Could there be a tougher practical test? Finn Tiede, five years old and already a DIY enthusiast, grabs the brand new Bosch Ventaro PSM 1400 multi sander at home and sets to work on the desk his daddy had made. The young handyman had no complaints. "He got on fine with the sander. The Ventaro is light, handy and easy to operate," says his father, Steffen Tiede, with a note of satisfaction. The 34-year-old father of three sons was actually responsible for developing the latest innovative range of sanders for the Bosch division Power Tools. That’s why the verdict at home was particularly important to him.

Steffen Tiede’s group in product development comes up with concepts for new DIY equipment. Tiede stresses the importance of teamwork: "One person alone can’t achieve anything. You need to share and discuss your thoughts with others. This usually results in better, more developed ideas." The Ventaro includes around ten inventions devised by various experts. Tiede himself puzzled out the connection between the actual sander and the hose – with just a turn and a click, the parts are securely fastened together. The neat mechanism is only one of 40 patent applications the engineer has written since he started at Power Tools ten years ago.

Tiede first demonstrated his penchant for innovation and experimentation at an early age. When just ten years old, he made a kind of wooden snow plow because a shovel wasn’t effective enough for him, and he also made the speakers for his hi-fi system himself. After an apprenticeship in industrial mechanics at Bosch, accompanied by three years at vocational college and a subsequent study of mechatronics, Tiede turned his combined passion for both research and DIY into his profession. "I get excited by discovering new areas that no one has ever investigated before. At Power Tools, it fascinates me that you can be involved in the entire development of a product. By the end you literally know every screw."