Bosch centralizes North American repair to Lincoln, Neb.

FAIRPORT, N.Y.--Bosch Security Systems has announced it will soon consolidate all of its North American warranty and non-warranty repairs to one location in Lincoln, Neb., one of four sites where recent large acquisition Telex performed repair and service operations. The move will reduce the number of Bosch locations performing repair and service work from seven to no more than three, and possibly just one. Further, there will be no more third-party outsourcing of repair work after the move is finalized. Once the move is completed, the initial benefit to dealers will be "simplicity," said David Urech, who's been appointed to oversee Bosch's Global Service and Repair business unit. "Everything will go to one site and it will be our own Bosch people doing the work, so I'm confident [customers will] see a higher level of caring and flexibility for out of the ordinary requests." Previously, all CCTV repair work was outsourced, and though Urech praised their work, "if they're not your own people, they inherently can't have the level of commitment that our own Bosch employees can have." Going forward, the centralization should also allow Bosch to offer a web interface, for example, where customers can request repair work and check on repair and shipping progress. The operation will consume roughly 60,000 square feet and employ anywhere from 75 to 100 people. The CCTV product line was the first to move to Lincoln, in May, and that repair work should be completely in house by October. Service for Bosch's fire, intrusion, and access and systems product lines will migrate to Lincoln throughout this year and 2008, along with all spare parts ordering. As Bosch makes the transition, Urech said it will be "transparent to customers," and things like existing phone numbers for service and spare parts orders will remain the same. Urech said two sites, which handle repairs for parts of sound portfolio Bosch acquired in the Telex deal, may not move to Lincoln. "We haven't had enough time to make sure that absolutely makes sense," Urech said. It was the Telex deal, however, that provided much of the impetus for this consolidation, he said. "Our division [of Bosch] is an amalgamation of acquisitions," Urech noted, which resulted in three legacy repair centers and the outsourcing that had been mandated by Phillips before Bosch bought it. Telex brought four more repair centers, one of which "was in a low-cost part of the country and presented an opportunity for simplifying and centralizing things," said Urech. "As soon as we acquired them, we started that process and the ball is rolling right now." Urech said to look for similar simplifying efforts in Europe and Asia in the coming months. "We don't do these things because they're nice things to do," he reiterated. "It's because this is what the Bosch brand stands for, to be world-class at service ... we want to be the best and this is part of being the best."