BOSCH FREN SISTEMLERI SANAYI VE TICARET A flag bearing his photo once waved in the wind at the top of the highest peak in Turkey. It had been carried to the summit of Mount Ararat by a colleague who took it there in his honor. Erol Özüzüm has become something of a cult figure at the Bursa plant. As a sign of respect and deference, everyone calls him "abi," or big brother. The team leader has worked at the Powertrain Solutions site for 42 years. "I was associate number 177 back then," says Özüzüm, now 59, recalling the early days. "What made me stay so long were the relationships I've developed here and the constant innovation and change."
When Özüzüm began his career at Bosch, initially as a service technician, no one could have guessed that the site would grow as fast as it did. Back then, the plant produced injection nozzles used in diesel engines. Around the turn of the millennium, the site had fewer than 1,000 associates. Then, when production of common rail injectors began, the workforce rapidly grew. Injectors for gasoline-powered engines were later added to the mix. Today, more than 50 years after its founding, roughly 6,500 associates work in three sections at the plant. Demand remains strong despite the rapid transition to new drive technologies, and they are even bringing new products into series production. For example, in gasoline systems.
"We are now ramping up production of the third generation high-pressure fuel injector valve for gasoline engines," says İhsan Özer. He was once a trainee under Özüzüm. Now, as section manager, he oversees production of the HDEV6 injection valve. "Two assembly lines are up and running, and four others are planned," he reports. The fully automatic, digitally connected machines will turn out up to 21 million units per year.
Even so, Özer understands that demand for internal combustion engines will decline in the long run, so his teams are working hard to keep investment costs down in order to remain competitive. "We got rid of costly automation steps, reused some parts from the old lines, and reduced the number of measurement stations with low-cost line concepts."
Still further potential
Boosting efficiency in production is also one focus area of the in-house research and engineering center in Bursa, where Ceyhun Bahtiyar is head of development for diesel injection nozzles. "Together with other plants, we are looking to optimize injectors to make them more cost-efficient," he reports.
There remains room to lower costs, through the use of alternative materials, by optimizing tolerances, or via design changes. "The aim is to streamline production while maintaining the level of quality," Bahtiyar says. Digitalization will also have a vital role. Processes including automatic camera inspections and predictive tool maintenance based on artificial intelligence (AI) will play their part in achieving this goal.
Excited by digitalization
For an old hand like Özüzüm, this is one of the most exciting changes taking place at the plant. "When I first started, I didn't even have a computer. Now I ask my teams for digital solutions whenever there's a problem." That is a mindset that the company is looking to foster across the site. "More than anyone else, young engineers are really excited about digitalization," reports Mustafa Bulut, the plant's technical manager. The site has partnered with a Turkish university to develop a new training program with the aim of giving associates a close, inside look at the technologies of tomorrow.
A number of associates in diesel production are already playing Tetris every day, even if they didn't know it. That doesn't refer to the 30-year-old video game, but the digital platform of the same name that aggregates data on every component and interconnects an array of production software in the background. "We collect 166 readings for every batch of injector bodies," says Oguzhan Celebioglu. While in the past these were often written down on paper, the entire production area is now paperless.
"Our associates are highly motivated to learn and more than willing to delve into new technologies," says Gitta Unger, commercial plant manager. "We are often approached by stakeholders who want us to be the pilot plant for their digitalization projects. They know we have a very well-trained and enthusiastic team."
Hydrogen as a source of hope
However, digitalization is not the site's most important issue for the future. "We are extremely successful with high-volume products," says plant manager Mustafa Bulut. Which leads us to the falling demand for gasoline and diesel engines and the impact this will have on the quantity of units produced. "We have to start preparing for 2028 and 2029 right now," says Bulut. The process of industrializing new products has already begun at the site. "We will be developing injectors for hydrogen-powered engines and start making them in 2025."
In addition, researcher Ceyhun Bahtiyar and his team are supporting the development of hydrogen tank valves and electric air compressors for fuel-cell systems. In the latter case, the team is entering new terrain and will be relying on data analysis and AI. "Our goal is to replace physical sensors with virtual sensors," explains Bahtiyar. In real terms, this means that a temperature sensor can be replaced with an AI-based algorithm that uses information derived from other sensors. Similar steps are planned in production. "On our testing line, every product is tested in a test station at the end." The team is aiming to significantly shorten this time-consuming process with the assistance of AI.
The new hydrogen-related technologies are "one of the things that gets our associates motivated," says Bulut, the plant's technical manager. This motivation is critical to meet the challenge of retaining top talent and keeping expertise at the plant in the coming years, as the shift is made to new technologies.
Melike Başak has no desire to work elsewhere. "I began my career here, and my colleagues feel like a second family to me," says Başak. Her first job was as a technician. Today, she's a numbers person and responsible for statistical process control in the production of gasoline engine components. She is confident about the future of the plant. "Everyone really enjoys working here. We won't have problems developing the new skills required to make the transition," she says with confidence.
This is a view shared by Erol Özüzüm when he looks ahead to the coming years after the plant's 50th anniversary. "We make top-quality products, and we'll succeed in our digitalization drive. During the transition to electromobility, some products will be dropped while others will be added. I'm extremely optimistic here."
Nuray Sağlam
Corporate Communications Responsible
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Bosch Fren Sistemleri Sanayi ve Ticaret AS published this content on 11 January 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 13 January 2023 10:39:05 UTC.
