BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A global industrial hydraulics and automation company with facilities in Bethlehem and Bethlehem Township will unite its local operations at one campus near Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Bosch Rexroth — on its website described as “a leading provider of automation solutions for industrial and mobile applications” — will move its township employees from the current logistics center on Brodhead Road into a new warehouse on City Line Road in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park I.
The 50,000-square-foot warehouse, scheduled to be up and running by next fall, will offer a 50% increase in storage capacity and sit just next door to the company’s local manufacturing operation.
At a Wednesday groundbreaking and news conference at the site, company officials said the move will improve lead times, flexibility with customers and overall efficiency by cutting out the six or so miles between facilities.
“For years, we have relied on a rented logistics building some miles away, which required constant shuttling of material back and forth... Today, I think we turned the page.”Christina Franke, Bosch Rexroth executive board member for production and quality management
“For years, we have relied on a rented logistics building some miles away, which required constant shuttling of material back and forth,” said Christina Franke, Bosch Rexroth executive board member for production and quality management.
“Our employees have made it work, but it was far from ideal. So today, I think we turned the page.”
Designing and manufacturing hydraulic components for industrial machinery comes with its challenges currently, but the company remains optimistic about the future, she said.
"We face some headwinds, not least from the tariffs, which will continue to challenge our competitiveness," Franke said.
"However, we also see promising opportunities which are opening doors, and I think we are positioning ourselves here to be ready when those markets accelerate."
Poised for growth
Rafael Paredes, Bethlehem site plant manager, said the transition “will allow us to continue to grow and to continue to provide innovation for our customers” across many industries, including manufacturing, materials and energy.
“We combine precision engineering with leading-edge automation technology to deliver efficient, reliable, and high-performance motion control,” a company statement said.
The German company now operating in more than 80 countries also has called the Lehigh Valley home for almost six decades.
The new 50,000-square-foot warehouse “will allow us to continue to grow and to continue to provide innovation for our customers."Rafael Paredes, Bosch Rexroth Bethlehem plant manager
And with the all-new “state-of-the-art” expansion in the works for Bethlehem, Paredes said it represents “a legacy of partnership and investment in this community.”
Joe Petrucci, project executive with the project’s builder, J.G. Petrucci Co., said LVIP I is in for a unique and welcome addition to the Airport Road corridor in Bosch Rexroth’s new facility.
More than 37,000 people in the Lehigh Valley work in manufacturing, making it the region’s second largest employment field, according to Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman, LVEDC vice president of business development and attraction.
With logistics in the mix, the industrial sector is the “single biggest driver of jobs in the Lehigh Valley,” she said.
