Leading German company Bosch Group announced on Friday its ambitious recruitment plan to hire 4,000 more workers in China in the coming two years.

It also plans to invest a total of some 650 million euros (US$781.62 million) in China from last year to 2007.

By 2004, Bosch had invested about 550 million euros (US$661.37 million) in the establishment and expansion of its Chinese activities.

Under the recruitment plan, Bosch will increase the number of its employees on the Chinese mainland from the present 14,000 to 18,000 by 2007.

"Over the next two years, we shall be hiring not less than 1,000 additional associates in our Diesel Systems division, 2,200 in Power Tools, and 600 at Bosch Rexroth. In other words, 170 associates will join our companies in China every month," said Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the board of management at Bosch (China) Investment Ltd.

To help realize its goal of pursuing sustainable development through talent localization in China, Bosch launched a new graduate management training programme in the country earlier this year.

The new programme is designed to build up the future management team of the company in China.

Among tens of thousands of applicants, the first group of 44 graduates from Chinese universities has been selected. Beginning this year, they will start a one-year training programme at Bosch's facilities in China before they are sent to Bosch's facilities in Germany where they will work for two years on a variety of challenging projects.

"As a company committed to the Chinese market and the development of its local industries, Bosch pursues sustainable development in China through the localization of technology and talents," said Peter Pang, president of Bosch (China) Investment Ltd.

"In order to build strong local management, engineering and research teams in China, Bosch is committed to train and to develop Chinese students and professionals."

"In the long term, growth in China can only succeed with highly qualified and motivated staff from within China itself," said Fehrenbach.

The graduate management training programme is the newest initiative under Bosch's International Development Programme (IDP) in China.

Bosch said it regards its 250,000 employees around the world as the most important asset of the company.

In addition to the education of graduates, IDP has, over the past few years, helped to train many talented young Chinese professionals who already have two to three years of work experience. They were sent to Germany for a two-year programme soon after they were recruited by Bosch in China.

For current employees, short-term foreign assignment opportunities are widely available. Bosch Automotive Diesel Systems, one of Bosch's business units, has sent more than 80 Chinese employees to Germany for training since it was established in Wuxi in 2004.

A global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, Bosch founded its first trading office in China in 1909. In 1926, the first car service workshop opened in Shanghai. Today, all of the Bosch business sectors are present in China.

The company operates via a holding company in Shanghai, 13 subsidiaries, six joint ventures, and six trading companies.

(China Daily 03/18/2006 page5)