"Both sales and operating profit exceeded our expectations in 2018. This puts us in a good position for a challenging economic year in 2019," said Rolf Najork, Member of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH, where he is responsible for the Industrial Technology division and is also Chairman of the Board of Management of Bosch Rexroth AG.

According to the annual report, the company was able to increase its sales in Germany by almost 11 percent to 1.4 billion euros. At 2.1 billion euros (+10.5 percent), Bosch Rexroth achieved around a third of its overall result in Europe (excluding Germany). The Asia/Pacific/Africa region performed particularly well: at 1.6 billion euros, sales there were almost a fifth higher than in the previous year. Business in North and South America also generated a positive result of 1.1 billion euros (up 8.2 percent).

Mobile hydraulics and factory automation as growth drivers

Overall, Najork is satisfied: "The past year is particularly significant for Bosch Rexroth, even beyond the very good figures. We have proven that we can manage the balancing act between structural change and sales growth," says the CEO. The Factory Automation, Plant Construction and Engineering and Mobile Applications divisions performed particularly well. Mobile hydraulics and factory automation proved to be the main growth drivers last year. In addition to its traditionally strong position in industrial and mobile hydraulics, Bosch Rexroth is increasingly positioning itself as a provider of Industry 4.0 solutions with software-based, automated and networked solutions. The company is focusing on digitalization, connectivity and electrification across all of its divisions.

The Factory Automation division generated the largest share of the Bosch Group's Industry 4.0 sales in 2018. "Industry 4.0 is not an end in itself, Industry 4.0 pays off - for us and our customers," emphasized Najork.

Good starting position for 2019 - automation and intralogistics as growth drivers

With the positive result for 2018, Bosch Rexroth is currently in a good economic position for 2019. The company expects economic momentum to slow overall in the second half of 2019.

The factory automation market continues to benefit from the trend towards automation and digitalization. Automation solutions for increasing productivity and implementing Industry 4.0 concepts are supporting global market demand. Demand for intralogistics solutions also continues to offer growth potential. However, investment momentum is expected to slow overall in 2019, particularly due to the decline in consumer demand in China since the end of last year.

In 2018, the market for industrial hydraulics also benefited from the generally positive economic trend and recorded moderate growth. Growth is expected to be slightly weaker overall this year, albeit with differences in individual customer sectors. After high growth rates in previous years, no further growth is expected in the global mobile hydraulics market in 2019. There is a risk of a market slowdown in the second half of the year in particular.

With documents from Bosch Rexroth