With the opening of a new plant in Querétaro, Mexico, Bosch Rexroth said it is creating more manufacturing capacity for the growth markets of mobile hydraulics and factory automation in North America and shortening delivery routes.
The Lohr a. Main-based company is investing about 160 million euros in the new location and will create about 900 jobs by 2027. The aim is to strengthen local production for the North American factory automation and hydraulics market and thus be able to serve customers even better and more efficiently in the future.
At its 42,000-square-meter plant in Querétaro, Bosch Rexroth began manufacturing hydraulic pumps, motors, and valves for mobile machinery such as excavators, forklifts, and tractors in June. The company is preparing the ramp-up of hydraulic components and products of linear motion technology.
Additional products will be manufactured there for mobile machinery (transmission units, radial piston motors) as well as linear motion technology products (rails, runner blocks) for applications in mechanical and plant engineering as well as factory automation. Overall, industry specialists expect strong growth for mobile machinery and for the factory automation market, especially in North America.
Bosch bolstering production resiliency with Mexico plant
Together with the Bosch Rexroth production sites in Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), Charlotte (North Carolina), Fountain Inn (South Carolina) and Lincolnshire (Illinois) in the United States, which have been existing for decades, the new plant in Querétaro will serve the market with hydraulic and factory automation solutions in a much faster and stable way. In Fountain Inn, Bosch Rexroth is expanding its services to include prototyping, customizing, re-manufacturing, and aftermarket service and spare parts.
“With its local-for-local strategy, Bosch Rexroth increases the capacity, flexibility and robustness of supply chains, reduces the CO2 footprint by regionally manufactured products and achieves shorter delivery times,” emphasized Reinhard Schaefer, member of the management board of Bosch Rexroth with responsibility for manufacturing and quality. In addition to its existing supplier base in North America, Bosch Rexroth relies on a stable and further growing supplier network in Mexico, for example for castings, machining, steel, drive shafts or cylinders.
“With our growing production capacity in this region, we can react even faster than before to customer requirements and meet the growing demand for components and solutions, in particular for agricultural and construction machinery and OEM machine builders in North America,” added Christoph Kleu, senior vice president of finance and administration of Bosch Rexroth in North America. “Our customers in North America will continue to order from their regional contact at Bosch Rexroth, but they will have more options for transport and delivery.”
Bosch Rexroth has been present in North America since 1967 and employs more than 3,500 associates at five production sites and numerous sales and service locations. The new plant in Mexico complements the activities at the established sites.