For the first time in the company’s 163-year history, a U.S. president has visited a Siemens factory. On Tuesday, during his tour of the Midwest, Barack Obama made a stop at the plant manufacturing components for wind power generation in Fort Madison in the U.S. state of Iowa. The plant, which was opened in mid-2007 and has recently been expanded, has a workforce of 600 employees and produces rotor blades for wind turbines.
Siemens AG is on track to make another two important personnel decisions. Current President and CEO of Siemens China, Richard Hausmann, 49, will assume management of the forward-looking Siemens project that deals with all aspects of Smart Grid applications. The project involves developing new products, solutions and services for intelligent power grids, including, for example, how they will interact in the future with electrically powered vehicles. “Richard Hausmann was very successful in expanding business in China and more than doubled our revenue there in just five years. His experience in this highly dynamic market makes him the ideal candidate to develop new business models for Siemens in one of the most important future markets in the new energy age,” said Siemens Energy CEO Wolfgang Dehen, to whom Richard Hausmann will directly report. His successor as President and CEO in China will be Mei Wei Cheng, 60, who was previously Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor in China. “We intend to further expand the added value in our most important growth markets and intensify our excellent contacts with Chinese customers. Mei Wei Cheng has decades of experience and a corresponding network of contacts to successfully move us forward in a highly competitive environment,” continued Dehen, who is also the Member of the Siemens Managing Board responsible for the Asia Region.
Denice Kronau (51) has been appointed Chief Diversity Officer at Siemens, effective June 1, 2010. A U.S. citizen, Ms. Kronau was most recently CFO of the Diagnostics Division of Siemens’ Healthcare Sector. “With Denice Kronau we have found a highly experienced personality who enjoys an excellent reputation both inside and outside Siemens. She will shape the second phase of our Diversity Initiative. Our aim now is to unleash our dynamic global networks in order to foster diversity in every corner of Siemens,” said Siemens President and CEO Peter Löscher.
Siemens has joined the Corporate Ethics Initiative, which aims to foster ethical and clean business activities in Russia. The company is one of the organization’s 46 founding members, the majority of whom are multinational companies headquartered in Germany.
Many thousands of people who arrive in Venice every day by car, bus or cruise ship have been looking forward to this day: A passenger transport system known as the Cable Liner which was custom-built for Venice has now gone into operation. With a capacity of 200 people per car, the cable-operated tram can very comfortably transport 3,000 passengers an hour in each direction. Constructed by Doppelmayr and Siemens, the people mover glides above Venice – energy-efficient, emission-free and fully automated, moving on noiseless rubber tires at a speed of about 30km/h. Supported by steel girders with an average height of five meters, the 870-meter Cable Liner link covers the 870 meters between the island of Tronchetto – with its port and parking garage – and Piazzale Roma – the point of departure for the historic center of Venice – in about three minutes.
Siemens AG will create about 100 jobs for highly-qualified personnel at its location in Bad Neustadt, Germany. The company made this announcement following high-level talks between the Minister President of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer, and Siemens’ President and CEO Peter Löscher regarding the further development of the Siemens location in Germany’s Rhön region (Bavaria). “We’re increasing our innovative strength in promising technology fields that are of major significance for Siemens. This is important for the Rhön. This is good for Bavaria and, thus, also for Germany as a high-tech location,” said Siemens’ President and CEO Peter Löscher after the meeting, which was also attended by Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Zeil, the President of the Bavarian Parliament Barbara Stamm, Siemens’ Chief Human Resources Officer Siegfried Russwurm and the Chairman of Siemens’ Central Works Council Lothar Adler.
The United Nations and Siemens joined forces today to make cities more livable and promote sustainable urban development. A framework agreement to this effect was signed today at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro. Siemens and the Siemens Stiftung will be partners in the World Urban Campaign (WUC) of the UN-HABITAT program, the United Nation’s agency for housing and sustainable urban development. The program brings together representatives of cities, government agencies, the private sector and non-government organizations with the aim of working on solutions for the cities of the future. The agreement will initially be in effect for three years.
Siemens AG is orienting its IT business toward promising solution areas and is therefore planning to make additional investments of more than €500 million by 2012. These investments are primarily intended to help Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS) offer customers economical IT solutions to an even greater extent than before. The solutions business will form the second pillar – alongside IT outsourcing – of the SIS organization, which will be considerably simpler in the future. The solutions business will combine IT systems integration services and industry-related IT solutions – services and solutions that will also benefit the Siemens’ Energy, Industry and Healthcare Sectors. To date, the IT division has comprised seven business units. “The combination of IT outsourcing and specific industry solutions makes SIS an excellent partner for comprehensive IT consulting and IT management and can build on the specific industry and software knowhow of the Siemens Sectors, which are world-leaders in their businesses,” said Siemens CFO Joe Kaeser. “We want to put SIS on a solid long-term foundation,” emphasized Christian Oecking, acting CEO of the IT business. As part of the reorientation, plans call for eliminating some 4,200 of about 35,000 jobs worldwide by 2011. Roughly 2,000 of the jobs affected are in Germany, primarily at major locations for example in Munich and Paderborn as well as the Nuremberg/Erlangen metropolitan area. “We will implement these measures responsibly. The clear focus will make our IT business fit for the future,” stated Siemens Chief Human Resources Officer Siegfried Russwurm.
In fiscal 2010, Siemens will again provide 250 additional training positions for disadvantaged young people throughout Germany. For the third year in a row, the company will invest €30 million in training positions. “Our experience with the program has been very positive. That’s why we’ve decided to keep supporting disadvantaged young people – especially in light of the current economic situation. Well-qualified young people are our most important asset for the future,” said Siemens’ Chief Human Resources Officer Siegfried Russwurm. The aim of the Siemens program is to provide opportunities to young people – many with migration backgrounds – who have not yet obtained training positions due to low academic performance or weak basic skills.
Siemens expands its strong presence in the United States by building a new production plant for 60-Hertz gas turbines at its existing facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company will create a new global production hub for gas and steam turbines and generators for supply to the U.S. and other 60-Hz markets. The initial investment will be approximately $135 million. Production is slated to start in the fall of 2011.