Bosch Rexroth appoints Thomas Fechner and Roland Bittenauer to the Board of Management and focuses on further growth

• New structure of Board of Management supports focus on profitable growth
• Factory Automation and Sales/Marketing to be split into two areas of responsibility

Bosch Rexroth is changing the setup of its Board of Management with a view to further business growth. From June 1, Roland Bittenauer (52) will assume responsibility for global sales and marketing. Thomas Fechner (52) will be responsible for the factory automation business from the same date. Thomas Donato (51), previously responsible for both fields, will switch to Power Tools within the Bosch Group and become President there. As of June 1, the Board of Management of Bosch Rexroth thus comprises five members: Dr. Steffen Haack, Holger von Hebel, Roland Bittenauer, Thomas Fechner and Reinhard Schäfer.

Bosch Rexroth plans to continue to grow faster than the market, with the factory automation business expected to grow particularly strongly. The new setup of the Board of Management supports these growth plans: The tasks previously covered by Donato will be split into two independent areas of responsibility. This will allow Bittenauer to concentrate fully on his area of responsibility in his capacity as chief sales and marketing officer. With Fechner, the factory automation business is now for the first time in the responsibility of a board member who has no other functional duties.

“Since the beginning of 2022, Thomas Donato has given impetus in mobile hydraulics and later in sales, marketing, and factory automation, thus contributing to the very successful development of the Bosch Rexroth business. I would like to sincerely thank him for his commitment to Bosch Rexroth and wish him every success in his new role at Power Tools," says Dr. Markus Forschner, CFO of the Bosch Group and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bosch Rexroth AG. “With Roland Bittenauer as chief sales and marketing officer and Thomas Fechner in charge of our factory automation business, we have appointed two experts to the management board of Bosch Rexroth who have already set the course for further development in their previous roles. Now, as part of the management board team, they will drive profitable growth with the even clearer allocation of responsibilities.”

Bittenauer has been with Bosch Rexroth since the spring of 2021 and is responsible for sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – the company’s region with the highest sales. Previously, the Austrian held senior sales positions at Parker Hannifin and the Austrian company Hainzl Industrie¬systeme. Bittenauer completed his engineering training at the HTL Steyr in the field of automotive and mechanical engineering. As of June 1, Wolfram Ulrich, currently sales manager in the Large Hydraulic Drives business unit, whose products are marketed under the Hägglunds brand, will assume responsibility for sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Fechner joined the Bosch Group in 1998 and has held various engineering and management positions at Bosch Rexroth since 2009. Since 2021, the automation and software expert has headed the Automation & Electrification Solutions business unit based in Lohr. With the ctrlX AUTOMATION modular automation system, they offer a core element of the factory automation business of Bosch Rexroth. Furthermore, Fechner is responsible for the Ulm location where the company has been operating a customer and innovation center since 2019. Fechner studied physics at the University of Stuttgart. As of June 1, Dr. Maik Rabe will take over the management of the Automation & Electrification Solutions business unit. He will retain his previous role as head of development.

As one of the world’s leading suppliers of drive and control technologies, Bosch Rexroth ensures efficient, powerful and safe movement in machines and systems of any size. The company bundles global application experience in the market segments of Mobile and Industrial Applications as well as Factory Automation. With its intelligent components, customized system solutions, engineering and services, Bosch Rexroth is creating the necessary environment for fully connected applications. Bosch Rexroth offers its customers hydraulics, electric drive and control technology, gear technology and linear motion and assembly technology, including software and interfaces to the Internet of Things. With locations in over 80 countries, more than 32,000 associates generated sales revenue of around 7.0 billion euros in 2022.