Bosch Thin Metal Technologies is transforming from a company with only one product family in its portfolio (the push belt) to a development and production center for high tech thin metal components focused on the mobility market and the hydrogen economy.
In this rapidly evolving landscape of manufacturing, process- and product development, digitalization plays a pivotal role in enhancing time to market, efficiency, flexibility, transparency and overall performance. The current digitalization guidelines at Bosch Thin Metal company consists of several initiatives for the digital transformation during various milestones of our innovation roadmap.
These guidelines are in need of an update, due to the increasing complexity of our products and volatility of our markets.
The objective of this challenge is to investigate the existing digitalization guidelines, identify areas for improvement, and propose a set of optimized guidelines to support the digitalization at major milestones during product and process development.
The focus is not at defining the ‘True North’ of what a fully digitalized mature production plant would look like. It is more important to align the steps needed to reach this ‘True North’ with the milestones during a development project. Take into account that initially the maturity of the product or process is initially low and resources to develop and digitalize can be scarce. The effort to digitalize should match the maturity of the project and – equally important – should support and strengthen the product and process development (e.g. development which is more data driven instead of empirical)
Optimized digitalization guidelines will improve efficiency, reduce time-to-market, and enhance transparency, aligning Bosch Thin Metal Technologies' innovation strategy with its goals of sustainable, high-tech development.
Bosch Transmission Technology B.V. is a leader in the development and mass production of pushbelts for the continuously variable transmission (CVT). The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The competence center in Tilburg is supported by the second production site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The company is part of the Mobility Solutions business sector of the Bosch Group. The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 395,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2020). The company generated sales of 71.5 billion euros in 2020. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” Working at Bosch means that you will have the chance to improve quality of life all across the globe.