As a leading supplier and user of Industry 4.0, Bosch provides everything for connected manufacturing, and serves the entire supplier network. In addition, Bosch provides retrofit solutions such as the IoT gateway, which – through a combination of advanced sensors, software, hardware and IoT-compatible industrial control systems – enables machines predating the latest industrial revolution to be connected to the network and their parameters to be precisely monitored and optimized. By 2020, Bosch expects Industry 4.0 solutions to deliver more than a billion euros in extra turnover and a further billion in savings.
Old equipment in a new guise
With its IoT gateway, Bosch is giving operators of old equipment the chance to invest in connected industry solutions with a payback time as short as 18 months. In the Bosch plant in Homburg, for example, engineers have set up an internet connection for test bench that has been in use since 2007, by application of the IoT gateway’s plug-and-play system. With new oil quality sensors, they are able to determine the time to change the oil more precisely than before, saving time and money – and benefiting the environment.
In an extraordinary experiment with the IoT gateway, engineers catapulted Robert Bosch’s 130 year-old “Industry 1.0” lathe straight into the Industry 4.0 age. Process-control sensors measured a range of parameters, including the angular velocity of the workpiece. Too high or too low cutting speed can reduce the quality of the metal being machined and can damage the tool. The setup also detects gradual changes in the belt drive of the internet-connected lathe. The combination of sensors, gateway and software prevented the decommissioning of what was by then an Industry 4.0-compatible machine, and greatly increased its productivity.
Billion-euro market
Much of the equipment used in industry and commerce today is still not connected to Industry 4.0 systems. One reason is the lack of appropriate sensors, software and access to companies’ IT systems. These are machines that do not meet the basic requirements of connected industry, and there are several tens of millions of them in Germany alone. There is enormous potential in retrofit solutions that can be customized to individual machines and devices, and on a world scale, the market could be worth billions. To remain in business in the long term, no company can afford not to use connected equipment.
Neither does the IoT gateway demand complex programming. All you need is to configure the connection via a browser, and then it can go live very quickly. With this technology, Bosch provides an excellent example of how operators can connect old manufacturing equipment to the internet and monitor their operation in real time, measuring parameters – in addition to the ones we have seen – such as temperature, pressure, vibration, power consumption or oil quality.
Mónika Hack
+36 70 510 5516
Bosch has been present in Hungary since 1898 with its products. The company is this year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of its first Hungarian operation. After its re-establishment as a regional trading company in 1991, Bosch has grown into one of Hungary’s largest foreign industrial employers with currently nine Hungarian subsidiaries. In fiscal 2016 it had a total turnover of HUF 1149 billion and sales of the Bosch Group on the Hungarian market – not counting trade among its own companies – was HUF 238 billion. The Bosch Group in Hungary employs more than 14,200 people (as per January 1, 2017). Figures of fiscal 2017 for the Bosch Group in Hungary will be available from May 31, 2018. In addition to its manufacturing, commercial and development business, Bosch has a network of sales and service operations that covers the entire country.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 400,500 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2017). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 78 billion euros in 2017. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility, and connected industry. 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 create solutions for a connected life, and to improve quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiaries and regional companies in 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 125 locations across the globe, Bosch employs 62,500 associates in research and development.
Additional information is available online atwww.bosch.hu, www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPresse