Germany's Bosch May Move French Capacity To Hungary

The paper said the closure-slated Beauvais factory, which currently employs 240 people, would be moved to Hungary. The company said earlier that it would withdraw from the plant gradually from end-May until the end of 2009. It also decided to invest EUR 100 million by 2013 in specialising its four other French sites producing braking systems.

According to the French paper, management of Bosch turned down a proposal by the Beauvais unit, under which the factory's employees would have been willing to work in the next two years without any raise if Bosch guaranteed not to close the plant.

The union leaders were not surprised by the management's decision, since the union asked for a capacity boost, while Bosch planned exactly the opposite.

Bosch has not yet made it public whether it would move its capacities from the Beauvais plant to Hungary or Spain, Világgazdaság added. 

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, some 271,000 associates generated sales of EUR 46.3 billion in fiscal 2007. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its more than 300 subsidiaries and regional companies in roughly 50 countries.

In Hungary, Bosch has five subsidiaries, with a 7,000-strong staff and combined revenues of EUR 191 m in 2006. Robert Bosch Kft. deals in development and markets goods in Hungary and the former states of Yugoslavia. Bosch has four manufacturing units in Hungary, in Eger, Hatvan, Kecskemét and Miskolc.

This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Each year, Bosch spends more than EUR 3 billion for research and development, and applies for over 3,000 patents worldwide. The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering."

Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal