How Bosch Automotive Executes Issue Management 60% Faster
Bosch’s RtP2 plant, located in Reutlingen, Germany, is a ramp-up facility for advanced automotive electronics - including radar sensors, steering modules, and power electronics used in hybrid and electric vehicles.
Company Profile
Automotive Manufacturing
~1,300
Germany
RtP2 (Reutlingen)
Power Electronics, Radar & Steering systems
Bosch’s Digital Transformation with Poka
Faster issue
management
Faster creation and access
of work instructions
Overall productivity
increase
Faster onboarding for
new employees
Savings in third-party licenses
and development costs
Total annualized monetary benefit from digitalized issue and instruction management
Too Many Systems, Too Little Connectivity
The site’s mission: industrialize complex new products before transferring them to high-volume plants worldwide.
However, with that complexity came fragmentation. The team was managing dozens of disconnected tools for issue tracking, knowledge sharing, and documentation. Data lived in silos - in Word files, SAP, Excel, and various local systems - leading to wasted time, duplicated effort, and inconsistent information.
“Our employees were unsatisfied. We had bad usability, missing interfaces, and too many manual steps. People had to document the same information in multiple tools - it was risky and annoying,” said Marc-André Hildebrand, Bosch’s Project Lead for Poka
The objective was clear: replace multiple legacy systems with a single, comprehensive platform—one that connects workers, integrates with SAP and MES, and consolidates all process knowledge in one place.
One Platform for the Entire Shop Floor
Bosch began its Poka journey in early 2023, following a structured roadmap:
H1 2023 – Preparation: Technical and process reviews, project setup, and system integration design.
2024 – Configuration and Training: Process mapping, SAP and MES integrations, and user onboarding.
H1 2025 – Go-Live: Launch of Poka modules for Forms and Fabric News (Factory Feed) - enabling deviation tracking and communication across teams.
H2 2025 – Expansion: Rollout of Incident Management, Skills, and Training Content modules.
2026 – Continuous Improvement: Implementation of Ask Poka, Huddle Boards, and AI-powered learning tools for smarter operations.
A key success factor was integration. Bosch’s team connected Poka directly to SAP to automatically sync equipment data and to its MES system for real-time visibility into production performance.
“Every equipment data point from SAP is visualized automatically in Poka - no manual syncing needed. For us, that was huge,” said Hildebrand
Collaboration and Structure at Scale
The Poka deployment was led by a four-person core team working 100% on the project, responsible for both the technical setup and process alignment.
They were supported by:
- 6 Key Users per area (10%) – providing training and second-level support
- 28 Extended Team Members (5%) – offering first-level support across shifts
- 2 Project Lead & Sponsor (1x 100% and 1x 20%) – providing leadership and ensuring alignment across manufacturing, IT, and quality.
“Dedicated people make successful projects. Our team is 100% focused on Poka - no firefighting, no distractions,” said Christian Loos, Manager of Manufacturing Digitalization
Use Case 1: Incident Management
Before Poka, managing incidents required multiple logins, calls to service teams, and manual data entry. The process was slow and inconsistent.
With Poka, Bosch replaced this with a centralized, digital workflow - where operators can log, escalate, and resolve issues directly on the shop floor, complete with real-time notifications and analytics.
Results:
- 60% faster issue resolution time
- 25% more issues reported (+500 per month)
- €100,000 annual savings from reduced mean time to attend and repair
“Operators can now solve many issues themselves using Ask Poka or Troubleshoot. We don’t have to escalate every time - it saves real money,” said Hildebrand.
Use Case 2: Work Instructions
Previously, work instructions were created as Word documents, printed, and stored in yellow binders on each line - a time-consuming process that made version control nearly impossible.
Now, all instructions are digital, visual, and instantly accessible via QR codes on machines.
Results:
- 70% faster creation and access to work instructions
- 76% user satisfaction during rollout
- €62,000 annual benefit from productivity gains and improved accessibility
“People used to spend up to ten minutes searching for the right document. Now they scan the QR code and get exactly what they need,” said Hildebrand.
A Measurable Impact on Efficiency and Engagement
Since going live in mid-2025, Bosch RtP2 has achieved measurable improvements in productivity, quality, and employee experience.
Performance Highlights:
- 4% productivity increase
- 40% reduction in onboarding time
- €200,000 savings in software licenses and development costs
- Significant improvement in user satisfaction and information transparency
Frontline feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:
“Finally, I can highlight problems.”
“Super cool tool - I can share information quickly between shifts.”
“Everything is transparent, summarized on one page.”
The plant’s leaders view Poka as not just a tool, but a foundation for a connected, data-driven factory.
Poka is becoming our second-most important system after MES. It connects people, processes, and knowledge - all in one place.
Christian Loos
Manager of Manufacturing Digitalization, Bosch Automotive
Toward a Smarter, Unified Bosch Factory
With Poka now fully integrated into RtP2’s operations, Bosch is already planning next steps:
- Expanding Ask Poka and Huddle Boards for AI-driven knowledge sharing
- Automating morning meetings through digital data visualization
- Scaling learnings across other Bosch plants globally
“We’ve gone from 20 disconnected tools to two integrated systems. Our goal now is one unified digital ecosystem,” Loos concluded.
Ready to Empower Your Frontline Like Bosch?
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