In the period of just over 14 years that it has existed in Serbia, company Robert Bosch d.o.o. has continuously increased its investment in manufacturing and development, but also its number of employees. In a short period, this company has managed to secure 4th place on the list of the country’s top exporters
According to General Manager Jovanka Jovanović, the company’s planned new investment cycle will include investment in production, the development of competence centres for the Automotive and Power Tools divisions, as well as the development of IT projects and software applications over the next ten years.
Your factory in the municipality of Pećinci has been recording constant growth in investment and production levels, as well as the number of employees, while you are surely climbing the list of the country’s largest exporters. What are your plans for further development?
– We are very satisfied that Bosch Group’s revenues in Serbia exceeded 260 million euros in 2018, representing growth of 20 per cent and ranking us 4th among Serbia’s 15 largest exporters.
Around 70 million euros have been invested in development to date, with the largest investment in production in the automotive industry. An additional investment of around €30 million is planned by year’s end 2019, which exceeds the level of investment originally planned.
The second phase began in mid-2018, with the construction of another 15,000m2 production facility, a new canteen and a new development centre.
We now have 37,000m2 of production capacity, and the new facility will produce motors for wiper systems, including the latest fourth generation.
With the impacts of climate change increasingly evident, Bosch has set ambitious targets for CO2 emissions. Some are linked to next year, some to 2030. Could you tell us more about that?
– Bosch will be the first CO2 neutral industrial company to reach this ambitious goal by 2020. We are proud that the company has also set the same goal for all regional organisations. The company will use four major drivers to ensure that all 400 Bosch locations worldwide are CO2 neutral by 2020: increasing energy efficiency, increasing the proportion of renewables in its energy supply, buying in more green power, and offset unavoidable carbon emissions. This way, we will avoid 3.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2020.
We will invest a billion euros in realising this goal by 2030. In Serbia, we’re working to purchase energy exclusively from renewable sources or to buy carbon credits in the case that opportunities exist.
The main drivers of your growth and development are innovation, which has led to us growing accustomed to your company continually providing us with new smart products and solutions. Are there enough IT experts in Serbia for your departments dealing with software development?
– Bosch has connected more than 10 million devices using the Internet of Things (IoT) over the last 10 years, which is convincing proof that Bosch is a leader in connecting the physical and virtual worlds. We are witnessing the exceptionally fast development of the IT sector in Serbia, which ensures that demand for IT experts is higher than the availability.
Bosch faces the same challenges in Serbia, which we address – among other things – by providing training for employees. Last year around 65 per cent of employees attended training courses, representing an investment of €840,000, of which 55 per cent was invested in training related to digitalisation and software development.
Programmers in Belgrade are working on solutions for e-commerce, e-services and mobile applications for precision measuring tools. They are also developing software solutions for the future mobility of users related to improving security and efficiency, the greater integration of mobile devices with vehicles, as well as voice-based solutions for interactions between driver and vehicle.
Working on technologically challenging projects in inspiring conditions is a long-term benefit of our associates employed within Robert Bosch d.o.o.