Late great engineers: Robert Bosch - automotive pioneer and social innovator

It only ran for half a column, but his obituary in the 13 March 1942 edition of the New York Times seemed to deserve more space than that. The article summarises the life and work of the “German Industrialist Who Had Branches All Over the World,” who made “Spark Plugs, Lamps and Horns” and “Started With Small Shop 50 Years Ago.” That industrialist was Robert Bosch, who founded the technology company that rose inexorably to become a household-name brand informally known by the mononym Bosch; whose career included the roles of innovator and engineer, entrepreneur and social visionary, a supporter of education and healthcare through charitable works. In the 21st century, the Bosch Group is a multibillion-euro global corporation that facilitates ‘connected living’ through IR4.0. Its mission statement reads simply: ‘We are Bosch’.

Bosch’s entanglement in Germany’s 20th century military-industrial complex has long cast a shadow over the reputation of a man who was a champion of the worker, and who believed in providing the “exemplary working conditions and a good work environment” that became the hallmarks of his company. With pioneering social views – Bosch introduced an eight-hour day in 1906 and advocated industrial arbitration and free trade – he also believed in the reciprocal relationship between a paternalistic organisation and its labour force. Explaining how his ‘associates’ (as he insisted on describing employees) were so comparatively well paid, Bosch once said: “I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money. I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.”