BSH Regensburg – Electronic Systems, Drives (PED): Difference between revisions

Many people want their home appliances to be easy to use. What looks uncomplicated on the outside, however, often hides a highly complicated technical interior. The integration of the Regensburg Electronics, Drives and Systems (EDS) department of Siemens AG into BSH<ref>BSH was founded in 1967 as Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH - BSHG for short. In 1998, the name was changed to BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, with the short form BSH. Since the sale of the Siemens shares in BSH to Robert Bosch GmbH the company’s name is now BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, but still BSH for short.</ref> in 1998 brought the company specialists in exactly this field.  

"Why does a washing machine or a dishwasher even need an electronic controller?" as the employee magazine inform also asked.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0022, inform, 03/1999, page 20.</ref> After all, the machines have been washing for decades without this technology. Most people still recall the mechanical clicking sound of the drum controller. On the stagnating home appliance market at the start of the new millennium, innovative new functions and technologies are especially forceful sales arguments.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0022, inform, 03/1999, page 20.</ref> Digitization and the "Internet of Things" are also being implemented in the home appliance sector, for example, with BSH applications such as Home Connect, which was developed in Regensburg.<ref>BSH intranet, history of PED: <nowiki>http://net.bshg.com/departments/ped/DE/aboutus/pedgeschichte/Pages/default.aspx</nowiki></ref> The basis for all of these functions is an electronic controller. It controls the wash program and integrates special components such as AquaSensor, which ensures that the laundry is rinsed until the rinsing water is clear. Washing cycles are thus automatically optimized, and the machine runs in an efficient and energy-saving manner. The appliance is easier to use – and it also offers more programs. Hidden behind the one-button operation are hundreds of commands stored in one chip. BSH defines the main task of EDS in this area: ease of use through innovative technology.

[[File:PED(1).jpg|thumb|BSH's Product Division Electronic Systems, Drives (PED) in Regensburg. (Source: BSH)]]

The Electronics, Drives and Systems (EDS) department at Siemens AG originally focused on manufacturing electronic systems and sensors in the automotive sector. Since 1994, the systems developed here have also been used in the area of home appliances. At the end of 1998, EDS was taken over by BSH, as too was the manufacture of home appliance drives and pumps at the Michalovce site in Slovakia.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, B05-0847, AT DA & BSH purchase agreement.</ref> From 1999, EDS started specializing entirely in developing and manufacturing electronic systems for home appliances.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A05-0022, inform, 03/1999, page 20 f.</ref> Alongside solutions for sensors and controlling individual home appliance, the product range also include complete panel systems. At the Michalovce factory site in Slovakia, there were around 930 employees at the time of the takeover by BSH. In Regensburg itself, 113 employees works in research and development.<ref>BSH Corporate Archives, A01-0018, Annual Report 2000, page 25.</ref>