Bosch Opens Michigan Tech Center

Robert Bosch LLC dedicates its new $37.5 million technical center in Plymouth Township, MI, devoted to research and development of starters, generators, electric drives and body electronics, including airbag controllers and driver assistance technologies.

Some 450 staffers have occupied the building since April and moved from rented office space near the company's North American headquarters in nearby Farmington Hills.

The headquarters building is fully occupied, but the new 225,000-sq.-ft. (20,900-sq.-m) technical center has capacity for about another 150 people, says Peter Marks, chairman, president and CEO of Bosch's North American unit.

The new tech center has more than 60 engineering and technical lab specialists working on development studies, design verification and production validation test plans.

The center houses a machine shop, quality lab, equipment crib, small-motor dynamometers and powder coat and paint booths, as well as testing chambers to evaluate vibration harshness, electro-magnetic compatibility and environmental performance.