Bosch, a leading supplier of technology and services, officially opened its fourth business hub in the Philippines. Located in Gusa, Cagayan de Oro (CDO), this facility is the company’s second business hubin Mindanao and its third outside of Manila.
The CDO business hub enables Bosch to increase its proximity to its customers by providing showroom areas, training, sales, and after-sales support for Bosch products and solutions across every Bosch division present in the Philippines namely, Power Tools, Automotive Aftermarket, Security Systems, Thermotechnology, and Drive & Control.
“We are excited to be in CDO at this particular time when the city needs partners that can support them in their vision to transform Mindanao into an economic powerhouse within the Philippines,” said Martin Hayes, Bosch Southeast Asia President. “Our presence in CDO enables us to take active participation in the exciting growth opportunities in this region.”
With a population nearing 700,000 in CDO,the demand for motor vehicles in this region has risen steadily alongside an ongoing property development boom. The Automotive Aftermarket division will help ensure the road-worthiness of vehicles plying the roads of CDO, while the Power Tools division provides the construction equipment and the Security Systems division ensures safety of premises through fire, intrusion, and surveillance systems.
In terms of the progressiveness of local government, CDO ranked seventhout of 1,300 local government units (LGUs) across the Philippinesin the annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Indexin 2016. In the same survey, CDO placed fourteenth in Economic Dynamism, sixth in Government Efficiency, and tenth in Infrastructure.
In recent years, CDO has emerged as a bustling commercial center marked by the entry of several BPO companies, auto dealerships, residential and hotel properties, malls, and lifestyle brands.However, it is the region’s vibrant agricultural and industrial sector that serves as the hallmark of CDO’s contribution to the national economic development agenda.
Commencing operations in 2015, the Drive and Control business divisionwill benefit the industrial segment in CDO through itshydraulic and factory automation technologies.Innovations from this business division can help improve the production efficiency of food processing plants, as well asheavy industries such as steel manufacturing, biofuel, and sugar milling.
The opening of the CDO business hub is part of Bosch’s efforts to expand its footprint in the Philippines.
“Our objective is to establish closer proximity to customers, and thisis exactly what we achieved after we opened our business hubs in Cebu and Davao,” said Andrew Powell, managing director of Bosch in the Philippines.“Along with our expansion efforts in the country, I am confident that our strength in innovation will continue to differentiate us and strengthen our customers’ confidence in our solutions.”
In fiscal year 2015, Bosch generated USD 50 million (45 million euros) in consolidated sales in the Philippines. Compared to the year before, the company achieved a double-digit growth of over 37 percent, marking the second consecutive year in which the Philippines was one of the fastest-growing markets in Southeast Asia for Bosch.