FARMINGTON HILLS, MI-Automotive parts, power tools and automation equipment manufacturer Bosch Group (Stuttgart, Germany) is celebrating 100 years of doing business in the United States.

Since founding its first U.S. office in New York in 1906, Bosch has gone on to establish 80 separate U.S. facilities, with nearly 23,000 employees and sales of $7.8 billion in 2004.

Bosch will be commemorating its first North American century with events throughout 2006, including a gala celebration in August 2006 in Detroit, a traveling historical display and an innovation symposium to be held this fall in conjunction with the Carnegie-Bosch Institute in Pittsburgh.

German entrepreneur Robert Bosch first went into business for himself when he founded an engineering and repair shop in Stuttgart in 1886. In 1898, Bosch successfully tested a groundbreaking automotive ignition system, which heralded the company's arrival as a producer of high-end vehicle components. Bosch established his first New York office in part to handle sales of that system in the United States.

Today, the Bosch Group is a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology, with approximately 242,000 employees worldwide, and sales in 2004 of $50 billion.

For more information on the company and the Centennial, visit www.bosch.us.