In a far reaching strategic initiative, RBEI will share global responsibility for powertrain electronics development, together with the Diesel and Gasoline Systems – Electronic Controls (DGSEC) business unit, within the automotive division of the Bosch Group. RBEI will now take on complete worldwide responsibility for additional customers, markets and projects in powertrain electronics development. This move will catapult RBEI engineers on par with the global best; it will see local engineers leading and directing global teams, beyond the current BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China).
Vijay Ratnaparkhe, Managing Director, Robert Bosch Engineering and
Business Solutions said,”Our increased responsibility in high-end technology is a reward for the excellent engineers we have, as well as our robust HR systems that facilitate them to achieve their best. Our engineers are groomed to take on the mantle of global development leaders with a strong future orientation.”
He added, “We will now need to further ramp-up our global project management team to manage complex global projects. It is possible only because of the strong technical and project management career paths established at RBEI, in addition to line functions.”
“There has always been interdependence among regions in development of products. But this is the first time that an organization will be considered as a ‘global cluster’ in powertrain electronics technology,” said Dr. Walter Grote, Executive Vice President and Business Unit Head, Diesel Gasoline Systems – Electronic Controls.
“It reflects our faith in the ability of RBEI to lead development of high-technology products”, he added. This will be the first global centre of DGS-EC outside of Germany, where the Bosch group is headquartered. Till now RBEI has been an ‘extended workbench’ for global customers and also a development centre for powertrain electronics for customers in the BRIC countries.
RBEI is currently involved in software and hardware development of electronic controllers used for automotive powertrain electronics management. From now on, RBEI engineers will also directly liaise with customers across the world for their requirements, with complete responsibility for the entire product development lifecycle - from conceptualization, design and development of powertrain electronics hardware and software, to validation, field support and manufacturing ramp up. Already the largest offshore development centre in the automotive industry in India, RBEI will see substantial growth and investments in engineering capability in the coming years. To meet this challenge, RBEI will be recruiting over 800 engineers in the powertrain electronics domain over the next two years.
The infrastructure investment trend will also continue. In the last 18 months, RBEI invested in specialised engineering facilities – the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) reliability testing lab and the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)/ Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) test facilities at Bangalore and Coimbatore. Additional investment to the tune of Rs. 300 crore is scheduled over the next two years.
R.K. Shenoy, Senior Vice President, Powertrain Electronic Systems - Software and Hardware, will be part of the global leadership team at DGSEC. He stated, “Being part of this global leadership team in Germany is a great opportunity to contribute to the strategy development for powertrain electronics development at Bosch. I am proud to be the first to do so from India.”
In the future, RBEI’s collaboration with other Bosch units worldwide is expected to further strengthen to handle the global challenges facing the automotive industry, such as reduction of CO2 emissions, and the electrification of powertrain electronics.