Hermann O. Franz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG from 1993 to 1998 and longtime member of the company's Managing Board, died on October 7, 2016 at the age of 87.
- Centralized storage facility planned for Digital Factory Division in Amberg region
- Company's global enterprise IT activities to be modernized and digitalized
- Bundling of training expertise in Germany
Siemens is rigorously pursuing further targeted efficiency improvements at individual businesses. Plans call, among other things, for reviewing the geographical setup of Siemens' own IT activities and driving the digitalization of its own processes. A centralization of the storage facilities at the Digital Factory Division is also planned. These steps will be accompanied by a bundling of training expertise in order to continue meeting the requirements of the future working world as well as by measures to secure the competitive position of the Mobility Division.
- Future Energy Systems Campus established
- Framework agreement between Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and Siemens
- Focus on development of sustainable, affordable and reliable energy systems
- Siemens to invest eight-figure euro amount over three years
In line with its new company strategy, Siemens is reorienting its research activities toward the innovation fields of electrification, automation and digitalization in order to further strengthen its leading technology position in these areas. Siemens is the first company to form a research alliance with leading universities and institutions in this connection – an alliance that aims to combine outstanding expertise with a new, all-inclusive approach and make possible wide-ranging innovations in processes and systems.
- Company provides practical support and donations totaling around €2 million
- Paid leave of up to five days a year for voluntary helpers with certain qualifications
- Internships to be offered at additional locations
- Establishment of special classes for refugees planned
- Further facilities to be made available for enabling municipalities to provide accommodations to refugees
Together with its employees, Siemens is launching a multi-stage, long-term program for integrating refugees in Germany. For this purpose, the company is quickly providing donations worth a total of €1 million. This will be supplemented by practical support worth an equivalent amount.
- Construction nearly complete by turn of the year
- Opening ceremony of new headquarters in summer of 2016
- Lighthouse project for Siemens Real Estate
Construction of the new Siemens headquarters building at Wittelsbacherplatz in Munich is now virtually complete. When it opens its doors in 2016, the building will provide a modern, inspiring work environment for up to 1,200 employees on roughly 45,000 square meters of above-ground floor space. Environmental friendliness and energy efficiency are playing a key role: the new building will meet the world's highest sustainability standards.
- Form a 50:50 joint venture in high-voltage powertrains for electric cars
- Strong partners with complementary scope and portfolio
- New joint venture becomes strong player in the fast growing market of automotive electrification
- Focus to provide innovative and affordable high-voltage components and systems for electric cars in global mass markets
Siemens and Valeo have signed an agreement to form a joint venture in high voltage powertrains. With this move the companies create a global leader of innovative and affordable high-voltage components and systems for the entire range of electric vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles. Building upon their complementary scope and portfolio, the joint venture will provide substantial synergies in manufacturing and sourcing and create a base for sustained growth and profitability. The electric vehicle components market is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of more than 20% until 2020. According to the agreement, Siemens and Valeo will each hold a 50% stake in the joint venture, have joint control and account for their respective stake using the equity method.
- New unit to create more space for founder and startup culture
- Innovation funds of €100 million for employee ideas
- New research centers in China and Munich
- Company-wide Sinalytics platform for digital services
- Nine researchers honored for around 650 inventions
In the current fiscal year 2016, Siemens will invest around €4.8 billion in research and development (R&D) – some €300 million more than last fiscal year. R&D investment has thus increased about 20 percent since fiscal 2014. A major part of the additional funds is earmarked for automation, digitalization and decentralized energy systems. In fiscal 2015, research intensity ‒ defined as the ratio of R&D expenditures to revenue ‒ was 5.9 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the prior year. The company is also launching a bundle of measures to further increase its power of innovation.
- Automation and Digitalization Campus to be established
- Collaborative research with the Technische Universität München, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security
- New technology base for automation, Internet of Things, cloud solutions, IT security and smart data
- Siemens to invest a sum in the double-digit million-euro range over three years
Partners from industry and science are joining forces in a novel collaborative research alliance to address the future-oriented fields of automation and digitalization. Siemens is the first company to forge a research alliance with universities and research institutes that will utilize a new, fully integrated approach in order to bundle outstanding expertise and make possible wide-ranging innovations in processes and systems.
- Sale to EQT with Wallenberg family as anchor investor and to Strüngmann family as co-investor for €2.15 billion plus earn-out component
- Siemens reinvests €200 million in preferred equity
- Transaction closing expected in first quarter of calendar 2015
Siemens is selling Siemens Audiology Solutions to the investment company EQT and Germany's Strüngmann family of entrepreneurs as co-investor for €2.15 billion plus an earn-out component. Due to the very attractive offer made by the two investors, Siemens has decided not to further pursue preparations for the public listing it announced in May. "In the past years Siemens Healthcare has invested significantly in its audiology business. Both EQT with the Wallenberg family as anchor investor and the Strüngmann family have outstanding reputations and extensive experience in the healthcare sector. Not only is the transaction excellent from a financial perspective; we're also convinced that both investors have a clear growth strategy for further developing the hearing aid business over the long term," said Hermann Requardt, CEO of Siemens Healthcare and member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG. Siemens will remain invested in the hearing aid business with preferred equity of €200 million and benefit from future business successes. In addition, Siemens will have a seat on the board of the buyer group. Under the terms of the agreement, the new owners will also be allowed to continue using the Siemens product brand for the hearing aid business over the medium term.
As part of its realignment, Siemens AG is preparing to publicly list its audiology activities in order to give the business an opportunity to better leverage its potential outside the company. Step by step, Siemens' hearing aid activities have succeeded in capturing a strong market position in recent years. Experts predict that by 2020 the market for hearing aids will have grown by an average of four percent per year.