Top-level management changes at Bosch Rexroth

Manfred Grundke is leaving Bosch Rexroth to become Managing Director of a privately owned German company, and VK Viswanathan is to be the new Managing Director of the Bosch Indian subsidiary Motor Industries Company Limited (Mico).

Dr Albert Hieronimus is to be the new Chairman of the Bosch Rexroth AG board of management. He is currently Managing Director of Motor Industries Company Limited (Mico), the Bosch Indian subsidiary.

At the same time Dr Karl Tragl, who is responsible for Bosch Rexroth's Electric Drives and Controls division, will be appointed to the company's board of management. In his new role, he will be responsible for sales, a task currently carried out by Bosch Rexroth AG board of management Chairman Manfred Grundke, in addition to his other duties.

Manfred Grundke is leaving Bosch Rexroth on 29 February 2008 to take up a post as Managing Director of a privately owned German company. Dr Siegfried Dais, Deputy Chairman of the Bosch board of management and Chairman of the Bosch Rexroth AG supervisory council, comments: "We would like to thank Manfred Grundke for his successful work of the past years, and are glad to welcome Dr Albert Hieronimus as his successor, since he knows Bosch Rexroth very well."

Following his mathematics degree, and while studying for his doctorate, Dr Albert Hieronimus first worked as a research assistant at the University of Cologne before joining what was then Mannesmann AG in 1979. He held various posts there, with increasing levels of responsibility. In 1993, he was appointed to the board of management of Mannesmann Rexroth AG. Following the merger of Mannesmann Rexroth AG with the Bosch Automation Technology division in 2001, he initially served on the executive management board of Bosch Rexroth, where he was responsible for human resources, IT and co-ordinating post-merger integration.

In 2003, Dr Hieronimus left Bosch Rexroth to become Managing Director of Mico, Bosch's Indian subsidiary. This post will pass to V K Viswanathan, currently a member of the Mico management team with responsibility for several Bosch divisions. Dr Hieronimus will retain his links with India, becoming Chairman of the Indian company's board of directors.

A physics graduate, Dr Karl Tragl joined Mannesmann Rexroth in 2000, following jobs at the German Aerospace Research Centre and Siemens with assignments in Munich and the UK. He is currently President of the Electric Drives and Controls division of Bosch Rexroth, with responsibility for engineering and manufacturing.