Bosch India’s three pronged approach towards realising Industry 4.0
For Bosch India, its
manufacturing locations have come a long way from when it was set-up in the
early 50s. Today, the company’s associates on the shop floor receive data in
real time allowing them to take timely decisions. “With the largest R&D
presence outside of Germany, Bosch India is well prepared for the digital
transformation,” stated Dr. Wolf. The Group in India is pooling in the
resources of all its entities, such as Robert Bosch Engineering and Business
Solutions, the Group’s engineering and services company in India, Bosch Rexroth
India Pvt. Ltd. and the special machinery business unit to deliver on the needs
of connected industry.
Bosch has the advantage of
being able to quickly customise and adapt to the requirements of Industry 4.0
solutions. “Our target is to develop and implement these solutions in all of
our different entities. Bosch India’s strategy is three ponged- first, we want
to learn and transfer know how from our European counterparts, second we will
develop customized solutions for India. Finally, Bosch India aims to lead the
Industry 4.0 development globally and compete with the best in class,” he
further commented.
Industry 4.0 helps Bosch Chakan plant improve productivity
Bosch’s Chakan plant is a
member of the International Production Network (IPN) for the Anti-lock Braking
System (ABS) and the Electronic Stability Program (ESP). Each single machine
for the ABS line is connected, not only with each other, but also with other
ABS lines in the IPN. These lines are managed by a Manufacturing Execution
Systems (MES). The MES has an Andon system, some benefits of this system includes
quicker reaction to deviation in the manufacturing process, continuous
improvement and finally, online benchmarking with the rest of the global
manufacturing plants. Through this, Bosch’s Chakan plant has achieved a quality
level close to zero defects. Furthermore, it has also recorded very high
customer satisfaction apart from seeing significant increase in productivity.
In the near future, the plant will look to implement Industry 4.0 solutions for
preventive maintenance, energy management and even for the training of shop
floor machines will be conversing with machines, people will be able to talk to
machines and vice versa. It has brought about a highly individualized and
resource optimized mass production, taking associates along with the possibility
of linking factory systems to business applications.