Robert Bosch

ROBERT BOSCH
*23 September 1861 in Albeck near Ulm; † 12 March 1942 in Stuttgart

The foundation stone of Robert Bosch's great career was the founding of his "Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering" in November 1886. The first production of a magneto ignition device for internal combustion engines, which he improved, attracted worldwide interest and he expanded abroad at an early stage.

In 1901/02 Gottlob Honold developed the high-voltage magneto ignition with spark plug on behalf of Robert Bosch. It solves Carl Benz's "problem of problems", namely the reliable ignition of high-speed engines, and thus makes Bosch an internationally successful company.

Global and social
Global thinking was a matter of course for him: as early as 1913, he was already generating around 88 percent of his sales abroad. In order not to become too dependent on the automotive sector, he diversifies into other industries - a principle that is still practised in the company today.

He explains the secret of his success as follows: "I don't pay good wages because I have a lot of money, but I have a lot of money because I pay good wages".