Siemens
Siemens AG is a German multinational technology company. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the position of global market leader in industrial AI, automation, and industrial software.
The origins of the conglomerate can be traced back to 1847 to the Telegraphen Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske established in Berlin by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. In 1966, the present-day corporation emerged from the merger of three companies: Siemens & Halske, Siemens-Schuckert, and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke. Today headquartered in Munich and Berlin, Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 320,000 people worldwide and reported a global revenue of around €78 billion in 2023. The company is a component of the DAX and Euro Stoxx 50 stock market indices. As of December 2023, Siemens is the second largest German company by market capitalization.
As of 2023, the principal divisions of Siemens are Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, Mobility, and Financial Services, with Siemens Mobility operating as an independent entity. Major business divisions that were once part of Siemens before being spun off include semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies, Siemens Mobile, Gigaset Communications, the photonics business Osram, Siemens Healthineers, and Siemens Energy.
History
1847 to 1901
was founded by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske on 1 October 1847. Based on the telegraph, their invention used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. The company, then called Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske, opened its first workshop on 12 October.In 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe: 500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In 1850, the founder's younger brother, Carl Wilhelm Siemens, later Sir William Siemens, started to represent the company in London. The London agency became a branch office in 1858. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long-distance telegraph networks in Russia. In 1855, a company branch headed by another brother, Carl Heinrich von Siemens, opened in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European telegraph line stretching over 11,000 km from London to Calcutta.
In 1867, Werner von Siemens described a dynamo without permanent magnets.
A similar system was also independently invented by Ányos Jedlik and Charles Wheatstone, but Siemens became the first company to build such devices. In 1881, a Siemens AC Alternator driven by a watermill was used to power the world's first electric street lighting in the town of Godalming, United Kingdom. The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs. In 1885, Siemens sold one of its generators to George Westinghouse, thereby enabling Westinghouse to begin experimenting with AC networks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 1887, Siemens opened its first office in Japan. In 1890, the founder retired and left the running of the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm. In 1892, Siemens was contracted to construct the Hobart electric tramway in Tasmania, Australia, as it increased its markets. The system opened in 1893 and became the first complete electric tram network in the Southern Hemisphere.
1901 to 1933
Siemens & Halske was incorporated in 1897 and then merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co., Nuremberg, in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert. In 1907, Siemens had 34,324 employees and was the seventh-largest company in the German empire by number of employees.In 1919, S & H and two other companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company.
During the 1920s and 1930s, S & H started to manufacture radios, television sets, and electron microscopes.
In 1932, Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall, Phönix AG and Siemens-Reiniger-Veifa mbH merged to form the Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG, the third of the so-called parent companies that merged in 1966 to form the present-day Siemens AG.
In the 1920s, Siemens constructed the Ardnacrusha Hydro Power station on the River Shannon in the then Irish Free State, and it was a world first for its design. The company is remembered for its desire to raise the wages of its underpaid workers, only to be overruled by the Cumann na nGaedheal government.
1933 to 1945
Siemens exploited the forced labour of deported people in extermination camps. The company owned a plant in Auschwitz concentration camp.Siemens exploited the forced labour of women deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp; a Siemens factory was located in front of the camp.
During the final years of World War II, numerous plants and factories in Berlin and other major cities were destroyed by Allied air raids. To prevent further losses, manufacturing was therefore moved to alternative places and regions not affected by the air war. The goal was to secure continued production of important war-related and everyday goods. According to records, Siemens was operating almost 400 alternative or relocated manufacturing plants at the end of 1944 and in early 1945.
In 1972, Siemens sued German satirist F.C. Delius for his satirical history of the company, Unsere Siemens-Welt, and it was determined much of the book contained false claims although the trial itself publicized Siemens's history in Nazi Germany. The company supplied electrical parts to Nazi concentration camps and death camps. The factories had poor working conditions, where malnutrition and death were common. Also, the scholarship has shown that the camp factories were created, run, and supplied by the SS, in conjunction with company officials, sometimes high-level officials.
1945 to 2001
In the 1950s, and from their new base in Bavaria, S&H started to manufacture computers, semiconductor devices, washing machines, and pacemakers. In 1966, Siemens & Halske, Siemens-Schuckertwerke and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke merged to form Siemens AG. In 1969, Siemens formed Kraftwerk Union with AEG by pooling their nuclear power businesses.File:Siemens-electron-microscope.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A 1973 Siemens electron microscope on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris
The company's first digital telephone exchange was produced in 1980, and in 1988, Siemens and GEC acquired the UK defence and technology company Plessey. Plessey's holdings were split, and Siemens took over the avionics, radar and traffic control businesses—as Siemens Plessey.
In 1977, Advanced Micro Devices entered into a joint venture with Siemens, which wanted to enhance its technology expertise and enter the American market. Siemens purchased 20% of AMD's stock, giving the company an infusion of cash to increase its product lines. The two companies also jointly established Advanced Micro Computers, located in Silicon Valley and in Germany, allowing AMD to enter the microcomputer development and manufacturing field, in particular based on AMD's second-source Zilog Z8000 microprocessors. When the two companies' vision for Advanced Micro Computers diverged, AMD bought out Siemens's stake in the American division in 1979. AMD closed Advanced Micro Computers in late 1981 after switching focus to manufacturing second-source Intel x86 microprocessors.
In 1985, Siemens bought Allis-Chalmers' interest in the partnership company Siemens-Allis which supplied electrical control equipment. It was incorporated into Siemens's Energy and Automation division.
In 1987, Siemens reintegrated Kraftwerk Union, the unit overseeing nuclear power business.
In 1987, Siemens acquired Kongsberg Offshore from the Norwegian Government, selling it on to FMC Technologies in 1993.
In 1989, Siemens bought the solar photovoltaic business, including 3 solar module manufacturing plants, from industry pioneer ARCO Solar, owned by oil firm ARCO.
In 1991, Siemens acquired Nixdorf Computer and renamed it Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme, in order to produce personal computers.
In October 1991, Siemens acquired the Industrial Systems Division of Texas Instruments, based in Johnson City, Tennessee. This division was organized as Siemens Industrial Automation, and was later absorbed by Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc.
In 1992, Siemens bought out IBM's half of ROLM, thus creating SiemensROLM Communications; eventually dropping ROLM from the name later in the 1990s.
In 1993–1994, Siemens C651 electric trains for Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit system were built in Austria.
In 1997, Siemens agreed to sell the defence arm of Siemens Plessey to British Aerospace and a German aerospace company, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. BAe and DASA acquired the British and German divisions of the operation respectively.
In October 1997, Siemens Financial Services was founded to act as a competence center for financing issues and as a manager of financial risks within Siemens.
In 1998, Siemens acquired Westinghouse Power Generation for more than $1.5 billion from the CBS Corporation and moving Siemens from third to second in the world power generation market.
In 1999, Siemens's semiconductor operations were spun off into a new company called Infineon Technologies. Its Electromechanical Components operations were converted into a legally independent company: Siemens Electromechanical Components GmbH & Co. KG, (which, later that year, was sold to Tyco International Ltd for approximately $1.1 billion.
In the same year, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG became part of Fujitsu Siemens Computers, with its retail banking technology group becoming Wincor Nixdorf.
In 2000, Shared Medical Systems Corporation was acquired by the Siemens's Medical Engineering Group, eventually becoming part of Siemens Medical Solutions.
Also in 2000, Atecs-Mannesman was acquired by Siemens, The sale was finalised in April 2001 with 50% of the shares acquired, acquisition, Mannesmann VDO AG merged into Siemens Automotive forming Siemens VDO Automotive AG, Atecs Mannesmann Dematic Systems merged into Siemens Production and Logistics forming Siemens Dematic AG, Mannesmann Demag Delaval merged into the Power Generation division of Siemens AG. Other parts of the company were acquired by Robert Bosch GmbH at the same time. Also, Moore Products Co. of Spring House, PA USA was acquired by Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.