Siemens AG announced Tuesday it is planning an initial investment of US$868 million in transforming itself into an electronically driven company.
The company said in a statement that all of its processes, from procurement to marketing, from development to controlling, will be coordinated via a series of so called Centers of E-Excellence, the first of which opened Tuesday at Munich airport.
The company said all of its 440,000 employees, in over 190 countries, would have Internet access within a year, allowing the pooling of knowledge between the company’s various divisions. To that end, terminals will be installed in manufacturing facilities.
Siemens added that around 70 per cent of its activities are already networked electronically, and that with the use of Internet procurement, the 10 per cent of its total procurement volume of 35 billion euros that is now processed electronically will rise to 50 per cent.
Stating its goal to “nurture new ideas,” Siemens announced that four young high-tech companies have taken up residence in the Munich airport facility.
Siemens, in Munich, can be reached at http://www.siemens.com/.