Siemens Laboratory

Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.

The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''Energy'', ''Healthcare'' (Siemens Healthineers), and ''Infrastructure & Cities'', which represent the main activities of the corporation. The corporation is a prominent maker of medical diagnostics equipment and its medical health-care division, which generates about 12 percent of the corporation's total sales, is its second-most profitable unit, after the industrial automation division. In this area, it is regarded as a pioneer and the company with the highest revenue in the world. The corporation is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 303,000 people worldwide and reported global revenue of around €62 billion in 2021 according to its earnings release.

History

1847 to 1901

Siemens & Halske 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 were contracted to construct the Hobart electric tramway in Tasmania, Australia as they increased their markets. The system opened in 1893 and became the first complete electric tram network in the Southern Hemisphere.

1901 to 1933

Siemens & Halske (S & H) was incorporated in 1897, and then merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co., Nuremberg in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert. In 1907, Siemens ( Siemens & Halske and Siemens-Schuckert) had 34,324 employees and was the seventh-largest company in the German empire by number of employees. (see List of German companies by employees in 1907)

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 (Erlangen), Phönix AG (Rudolstadt) and Siemens-Reiniger-Veifa mbH (Berlin) merged to form the Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG (SRW), 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 under-paid workers only to be overruled by the Cumann na nGaedheal government.

1933 to 1945

Siemens (at the time: Siemens-Schuckert) 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 in the concentration camp of Ravensbrück. The 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' 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 (S&H, founded in 1847), Siemens-Schuckertwerke (SSW, founded in 1903) and Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW, founded in 1932) merged to form Siemens AG. In 1969, Siemens formed Kraftwerk Union with AEG by pooling their nuclear power businesses.

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 (AMD) entered into a joint venture with Siemens, which wanted to enhance its technology expertise and enter the American market.Malerba, Franco
''The Semiconductor Business: The Economics of Rapid Growth and Decline''
University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. p. 166. 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 (AMC), located in Silicon Valley and in Germany, allowing AMD to enter the microcomputer development and manufacturing field,Rodengen, p. 60. 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' 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.Freiberger, Paul
"AMD sued for alleged misuse of subsidiary's secrets"
''InfoWorld''. 20 June 1983. p. 28.Swaine, Michael
"Eight Companies to produce the 8086 chip"
''InfoWorld''. 30 November 1981. p. 78.

In 1985, Siemens bought Allis-Chalmers' interest in the partnership company Siemens-Allis (formed 1978) which supplied electrical control equipment. It was incorporated into Siemens' Energy and Automation division.

In 1987, Siemens reintegrated Kraftwerk Union, the unit overseeing nuclear power business.

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 AG and renamed it Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, in order to produce personal computers.

In October 1991, Siemens acquired the Industrial Systems Division of Texas Instruments, Inc, based in Johnson City, Tennessee. This division was organized as Siemens Industrial Automation, Inc., and was later absorbed by Siemens Energy and Automation, Inc.

In 1992, Siemens bought out IBM's half of ROLM (Siemens had bought into ROLM five years earlier), 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 (MRT) system were built in Austria.

In 1997, Siemens agreed to sell the defence arm of Siemens Plessey to British Aerospace (BAe) 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 (SFS) 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' 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 AG, with its retail banking technology group becoming Wincor Nixdorf.

In 2000, Shared Medical Systems Corporation was acquired by the Siemens' 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.

2001 to 2005

In 2001, Chemtech Group of Brazil was incorporated into the Siemens Group; it provides industrial process optimisation, consultancy and other engineering services.

Also in 2001, Siemens formed joint venture Framatome with Areva SA of France by merging much of the companies' nuclear businesses.

In 2002, Siemens sold some of its business activities to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR), with its metering business included in the sale package.

In 2002, Siemens abandoned the solar photovoltaic industry by selling its participation in a joint-venture company, established in 2001 with Shell and E.ON, to Shell.

In 2003, Siemens acquired the flow division of Danfoss and incorporated it into the Automation and Drives division. Also in 2003 Siemens acquired IndX software (realtime data organisation and presentation). The same year in an unrelated development Siemens reopened its office in Kabul. Also in 2003 agreed to buy Alstom Industrial Turbines; a manufacturer of small, medium and industrial gas turbines for €1.1 billion.
On 11 February 2003, Siemens planned to shorten phones' shelf life by bringing out annual Xelibri lines, with new devices launched as spring -summer and autumn-winter collections. On 6 March 2003, the company opened an office in San Jose. On 7 March 2003, the company announced that it planned to gain 10 per cent of the mainland China market for handsets. On 18 March 2003, the company unveiled the latest in its series of Xelibri fashion phones.

In 2004, the wind energy company Bonus Energy in Brande

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases