Director, Engineering Systems and Components Bosch Rexroth
To assess emerging trends and the current and future OEM landscape, the OEM Off-Highway team team spoke with experts throughout the industry. In our conversation below, Dr. Enrique Busquets, director of engineering systems and components at Bosch Rexroth, offers insights into today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities.
Busquets is the mobile hydraulics engineering director responsible for regional product and business development for electronics, software, telematics and electrification at Bosch Rexroth North America since April 2021. Previously, he was the engineering manager for systems and software development at Bosch Rexroth from 2018 to 2021, with a focus on mobile applications with electronified hydraulics and electrified systems. Busquets holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and master’s and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, with emphasis on hydraulics and electronics controls. He is also the industry sponsor and representative at the Maha Fluid Power Research Center and the National Fluid Power Association.
Read on for Busquets' insights into the state of the industry.
1. What challenges most affected the mobile OEM landscape in 2023?
Clearly supply chain challenges, inflation, costs, and labor were in the minds of everyone. As many other industries, the mobile OEM landscape was impacted by shortages in many areas and challenges at an unprecedented rate.
2. What are your predictions for the mobile OEM landscape in 2024?
Each country has challenges on their own, and the development of those will vary wildly. In the US, 2024 appears to be shaped for a flat or maximum 5% increase in sales. This is based on an average look at several OEMs earnings reports and guidance.
3. Where do you see the most potential for improvement or advancement in 2024?
2024 tends to be a year of adjustments for the market. Historically, companies that use these periods to invest in technologies that enhance the machine operation and/or reduce the operational costs are in better position for the next cycle. In this direction, Assisted Functions like our Kinematic Position Sensing (KPS) will be a focus, as well as technologies that enable better power management, like our Electronified Open-Circuit Pump (eOC).
4. What will be the biggest challenge for OEMs and the industry in general in 2024?
Compete in a more restrictive market without sacrificing profitability; and keep working in the machine and operational costs improvement.
5. What factors should engineers and their companies consider when making decisions in the mobile OEM space in 2024?
Engineers should emphasize their focus on quick wins, or low effort opportunities to optimize costs or add features and/or functionality that would enable companies to retain products’ market shares while increasing profitability.
6. Please highlight ONE recently introduced product from your company that meets a specific, pressing need in the mobile OEM space, and describe briefly how the product is uniquely designed to meet that need.
One of the latest additions to our family of products is the A10VO with eOC control. This pump enables a very high level of flexibility and functionality while eliminating hoses and components that optimize machine costs.
7. What are some of your company's priorities in 2024 with regard to electrification, automation, innovation, emission reduction and/or other emerging trends?
To finalize our current developments, ramp up with our target customers and continue to accelerate innovation (especially through software development) in order to propel the adoption of these new technologies where it makes sense.
For additional insights on the state of the industry and what's to come in 2024, click here to read more.
