Interviews

Banhardt: After 23 years of working in the operational sector and having my perspective shaped by the economic outlook of three to five years, I have found the issues at corporate headquarters are now oriented more on the long term, especially when it comes to the environment, since the issues themselves are long running. Of all the plus points I have encountered, first and foremost are my exceptional co-workers and their valuable experience gathered over a period of many years. And we are able to utilize this experience to the best possible advantage for the Bosch Group. I would sum up by saying that environmental protection has become a key issue at Bosch since the first environmental guideline was introduced back in 1973. The Bosch Group will continue to shape health, safety, fire protection and especially environmental protection in the long term too. I am very optimistic about the issue.

Banhardt: We have set ourselves the target of introducing an ISO 14001-compliant environmental management system at every manufacturing site in 2007. How close we are to achieving this goal differs from region to region. We’ve already made great progress in the established regions of North America and Europe. However, in emerging countries such as China, there is still work to be done. Establishing this system in 2007 represents a huge challenge for our associates at plants in China. But we are on the right tracks and I believe that, on the whole, we will achieve our aims. I would like to add that the introduction of an environmental management system alone does not mean that environmental performance is satisfactory in all areas. Naturally, in order to achieve further improvements we need to establish action plans based on audit results.

Banhardt: We have targets involving internal value added and product-related targets. In terms of internal added value, we are focusing on adjusting our global guidelines to better suit the international interests of the divisions. We are also working even harder to raise energy efficiency and health and safety standards in the company. We want our divisions to be able to increase energy efficiency in manufacturing. Accordingly, we will be working to establish objectives that the divisions can then implement themselves. These include targets for electricity and water consumption. On the other side of the value added chain, we are working on incorporating all the requirements we are facing around the world into the product creation process of individual divisions. Making the ever increasing list of regulations from China, Korea, Japan, Europe and the U.S. easier to work with is a massive challenge for us in the corporate department for Health, Safety, Environmental and Fire Protection.

Banhardt: Regulators are particularly active in Japan, the U.S. and China. If you take for example the RoHS guideline or the End-of-Life vehicles directive, you can see the same regulations are also being introduced in countries such as China. However, it is important to note that only the names are the same. Regulations are put together differently in China than in Europe. In my opinion, the greatest challenge we will have to cope with, not just over the next five or ten years, but further into the future is ‘How to contain global warming’. There are a range of models that are well known in theory. From a business perspective, we need to ensure that international manufacturing processes and products are actively helping to combat climate change. It is our task in the corporate department for Health, Safety, Environmental and Fire Protection to support this process.

Banhardt: Since the 1970’s, Bosch has been working on the 3S program, which is helping us make vehicles safer, cleaner and more economical. This program has not lost any of its relevance, as the CO₂ issue proves. Bosch is helping all vehicle manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions irrespective of the limits enforced in individual countries. This approach demands constant innovation and major technological advancement across all vehicle classes. In the past, this process was mainly carried forward by large vehicles, but it later became established with smaller vehicles also. Bosch is working on several issues such as hybrid drives and biofuels in order that we can help safeguard the environment in all vehicle segments. The products Bosch supplies allow for a ten percent admixture. For special regions such as Brazil we have developed products that already support far greater percentages.

Banhardt: We will continue to intensify stakeholder dialogue. But we must implement this dialogue in every country where we are active. It is especially important to us to collect together input gleaned from stakeholders and then implement it in the company. Internally, we are already looking at ideas and plans for intensifying this dialogue. It is absolutely clear that we will also implement other activities beyond econsense, but not just any and all activities as that would also be beyond our means. When expanding this dialogue, we will focus on North America, India and China, as well as on Europe.

Banhardt: Some of our divisions are directly involved in the market, and they too are proactively pushing this issue. As well as solar collectors in the thermotechnology sector, we offer other products that are helping increase energy efficiency. For example our condensing boilers and household appliances in particular. This is not a recent development either, we have been doing a great deal for a long time, we just haven’t always shouted about it.

Bosch Rexroth industrial technology has given us outstanding products that are being used to harness wind power. However, as in the automotive sector, we tend to play a low-key role here too. Although we don’t produce the windmills ourselves, we do manufacture key components that help make them efficient, such as gearing mechanisms. We are proud to be active in this sector and have decided to expand this area of business. In the Power Tools division we intend to improve on current standards of recyclability with our new products. We are now using a lithium-ion battery technology that is both recyclable and increases energy efficiency.

Hans-Jochen Banhardt,
Head of the corporate department Health, Safety, Environmental and Fire Protection at Robert Bosch GmbH