Bosch wants to get out of packaging

Bosch is looking for a buyer for the food and pharmaceuticals units of the packaging machinery business (PA), part of its Packaging Technology division.

Bosch’s packaging machinery business is involved in specialised areas of the packaging industry. In this competitive environment the players are small and medium-sized enterprises that have a structural advantage enabling them to respond more flexibly to market requirements compared to the much larger Bosch.

Bosch’s special-purpose machinery manufacturer Robert Bosch Manufacturing Solutions GmbH is a separate entity, and it will remain part of the Bosch Group.

“This decision [to sell its packaging machinery business] will allow Bosch to narrow its focus on issues of importance for its future, such as the transformation of the Bosch Group and its future digitalisation strategy, including the Internet of Things, and to pool its resources accordingly,” said Dr Stefan Hartung, the Bosch board of management member responsible for the Energy and Building Technology and Industrial Technology business sectors.

“A reorganised packaging technology business will be able to adapt more flexibly to the diverse requirements of this typically SME market, while Bosch will be free to focus its attention entirely on the group’s impending profound transformation,” Hartung added.

PA currently employs some 6100 associates in its global packaging technology operations. Its aim is for all its associates and locations to be retained by the eventual buyer. Associates and employee representatives have been informed of the decision and will be kept continuously up to date about the course of the divestment process.