Mihai Boldijar, Bosch: “Connected mobility solutions will be our main driver in ensuring business growth in 2022”

Last year, Bosch Group in Romania registered a double-digit growth in all business sectors.

“We continued our expansion with some notable projects. Firstly, we solidified our engineering presence in Cluj, by laying the foundation stone for our second engineering center in the city. This groundwork is our promise to develop the necessary infrastructure for new and complex projects that lay ahead of us. Nonetheless, this development represents a solid contribution to our global innovation leadership position. Furthermore, we opened the third production hall of our automotive electronics plant in Jucu, Cluj County. (…) After the inauguration in April 2021 of a photovoltaic panel system to produce its own green energy, the Bosch plant in Blaj is stepping forward towards a greener future by installing two charging stations for cars and electric bikes for its employees,” Mihai Boldijar, General Manager Bosch Romania, told The Diplomat-Bucharest.

COMMITMENT TO PERFORMANCE | BUSINESS EVOLUTION, PROJECTS, PERFORMANCE, FIGURES  

How would you describe the evolution of your company in 2021?

“Last year, Bosch Group in Romania registered a remarkable overall achievement with a solid double-digit growth in all business sectors powered by extraordinary people, full of energy, dedication and engagement despite strong headwind and uncertainties. In the swirl of the pandemic, this year again we managed once more to keep safety measures in place, while combining work-from-home with physical presence to keep business operations optimal. We have not sacrificed our employee’s creativity in any of the above work scenarios, because we know that creativity counts as much as discipline in achieving innovation. The double-digit growth represents an impressive achievement, especially in the current uncertain conditions. Keeping a business steady, on growth, requires a tremendous synchronicity with the teams across all locations and I believe that this is a highlight of 2021 for us, we do teamwork the right way.”

What were your company’s business achievements in 2021?

“In 2021, we continued our expansion with some notable projects. Firstly, we solidified our engineering presence in Cluj, by laying the foundation stone for our second engineering center in the city. This groundwork is our promise to develop the necessary infrastructure for new and complex projects that lay ahead of us. Nonetheless, this development represents a solid contribution to our global innovation leadership position. Furthermore, we opened the third production hall of our automotive electronics plant in Jucu, Cluj county. The new building, encompassing 34.500 sqm, is equipped with modern facilities in terms of production, training and learning, and recreation. This new investment of around 55 million euros creates a good framework to continue the implementation of Industry 4.0 solutions in combination with machine learning and artificial intelligence to manufacture very complex electronics here in Romania. The transition towards a climate neutral industry is running fast, and every year Bosch is putting its best efforts to achieve relevant results when it comes to sustainability. After the inauguration in April 2021 of a photovoltaic panel system to produce its own green energy, the Bosch plant in Blaj is stepping forward towards a greener future by installing two charging stations for cars and electric bikes for its employees.

Moreover, we had a very good performance of our sales divisions: Power Tools, Thermotechnology, Automotive Aftermarket and Energy and Building Technology, they all launched new products and performed very well, despite the difficult context and the global supply bottlenecks. Another strategic move we did was to expand Bosch Business Solutions (BSO) in Timisoara, present for 15 years on the local market, with a new strategic purchasing hub driving key supplier management and contract negotiations.

I am very proud to say that Bosch has been nominated among top three most desired employers in 2021 in Romania within the strategic groups. Thus, Bosch is the 1st preferred employer among engineers and business professionals in Cluj, 2nd among engineers and business professionals in Alba, Mures, Sibiu, and 3rd for business professionals in Timisoara and IT specialists in Cluj. Last but not least, I would like to highlight our strong and consistent social involvement in education, environment and communities. Our strategic partnerships with well-known universities, and collaborations with pre-university institutions is how we keep an ongoing exchange of talents and opportunities. Recently, our Engineering Center in Cluj together with the Babes-Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca launched a master’s program called “High performance computing and big data analysis”. In addition, the Bosch plant in Blaj launched Bosch Academy, a program in collaboration with the University of Târgu Mureș, offering students a wide perspective of the latest trends in the automotive industry. Another important liaison with the academical environment is through our long-term partnership between our plant in Cluj and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, where we fully equipped an Industry 4.0 laboratory to facilitate the training of qualified staff for the future of work. Furthermore, the dual school system in both Cluj and Blaj continues to gain interest. But we are not stopping here. Since we are a leader in technology and services, we are interested in expanding our educational programs in new areas, such as economics. In this respect, master’s students in the fields of finance, management, accounting, and computer science can join our “Controlling Academy” within our Bosch Service Solutions division in Timisoara.”

STRATEGY & VISION |  RETHINK STRATEGY & PRIORITIES

What challenges have you faced as a CEO/ leader during 2021?

“I believe that 2021 treated most of us in a similar way, with challenges and opportunities. We concentrated our efforts to overcome this period generated by the pandemic and the semiconductor crisis, stabilizing production, and business operations. From a managerial perspective, however, we are all indebted to show more support and empathy to our teams than would be necessary in so called normal times. We like to think that all our managers qualify as well for the leader title. Our open organizational culture has taught us about the power of open communication, empathy, and self-expression, as a catalyst of innovation. Therefore, I would sympathize with my colleagues, and say once again that one of the challenges a leader faces many times is to keep the strength of his/her attitude, to inspire his/her teams, explore innovations and ideas with their teams, regardless of the uncertainties of the situation around them.”

What priorities and business strategy focus do you have in 2022?

“Bosch has a sound financial basis for investing in strategically important fields and continuing its current course. It remains our objective to grow more strongly than the markets in the most important sectors and regions. Building on our last year’s strong results, we continue to invest heavily in ongoing research and development projects, while always being on the lookout for new opportunities. Sustainability is one of our main priorities as a leading global supplier of technology and services. Our focus on complete and connected mobility solutions, in terms of hardware and software, will continue to be our main driver in ensuring business growth in 2022. We are aware that no one can develop important projects by themselves, and in achieving this type of breakthrough, we are counting on the cooperation of our current and future partners.”

PEOPLE & COMMUNITY | FOCUS ON SAFETY, SOCIAL APPROACH, LEVERAGE THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

What initiatives & projects did the company  run in 2021 in CSR and social projects?

“I believe that one important lesson of the pandemic is that “this too shall pass”, however, the community remains. We are concentrating our efforts into the area of education and the environment, and this effort can bring results long term only through the power of our people and communities. With the establishment of Fundatia Bosch Romania, we will have a broader span of influence in projects that include education, society in general, environment, and community.”

KEEN ON GREEN  |  SUSTAINABLE, GREENER,  COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTALLY-FOCUS

What sustainability and green-driven initiatives & projects did the company  run in 2021?

“Sustainability is one of our main priorities for the company. Bosch is pressing ahead with its own climate action targets as planned and has reached a major milestone with the climate-neutral status of its more than 400 locations worldwide in spring 2020, including Romania. This has already been confirmed by independent testing. This way, Bosch becomes the first global industrial enterprise to achieve net zero carbon emissions for the energy it produces and the energy it sources externally. I hope this speaks for itself. Longer term, we are planning to cut 15 percent of CO2 throughout our value chain by 2030. In figures, this effort would mean a decrease of 67 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. We indeed believe that CO2-neutral mobility is possible, be it through electric driving, using electricity from renewable sources or through advanced internal-combustion engines with CO2-neutral fuels, like renewable synthetic fuels.

In Romania, Bosch has implemented various energy efficiency projects in its manufacturing units in Cluj and Blaj, such as energy consumption monitoring solutions, that enable a real-time energy monitoring and reporting, purchase of electricity 100 percent from renewable sources, and replacement of existing luminaires with LED technology. Another hallmark for our green project is the focus on electromobility. We started this initiative at Blaj, by launching two charging stations for electric vehicles for the use of our employees. It is a concrete step that I hope will call for many more in the future. This represents the direction we want to set in the industry, as pioneers in sustainable manufacturing in Romania.”

DIGITAL DNA  | GRASPING TECH, DIGITAL INNOVATION, CUSTOMER -DRIVEN, BUILDING NEW BRIDGES

What trends do you anticipate for this year?

“We are continuously working towards a connected world. The connected home and the connected car are top of mind. However, connectivity presents opportunities to services from all ranges. We work as well in connecting our systems with those outside our value chain, such as the Volkswagen partnership for automated driving. Bosch, as a technological pioneer, invested tremendously in microelectronics and electromobility in 2021, approximately 1 billion Eur. In 2022 we want to start reaping the benefits of our investment. We trust our R&D capabilities, and believe that innovation, AI and connectivity, along with intelligent climate-friendly solutions for health, living, industry and mobility, will be the new trends of the future. Our technology is invented “For Life”, and this is transforming people’s lives to their benefit. These trends are probable to be adopted by those interested in more conscious living standards, and this will hopefully impose a new healthier and friendlier norm across industries. In a nutshell, this year we will hear more often about developments in automated driving, semiconductors, connected mobility, electrification, and smart work.”

2021 IN  3 KEY WORDS

“Tough, volatile, successful”

2022 IN 3 KEY WORDS

“Challenges, opportunities, hope”