Australia is the six-largest country in the world in terms of surface area and has a population of 20 million. Robert Bosch Australia also handles New Zealand and other neighbouring islands. The subsidiary is based in Clayton, 25 kilometres southeast of the city of Melbourne.

There are clear differences between the Australian and New Zealand markets for water heaters: in Australia there are some 345,000 gas-fired appliances and approximately the same number of electrical hot water systems installed. Almost two-thirds of the installed gas water heaters are storage water hea-ters, and one-third are instantaneous water heaters.
Although instantaneous water heaters are far ahead of storage water heaters in the gas-fired segment in New Zealand, elec-trical appliances make up 75 per cent of the market here, and 99 per cent of these are storage water heaters.
Solar systems, combined with gas or electrical appliances, have a market share of approx. 5 per cent. There is an upward trend for gas appliances, and the use of solar technology is also growing strongly. Electrical water heaters, by contrast, are in decline. Heat pumps are still quite limited, while the number of oil-fired boilers is negligible.

BBT Thermotechnik GmbH products have been sold in Australia since 1956 – firstly under the Junkers brand and, since the early 1980s, under the Bosch brand. Robert Bosch Australia has only sold instantaneous water heaters to date and supplies whole-salers, gas supply companies and installers who specialise in gas, but also, to a lesser extent, electrical companies. The subsidiary employs 38 staff. The office in Melbourne is the only base for Australia and New Zealand; the members of the sales team work from their home offices.

In 2006 Robert Bosch Australia succeeded in expanding its business with gas water heaters. Double-digit growth in sales is also the target for 2007. The company plans to meet this target by means of a new training programme for the trade, an adver-tising campaign and close co-operation with its trading partners. In order to expand the existing sales portfolio with promising sales prospects, Robert Bosch Australia is currently checking the potential for additional highly developed heating technology products and solar technology in Australia and New Zealand.

Alexandra Ruffell is new General Manager

In January 2007 Alexandra Ruffell took over as General Manager for BBT Thermotechnik GmbH in Australia and New Zealand, succeeding Garry Hannon who retired after working for Bosch for ten years. Under Hannon’s leadership BBT Thermotechnik GmbH had trebled its sales.
Alexandra Ruffell spent the previous two years as Corporate Business Manager at Robert Bosch GmbH in Australia, and was involved in marketing for BBT Thermotechnik GmbH for the three years prior to that.

New training vehicles, new training programme

2007 will see BBT Thermotechnik Australia attending exhibitions and training courses in a new fleet of vehicles. The vans will en-able new water heating technologies to be demonstrated and will give installers and gas technology experts an opportunity to optimise their installation and service skills by means of practical exercises.
BBT Thermotechnik Australia has just launched a new training programme led by head office technicians and technical trainers. It is planned that more than 1,000 people will have attended the courses by the end of 2007.