earned itself a place at many factories worldwide. Its adaptation to the variety of tasks involved with customer projects and production activities within Bosch contributed to the constant development and enhancement of the hardware and software modules. Early on, it became apparent that sharing and communication among the projects, people, and machines involved would be the decisive next step in the manufacturing technology development process. In 2011, the concept of an intelligent, connected factory led to the creation of the official term “Industry 4.0.” Since then, a lot has changed at Bosch. The APAS collaborative robot, for example, can work together with humans in production without the need for an additional safety enclosure. While the Active Shuttle transport system maintains the flow of materials, innovative software platforms such as Nexeed and ctrlX AUTOMATION are making processes even more integrative and flexible. To put it simply, Bosch’s factories are ready for the future of manufacturing.
Industry collaboration
At Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions, we advance manufacturing through strong partnerships. Our collaborative network connects us with key industry associations, universities, and research institutions who share our passion for innovation and growth. Together, we're building a more competitive and dynamic manufacturing landscape. We value our partnerships and are committed to expanding our network.
