Siemens AG Austria Section DEMATIC

Luger, Elisabeth

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Siemens AG Austria Section DEMATIC

Seminar Paper, 2003

20 Pages, Grade: B/C

Elisabeth Luger (Author)

Excerpt

1. Introduction

2. Siemens as a company
2.1 Annual Report
2.2 Media Reports with Comments

3. Inside Siemens
3.1 The Different Divisions
3.2 Division "DEMATIC"
3.2.1 Human Recourse Management (Author: Eva; Editor: Angela)
3.2.2 Outside Influences on Siemens DEMATIC
3.2.3 Cross Cultural Management

4. Summary

1. Introduction

While discovering that Siemens Austria is going to be too big as we could present it in one hour we took a only one of the most successful parts of Siemens which is called Siemens Dematic. Our company presentation is based on this particular part of the company - the logistics division of Siemens AG Austria.

Followed by some history and general information we want to focus on our three special topics Human Recourse Management, Outside Influences on Siemens and Cross Cultural Management. For the critical revue we chose the Annual Report and some articles in Austrian Newspapers, which you can find in the Appendix to our paper.

2. Siemens as a company

Werner von Siemens, the founder, was born on the 13.th of December near Hanover. His numerous innovative ideas, for example in the field of telegraphy made him to the visionary in engineering history. To built his first telegraph he used just a piece of wire, one cigarette packet, and as mall piece of iron.^[1]

Due to collaborations with other nations in order to find innovative solutions, Werner von Siemens built up a global network and consequently the today’s working multinational.^[2] He started the expansion to England and Russia, later Asia and America.^[3] Today Siemens is to be found in more than 190 countries.^[4] Siemens AG Austria is the most successful of all Siemens national companies around the world. As part of the “Global Network of Innovation” Siemens Austria sees itself as an Austrian company with European and international ties and orientation in a way as a “Regional Network of Innovation”. Therefore Siemens AG Austria represents a special significance for the domestic economy and value added.^[5] The annual report talks about a “ Corporate Citizenship” and refers to contributions to art and culture as well as social matters.^[6] Siemens AG Austria employs more than 19,000 people, and sees them as the most valuable resource and guarantee for long-term success in the interest of all Siemens AG Austria customers.^[7]

This appears very nice, but if we remember what happened to INFENEON, a division that has been outsourced, got into big trouble and was forced to dismiss its members, this information is not really very reliable.

In Austria Siemens Dematic belongs as 100% division to Siemens AG Österreich. In Germany Siemens Dematic is a company of its own, organized as PLC. The following information refers to Siemens Dematic in Austria.

Siemens Dematic was established in October 2001 by a merger of the former PL (Production and Logistics Systems) and the former Dematic (Mannesmann Dematic).

At the time of the merger Siemens Dematic in Austria counted 76 members. Today 88 people are employed. Siemens Dematic became the world leader in logistic solutions, from automotive, the air cargo and baggage logistics, distribution logistics to the postal automation. Siemens Dematic acts mostly as general contractor. This includes all steps of a project, like the phase of planning, simulation, conception and realization.^[8]

2.1 Annual Report

Generally the information at the beginning about the economical and political situation surrounding the company is crucial and makes sense to understand the necessary decisions, the company decided to make. But informing oneself about the several divisions, there is not enough or real informative output. A lot of abbreviations that are very common to Siemens-members are to be found.^[9]

We will focus on critical topics we found:

- Key performance figures

The annual report divides the information in Siemens AG Austria and Siemens Group Austria with Infinion and Fujitsu Siemens. The problem is, that there is no information to be found of the difference between Siemens Group Austria and Siemens AG Austria.

They focus on features like: new orders, sales, export sales, capital expenditure, employees, personal costs, R&D expenditure, employee training expenditure. It’s very interesting finding a lot of information about employees – even training costs. This might be a sign of a company that focuses also on well-trained employees.

- Market significance

Here, they split the Austrian market into 9 regions including Vienna, and abroad. They link this information to new orders, sales, and employees.

In my opinion there might be drawn wrong conclusions, because the number of employees sometimes is in no relation to the amount of new orders or sales. The other aspect is, there is no information about abroad – do they talk about Europe the United States, Asia, or the rest of the world?

2.2 Media Reports with Comments

The article in Appendix 1 of” Presse, 01.10.2001” shows the “Corporate Citizenship”, in other words the openness towards culture. The Siemens Forum in Vienna is known for such entertainment.

The article in Appendix 2 of” Kurier, 24.02.2003” refers to the realization of a project of the division “Verkehrstechnik”. Here is a good example for innovative solutions, the core competence of Siemens.