Siemens showed pioneering achievements in electromobility at an exceptional event held at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The company presented for the first time an exact replica of the historic “Electric Victoria” – an electric car that was used in Berlin as an elegant hotel taxi beginning in 1905. The event also highlighted modern electric cars, an electric motorcycle, charging stations and other exhibits offering a look at the present and future of electromobility. Siemens demonstrated the interrelationship among renewable energies, smart grids and electric cars as temporary power storage units. “Siemens is holding this event to support efforts by the federal government to showcase Germany as the leading market for electromobility at the upcoming electromobility summit on May 3. Siemens is the technology partner for developing cars and infrastructure into a sustainable system for electromobility,” explained Wolfgang Dehen, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of the Energy Sector. At the event, many visitors were able to enjoy test drives in the historic and modern electric cars.
Siemens again showed outstanding profitability in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, increasing net income 48 percent year-over-year, to €1.5 billion. Total Sectors profit rose 16 percent to around €2.1 billion. Siemens subsequently raised its profit forecast and now expects Total Sectors profit to exceed the prior-year level of around €7.5 billion. “Siemens has again demonstrated its profitability impressively. In this regard we are profiting in particular from measures we initiated early on to strengthen our competitiveness,” said Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens AG. “In times of crisis we very intentionally maintained our innovation power and are asserting our strength in the market. We expect Total Sectors profit above the prior-year level.”
“Siemens has again demonstrated its profitability impressively,” said Siemens CEO Peter Löscher. “In this regard we are profiting in particular from measures we initiated early on to strengthen our competitiveness. In times of crisis we very intentionally maintained our innovation power and are asserting our strength in the market. We expect Total Sectors profit above the prior-year level."
In about 48 hours, the first of a total of some 70 million visitors will descend on the World Expo in Shanghai, the largest world exposition of all time. This event will pose a severe test for the city’s infrastructure, which has therefore been upgraded in time for the expo’s opening on May 1, 2010. And Siemens has supplied much of the infrastructure, providing technology worth more than €1 billion. About 90 percent of this amount is related to sustainable, environmentally friendly products and solutions – for example, for efficient transportation and clean air and water in Shanghai. Siemens has also supplied technology used in more than 40 projects on the exhibition grounds. As Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said, “The entire Expo is our pavilion.”
We released our results for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2010 on April 29, 2010. The conference call was broadcast live on the internet.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the Supervisory Board of Siemens appointed Joe Kaeser (52) and Hermann Requardt (55) as Members of the Managing Board of Siemens AG for a further five years. The decision takes effect on April 1, 2011 when their current appointments expire. With its decision, the Supervisory Board acknowledged the successful work of the two members who have served on the Siemens Managing Board since May 1, 2006.
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.