How Bosch is saving resources around the world #Sustainability

Sustainability is for us more then a BuzzWord. We have put sustainability at the forefront of our daily operations. By collecting rainwater, efficiently refueling trucks, and generating electricity, Bosch locations around the world have developed creative approaches to protect the environment.

Cleaning robots in action

Since the beginning of the year, a cleaning robot that is being tested by the Global Real Estate unit has been making its rounds at the Blaichach location and attracting the attention of associates. It cleans large areas independently, with a focus on environmental protection. The robot is equipped with a water filtration system, runs for up to six hours on one tank of water, and reduces water consumption by 150 liters per cleaning cycle compared to the previous cleaning method, helping it save 42,000 liters per year

Water from the deep

Hallein has always had a lot going on underground. After all, it is home to one of the world’s oldest salt mines, which was active until 1986. These days, the Bosch location in Hallein uses groundwater pumps and heat exchangers to generate energy for processes and production facilities, thereby conserving resources. The current status of the retrofit allows the location to save around 2 gigawatt hours of energy a year, which is equivalent to a reduction in electrical energy requirements of around 10 percent.

An end to single-use

Since 2022, the Bosch Braking Systems Plant in Bursa, Turkey, has been reusing pallets to deliver components for brake systems. The location mainly ships its goods to Bosch warehouses in Europe. Not only does this new process protect the environment, it also saves costs. The plant avoided 4.2 metric tons of waste in 2022. This year, that number is set to be 14 metric tons, helping to cut packaging costs also.

Precious rainwater

The Bosch plant in #Aguascalientes, #Mexico, is situated in a very arid region. That is why the location has been working since 2020 to save as much precious water as possible. For instance, rainwater is collected in basins and reused, meaning less tap water is needed. In 2022, the plant saved 2.16 million liters of water, the equivalent of around 14,000 bathtubs. This year, the people in charge of the project expect to collect as much as 3.6 million liters of rainwater.

Reuse instead of disposal

The Homburg manufacturing plant has been changing the way it deals with defective small load carriers for over two years. These are no longer just sent to an external service provider for recycling, who sells the recovered granulate. Instead, the granulate is also used to manufacture new injection-molded trays for Bosch - the long-term goal is to close the cycle. Since the project was launched in 2021, more than 2,000 of these IPN trays have been in use in the Rail business unit at the company’s own manufacturing facilities, at external suppliers, and at the sister plant in #Jihlava in the Czech Republic.

Electricity from the roof

There is no shortage of sunshine in Brazil. In Campinas and Curitiba, it is now being used to generate renewable energy. Overall, the photovoltaic systems installed on the rooftops of the plants cover an area equivalent to the size of a soccer pitch and have generated more than 2,200 megawatt hours of electricity since 2018 – enough to supply more than 880 Brazilian citizens on average with energy for a year.* Photovoltaic systems like these enable Bosch to save 200,000 euros a year in energy costs across South America.

*Source: world data

Innovative fuel

Since October 2023, at Bosch’s request, two logistics service providers (LSPs) have been replacing fossil fuels with renewable fuels to power their trucks on specific routes in Portugal and Spain. These LSPs are using the diesel substitute fuel, HVO100 (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), which is produced from sustainable sources, such as waste cooking oil and residual fats, and maintains the performance in terms of load capacity and distance travelled. This new fuel represents a reduction of up to 90 percent in CO2 emissions. At the moment, three trucks are being piloted in Portugal for the period of one year, and two are being piloted in Spain for six months.

Natural cooling

A riad – an enclosed courtyard featuring a fountain and a wall of plants – is the heart of Bosch’s new Moroccan corporate headquarters in Casablanca. The riad keeps the air fresh and helps to cool the entire building. During the construction of the building, comprehensive analyses were also carried out to determine the ideal conditions for the workspaces. For example, untreated clay was chosen as the material to insulate the facade. The temperature in the rooms is regulated using automation systems.

Test station at the touch of a button

At the Vienna location in Austria, experts test the software of control units on computers. Since April, the servers and computers have no longer been in constant operation, but can be activated by software on demand. The hardware is booked through a platform – it is booted automatically at the start of the booking period and switched off again after the test has been completed. As a result, the test rooms require 85 percent less electricity than previously. This solution can be applied in other test rooms around the world as well.

Award-winning efficiency

In December 2021, the plant in Suzhou was presented with the “National Green Factory Award” by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China. This award is bestowed on plants that have achieved high standard of green production and energy efficiency. With comprehensive energy saving measures, energy consumption per unit output value of the plant in Suzhou remains a decrease trend. The plant is equipped with an intelligent system that monitors the energy consumption of equipment such as air conditioning systems in real time and automatically adjusts the settings to make them more energy-efficient.