Yes, I would stand by that assessment. However, the challenge has become even greater and more intense than expected at the time.

Let's just take the tariffs announcement by US President Trump. This is an unexpectedly hard blow for international trade, for Germany as an export nation, for the automotive industry, and Bosch's development.

Of course, we still hope that a solution can be found through dialogue. However, if dialogue fails, the EU should adopt appropriate countermeasures to achieve a level and fair playing field for all market participants.

For decades, Bosch has pursued the principle of producing and offering as much as possible local for local. However, this is not just about locating our production facilities where our customers are. We also try to keep the flow of suppliers in the respective region. The company has already achieved a lot in this respect.

Yes. But nobody will be completely self-sufficient in a region. Exploiting the comparative advantages of individual countries is the great strength of the globalised economy. Apart from that, Bosch has recently significantly expanded its presence in the USA.

In 2023, the company acquired the hydraulics supplier Hydraforce. The Bosch Group is currently investing almost 2 billion dollars in the semiconductor factory in Roseville, California. And most recently, the planned acquisition of Johnson Controls for 8 billion dollars, with the USA as one of the main markets.

I think it will hit everyone hard. The transformation towards sustainability is already a challenge for companies, particularly in the automotive industry. You can see that in the margin trends. Bosch also needs a better result to have sufficient funds for innovation and growth in this transition phase. Additional burdens from customs duties are exacerbating the situation.

We have certain advantages thanks to our presence in the USA. But if some of our most important customers – especially the European car manufacturers – are affected, we will also be indirectly affected. The entire global automotive industry will suffer.

We on the Supervisory Board do not deal directly with day-to-day business. The focus is on strategy, not on direct operations. However, we must also keep an eye on the effects of strategic decisions on day-to-day business.

So much is changing in the corporate environment – in particular market conditions, customer structures, competition and technologies. This has implications for strategy and direct consequences for day-to-day business.

You are addressing an area of tension and at the same time an area for optimisation. The first of the two core tasks is supervision. This has become much more diverse and demanding in terms of content. In the last five years, around 1,000 new laws, directives and regulations have been added for companies in Europe every year. This mainly involves topics such as sustainability, IT, artificial intelligence and export controls. Appropriate qualifications and training are therefore necessary.

We are being confronted with increasingly complex strategic issues. In my view, it is very important that the Supervisory Board takes enough time for dialogue despite its limitations. Strategic implications cannot be briefly conveyed in a presentation. An intensive dialogue is required.

Both. Especially in co-determined supervisory boards, the level of knowledge varies. We try to bring different perspectives together through dialogue. Concerning management, a nice term from sport sums it up quite well: Sparring partner.

The struggle for arguments is about both partners improving – i.e. management and the Supervisory Board. In today's world, where there are hardly any simple solutions, the struggle for the best solution is crucial.

A very important element is a feel for entrepreneurial activity. Not just locally, but also internationally and in different cultures. That's why we don't just meet for our Supervisory Board meetings in Germany. We were in China in the middle of last year.

Among other things. We also visited several Bosch plants there and met with customers. We liaised with political players and representatives of regional governments. This allowed everyone on the Supervisory Board to gain a personal impression of China.

Expertise in financial matters is very important in the current phase. For example: How stable is a company in a phase of major challenges such as the current transformation? Or: How can limited resources be utilised sensibly and efficiently?

The willingness to engage in lifelong learning is a basic requirement for supervisory board members and all managers. I was already involved with AI as CFO five or six years ago. It was about commercial topics. Together with my colleagues in research at the time, we developed algorithms for forecasting. The tool was even more informative in parts than our controllers' programmes.

Yes. We are constantly developing it further with more and more data. 

Yes, in particular Martina Koederitz, who was CEO of IBM Germany, and Professor Kaschke, former CEO of the Zeiss Group and President of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. Both are intensively involved in these topics. But Eberhard Veit, with his industrial expertise, and Peter Spuhler are also important advisors for us here.

Technology is also changing enormously in railway technology. AI can also help to increase productivity there.

That is true. Of course, we are always in contact with start-ups. We don't yet have anyone from this group on the Supervisory Board. But that's not out of the question for the future.

It is very important to reach a common understanding in the Supervisory Board based on facts. This includes exchanging arguments on a factual level. The fact that there are still protests is quite normal in a far-reaching transformation. There are simply different ways of articulating interests. In my opinion, this is also part of the dialogue when such important issues are on the table. The central task of the Supervisory Board is then to enter into a dialogue again and again. And this dialogue must ultimately focus on the interests of the company.

Of course. For me, the interests of the company include customers, the entire supply chain and all other stakeholders. The Supervisory Board needs a 360-degree view, also because the world is becoming increasingly complex. It's not about vested interests.

I take a different view: Bosch is and will remain a value-orientated company. Robert Bosch himself gave us the key values of continuing to develop the company vigorously and ensuring financial independence at all times. These are the two core obligations of the Board of Management and the shareholders. Adjusting employment in a difficult situation, therefore, does not contradict the social partnership at all. You only have to look back.

Six years after the company was founded, Robert Bosch had to lay off almost 90 per cent of its associates, and after the First World War another 40 per cent. In the interests of the company, that was also necessary back then.

If we tackle the need for adjustment quickly, we can do it. This is a major task – both for the employee representatives and for us. But we must not lose any time now.