Products and Customers

The requirements of virtually all our customers have changed over the last few years. They focus more closely on environmental and climate protection, and make increasing use of global purchasing platforms.

Direct customer contact
In order to enhance our customer relationships in the automotive technology sector, we have further improved our support concept. The automotive manufacturers are assigned a contact person at executive management level who is directly responsible for their affairs. These Bosch partners are located close to their respective customers, thus enabling us to identify customer requirements and needs in the different regions more quickly and more effectively. In the area of manufacturing, we have set up lead plants whose extensive experience with specific product lines enables them to serve as worldwide competence centers. These lead plants are located close to our key accounts or to one of our 50 development centers.

We place great value on building a stable relationship with our customers based on trust. That is why for the last ten years we have been asking our customers in the Automotive Technology business sector how satisfied they are with us and with the quality of our products. The specially devised questionnaire is available in ten languages, with Chinese having been added in 2007. In the latest survey, 14 percent of responses came from the growth market China.

The results show that two-thirds of our customers are either satisfied or very satisfied with Bosch. There was particular praise for the way we conduct business relations, with the company’s representatives being rated as fair, professional, and friendly.

We also fared well with regards to technological expertise, corporate culture, and brand image. However, the survey also showed that there is room for improvement in some areas. Our customers are not happy with the long decision-making procedures still in place in some areas, and would like to see simpler processes and greater flexibility. As a result, we have identified areas for action and drawn up plans for appropriate measures under the supervision of our global key account managers.

Bosch household appliances, heating systems, and automotive technology offer great potential for saving energy and lowering CO2 emissions. However, all this amounts to nothing if customers do not use the products and technologies.

If, for example, all the old white goods in households throughout Europe were replaced by new, efficient ones, this would reduce CO2 emissions by around 22 million metric tons a year. That is equal to around six percent of the reduction to which Europe is committed according to the Kyoto Protocol. It’s a similar story for heating systems – replacing an old system with state-of-the-art technology cuts energy consumption by over 30 percent.

We watch closely the development of reporting requirement according to Article 33 of regulation (EG) No. 1907/2006 (REACH). Since publication of the list of candidates we work with high effort and close collaboration with our suppliers in order to get the required information.

If you have any further questions or need more detailed information, please contact the Department Health, Safety and Environmental Protection.