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Global Employer Profile: Siemens AG
Steady Growth in Global Business
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Company Facts |
| Global Footprint: |
- Present in over 190 countries
- Has 600 plants, research facilities and sales offices globally
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| Core Business Areas: |
- Information and Communications
- Automation and Control
- Power and Infrastructure
- Transportation
- Medical
- Lighting
- Services
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| Revenues (2004): |
US$90.7B or €75.2 billion |
| Net Income (2004): |
US$41.084B or €3.405 billion |
| President and CEO: |
Klaus Kleinfeld |
| Contact Address: |
Siemens AG
Wittelsbacherplatz 2
D-80333 Munich
Federal Republic of Germany |
| Telephone: |
+49 89 636-00 |
| Fax: |
+49 89 636-52 000 |
| Number of Employees: |
430,000 |
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With two new contracts (US$362M or 300M euros), in July 2005, to construct a
high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission link between
Sayreville, New Jersey and Long Island, New York; and to supply
Lithuanian Railway with 34 diesel-electric locomotives, the growth
of global business for the Siemens Group is set to continue to at
least the end of the decade.
The HVDC contract with Fairfield, Connecticut-based Neptune Regional
Transmission System, worth about US$217M (180M Euros) for Siemens, is expected to be
completed by Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group (PTD)
in 2007. The US$145M (120M euros) Lithuanian Railway contract will be
completed in 2009 by the Siemens Transportation Systems group.
Siemens is a pioneer in the communication, electronic-electrical
industry and an early global operator. The company was founded in
Berlin 158 years ago in 1847 by two men, Werner Siemens and Johann
Georg Halske. They named the company, Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von
Siemens & Halske and began making telegraph machines based on a
Werner Siemens patent.
Within six years, Siemens & Halske had grown into a global operation with
substantial contracts from the Prussian, Russian and British
governments.
The company continued to expand its global operations well into
the 20th century. In 1870 Siemens & Halske was part of
a consortium that completed construction of a telegraph line from
London to Calcutta. Its first U.S. subsidiary was formed in 1892. By
1896 it had completed construction of continental Europe’s first
underground rail line in Budapest. In 1897 Siemens & Halske went
public. A Siemens-built locomotive set a 1903 world speed record at
210 km/h. In 1909 the company's telecommunications division built
the first metropolitan automatic telephone exchange with a 2,500
line unit capacity for a district in Munich. By 1914, Siemens &
Halske had become one of the world’s foremost players in the
industry.
During the two World Wars, the company's fortunes declined
considerably, but Siemens was always quick to rebuild. Having lost
about 40 percent of its business following the First World War, the
company reorganized and expanded its manufacturing operations. Its
global reach continued to expand with an Irish contract to build a
power plant on the Shannon River in the early 1920s. It also reached
into Asia with a Japanese joint venture to manufacture electrical
products.
The end of the Second World War in 1945 saw Siemens lose about
four-fifths of its total assets. Recovery of its global business
after the war was gradual. In 1956 Siemens completed the building of
the 300MW San Nicolás power plant in Argentina and installed a
national telecommunication network in Saudi Arabia. By the 1960s
Siemens had reestablished its Japanese and American ties.
The 1960s was a period of rapid expansion and consolidation of
Siemens business units. In 1966, Siemens & Halske and two other
business units came together to form Siemens AG. By 1969 the number
of the company's global employees had topped 270,000.
Siemens success as a global company hinges on its ability to quickly
readjust to changing times. Beginning from 1990 the company began a
new round of reorganization to enable it meet the demands of an
increasingly complex global marketplace. Through the creation of new
businesses in Europe and strategic acquisitions in Britain, the USA
and Japan, Siemens was able to position itself as an Information
Technology world leader. Other acquisitions have enabled Siemens to
grow and strengthen its business in other areas as well. Siemens
bought the Power generation unit of Westinghouse in 1998. The
company has continued to grow its global business with expansions
into Central and Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific region and Africa.
Its African operations include Siemens Nigeria Limited, which has
been an active participant in infrastructure developments in
Nigeria since 1972. Siemens Nigeria is involved in the communications
sector in the country where it is responsible for building
local and international telephone exchanges, laying marine fibre
optical cables and constructing backbone and gateway projects for
national carrier, NITEL and other telephone operators.
Siemens Power and Infrastructure division has also built power
stations and distribution lines for Nigeria's National Electric
Power Authority (NEPA).
In 2003, Siemens became a
participant in the oil sector of Nigeria -- the largest oil producer
in Africa, the eleventh largest in the world and fifth largest
supplier to the US -- when it opened a workshop for
servicing the oil and gas industry in Port Harcourt.
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