Bosch inaugurates fully automated production lines for protective face masks in India

• Bosch India’s in-house special-purpose machinery unit will manufacture up to 100,000 protective face masks a day
• Masks will be used for associates as well as community distribution
• This is one of our key steps towards honouring our INR 50 crore commitment to combat COVID-19 pandemic

Bengaluru – In the fight against coronavirus, Bosch has designed its own line of protective face masks. Bosch India inaugurated its fully-automated in-house production line at its Naganathapura location in Bengaluru. With this, the company aims to manufacture nearly 100,000 masks a day to protect its associates and contribute to the protection of the community at large in India. In doing so, Bosch is helping to relieve the burden on the market. The line was virtually inaugurated with active participation from both Central as well as State Government officials.

Globally, Bosch will produce over 500,000 (half a million) protective face masks per day across five fully automated production lines at four Bosch locations, including the Naganathapura plant in India. These mask production lines have been designed by Bosch’s special-purpose machinery unit and will be available for usage to the workforce at Bosch in India as well. About 3,000,000 of these surgical masks will be supplied free of cost to second level COVID -19 such as healthcare workers, police, municipal corporation workers, ASHA and Anaganwadi workers as well as NGOs. The three-layered masks impede the spread of pathogens from the wearer’s nose and throat with a bacterial filtration efficiency greater than 95 percent. To ensure that these masks are not sold, each mask carries the Bosch logo at the bottom corner.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch Limited & President, Bosch Group in India said: “At Bosch, we have always kept safety and security of our asscociates at the forefront across all our operations. This initiative is one of our key steps towards honouring our INR 50 crore commitment to combat COVID-19 pandemic using our innovative technologies and high competence in manufacturing.”

Bosch will leverage its mask manufacturing lines set up in Germany, Mexico, and India to cater to associate protection and regional requirements, effectively extending its COVID-19 protection initiative to the world. This will significantly boost the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. Overall, by the end of June, the production volume of the five lines is set to exceed ten million masks a month.