Bosch backs homegrown technology enterprise set to revolutionise the apparel industry

Clayton, Australia — Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions (BAMS) has partnered with Bodd, a software and data technology firm and winner of the Australian Financial Review “Australia’s Most Innovative Company” in 2019.

Based in Melbourne, Bodd has developed a world-class innovative body scanner for the apparel industry that is soon to be expanded into health, pharmacy, and wellness markets. The high-tech 3D scanner captures large amounts of body data for a hyper-personalised, unique customer experience.

Bodd has chosen to partner with BAMS to manufacture, distribute and provide in-field technical support for all its hardware units. Further, Bosch will exploit its global manufacturing footprint to scale the product into the Australian and global markets. Bosch has over 100 years of manufacturing expertise and a global network of some 240 manufacturing sites.

“Our manufacturing business is in the unique position to help Australian start-ups, like Bodd, to scale their business internationally. We are excited to take this journey with Bodd” said Gavin Smith, President of Bosch Oceania.

The Bodd 3D scanners capture a unique and comprehensive dataset, or digital avatar, of a person that maximises both consumer and brand engagement. For example, the highly detailed data can be used to improve the consumer retail shopping experience, both online and in-store, by providing an instant size match for any clothing product. For a pharmacy, a Bodd scanner can recommend lifestyle products, or reverse engineer custom health products and provide valuable health data on customers. In under 60 seconds, consumers can perform an unobtrusive scan of themselves and be in control by sharing their personal data across multiple verticals at their discretion.

Co-Founder and CEO of Bodd, Rob Fisher said, “Many retailers are unprepared for the digital future. Bodd is in a unique position to provide brands with the most important dataset for their digital future.”

With its highly compact and portable solution, Bodd has set itself the ambitious goal of deploying an initial 5000 scanners into the market over the next 3 years. Its business model is centred on selling software as a service (SaaS), meaning merchants pay nothing upfront for the 3D scanner, but instead commit to a binding 3-year SaaS agreement per scanner.

The Covid-19 environment constantly impacts retailers with closures. The Bodd scanners offer a contactless sizing solution for the fashion industry. Merchants in the uniform sector are already achieving >200% ROI by deploying Bodd scanners. Through addressing the issue of sizing returns, Bodd aims to alleviate the monumental wastage that results, not only in financial terms but also as a cost to the environment.

Growth in Oceania

Bosch is committed to strengthening the competitiveness of the Australian manufacturing sector, recently opening a new Manufacturing Automation Centre at the Bosch Oceania headquarters in Clayton.

The BAMS division has become one of the country’s leading factory automation companies, working with a diverse array of blue-chip, mid-tier and start-up manufacturers to automate their manufacturing. Bosch Oceania continues its growth momentum with registered sales of AUD 1.05 billion in the region in 2020.

The BAMS business is growing rapidly with considerable employment opportunities in Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing. Bosch Australia was recently ranked as one of the top ten workplaces to grow your career in Australia (rank #6) by LinkedIn.

Find out more about Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions