Bosch to open R&D hub in Thailand on gasoline system

Located at the Hemaraj Industrial Estate in Rayong where it has a fuel-injection plant, the R&D facility is scheduled to open by the middle of next year and is expected to attract 50 engineers by the end of this year.
Bosch said the engineers would come from diverse backgrounds, especially in the automotive and mechanical engineering fields. It will be the company’s first R&D facility in Thailand.
“Thailand is a strategic location for Bosch Group and is playing a key role in the growth of the Asean region,” said Joseph Ngo Hong, managing director of Robert Bosch Ltd (Thailand).
“The country is the largest automotive market [in Southeast Asia] and is an automotive hub in the Southeast Asia region thanks to its strategic location. Bosch already has a lot of investment capital in the country.”
With the investment of Bt1 billion, Bosch’s fuel-injection manufacturing facility in Thailand reflects the company’s confidence that Thailand will remain an automotive hub.
Bosch currently has seven fuel-injection factories worldwide including in China and Japan. The plant in Thailand will be capable of producing a million fuel-injector units every year, and is expected to generate more than 800 jobs by the end of 2017.
“With the new fuel-injector plant we are able to meet the increasing demand of our customers in the region. The plant will also provide great career opportunities for the local workforce,” Hong said.
Robert Bosch (Thailand) yesterday announced its business performance for last year. It had Bt10.8 billion in consolidated sales, 22 per cent higher than the previous year. The company has also projected double-digit growth for 2016.
The number of employees at Bosch in Thailand in 2015 was more than 1,100, a year-on-year increase of 12 per cent. This number is expected to increase in 2016 in line with its continued business expansion.
The production output of Thailand’s automotive industry increased slightly in 2015 from the previous year thanks to growth in exports, offsetting a decline in the local market.
Bosch’s mobility-solutions business in Thailand increased its sales revenue compared with the previous year, mainly driven by sales of its chassis systems division.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Bosch Group boosted its sales in 2015 to Bt730 billion, a 17-per-cent increase compared with 2014 (2.8 per cent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects). At 27 per cent of total Bosch sales revenue, the region’s share of sales remained at the high level of the previous year.