Bosch Group will unload its packaging equipment business

Robert Bosch Packaging Technology GmbH, a unit of the Bosch Group, will be spun out from the 132-year-old company, which cites the unit’s distance from core business directions as one of the reasons for the change. Packaging is not a big part of Bosch, a globally known brand in automotive technology, building and energy systems and selected consumer goods: Bosch has 402,000 employees in 60 countries; Bosch Packaging employs 6,100 in 19 countries. Neverthelesss, Bosch Packaging is a leader in pharma packaging; it demo’d a serialization system at this year’s Interphex meeting (New York, April 17-19), as well as cartooning and case-packing equipment central to serialization-capable supply chains.

Bosch Packaging “is involved in project business relating to specialized areas of the packaging industry,” said the company’s announcement. “The company also operates in a competitive environment in which the players are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and who are therefore at a structural advantage. Bosch is certain that its packaging technology operations need to be put on a different footing that will allow them to react more flexibly to the specific requirements of the packaging machinery market.”