Bosch to double capital in auto component plant

Germany’s Bosch on Friday announced that it will double investment in its auto components plant known as the gasoline systems factory in the southern province of Dong Nai from $73 million to $132.6 million by 2015.

At the gala dinner in HCMC to mark the 125th birthday of the Bosch Group, Vo Quang Hue, managing director of Robert Bosch Vietnam Co., Ltd, said that the group decided to spur investment to capitalise on the rising demand.

“We are very excited about this additional investment in Vietnam. With the rapid rise in demand for push belt production by the automotive industry, we are confident that the increased investment will enhance our share in the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) market,” he said.

The gasoline systems manufacturing plant produces push belts used for CVT products in automobiles. Situated at Long Thanh Industrial Zone in the province and spanning over a land area of 160,000 square meters, the plant officially opened in the middle of April this year.

The plant will produce up to 1.6 million push belts this year, which can be fitted into vehicles ranging from sub-compact cars to sports utility vehicles with gasoline or hybrid engines.

With the increased investment, production volume of the plant will be double from 1.6 million to 3.2 million push belts per year, Hue said.

“We expect our production volume to double to about 3.2 million units by 2015 to support the growth of the automobile industry. That’s why we decided to increase our investment to expand the current facility.”

“We will also be investing in new state-of-the-art equipment to further enhance the quality of the push belts produced and we will be able to build our own components for push belt assembly,” said Ryosuke Masumitsu, who succeeded Reinhard Kink as the new plant manager of the Gasoline Systems plant on 1 July 2011.

Kink added that “Vietnam will be our key manufacturing site in Asia for the production of CVT belts for the thriving Asian automotive market.”

With more than 300 associates, the plant is currently the first hi-tech CVT push-belt production site for Bosch in Southeast Asia, and the second of its kind for Bosch worldwide after Tilburg in the Netherlands. The increased investment sees Bosch deepening its commitment to further strengthen its operations in Vietnam, Hue added.

Over the past few years, Vietnam has rapidly emerged as a manufacturing and R&D hub for Bosch in Southeast Asia. Besides the Gasoline Systems plant, in May this year the company also inaugurated its Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, its first software and engineering center in Southeast Asia. Located in E-town 2 building, HCMC, the new center currently employs some 70 engineers and targets to hire some 500 engineers by 2015.

The Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Vietnam Company Limited (RBVH) offers hi-tech software and engineering solutions such as embedded software and mechanical design, as well as IT and IT enabled services. – SGT

Tags: Bosch, Vietnam automotive, Vietnam automotive industry, Vietnam autos market