When it comes to performance our proven top⁺ processes and procedures ensure that we all speak the same language. We set clear and measurable goals and define and rigorously implement the concrete measures required to achieve them. Our Company-wide top⁺ programs – Innovation, Customer Focus and Global Competitiveness – give us the tools we need to remain successful in global competition over the long term, to supply our customers with outstanding products, systems and solutions, and to master the new market challenges confronting our businesses. 

To set new market trends and maintain our technological leadership, we take a systematic approach to identifying innovative business models, products and markets. Our innovations are powering important future-oriented technologies – for example, the separation and storage of the greenhouse gases. We employ rigorous innovation benchmarking, systematically comparing our businesses with those of our competitors to identify the success factors and levers crucial to strengthening our innovation processes. Dialogue with customers is also essential. We collaborate closely with industry-leading customers to make sure we remain their preferred partners for innovation leadership in the future. Everywhere, our objective is the same: to leverage our power of innovation in order to deliver top performance in the face of global competition.

We supply tailored products and solutions to help customers achieve their goals in the global arena. To coordinate our offerings worldwide, we’ve set up a strategic account management program. To ensure that our solutions are optimally geared to customer needs, we’re constantly improving our understanding of customer processes and structures. And to better leverage our know-how for the benefit of our customers, we systematically compile and disseminate information Company-wide. Siemens One is what we call our strategy to enhance customer satisfaction by bundling the offerings of our businesses in order to develop individualized, ­single-source solutions. We’ve combined the expertise of all our businesses in 13 Sector Development Boards. These boards provide our sales units with the know-how and support they need to cooperate with customers in creating future-proof end-to-end solutions. Our recent project for Lisbon’s Hospital da Luz is a prime example of how our efforts are paying off. Working with the Portuguese investor group Espírito Santo Saúde, our Healthcare Sector Development Board combined the offerings of a wide range of Siemens businesses – Med, I&S, SBT, SIS, A&D, PTD and SEN – to develop a fully integrated healthcare campus that includes more than 30 specialist clinics and doctors’ offices, a 130-bed general hospital, an assisted-living facility and a nursing home. The solution encompasses everything from the most advanced medical systems and IT and telecommunications technologies to energy, lighting and building systems. Using an integrated IT infrastructure geared specifically to healthcare workflows, Hospital da Luz is making the paperless clinic a reality. The result is not only better patient care but also greater safety, comfort and convenience for patients, residents and healthcare professionals alike.

To meet the challenges of today’s global market, we have to be competitive at every point in the value chain. That’s why we’re optimizing our existing structures and continually upgrading our processes. We’re also strengthening our businesses by expanding our product portfolio and adjusting our value chains in high-growth markets such as Asia. For instance, we’ve introduced a standardized purchasing process that has cut procurement costs substantially over the last few years. The use of advanced production systems is enabling us to make continuous gains in productivity every year. By increasingly integrating our production facilities into high-growth markets, we’re paving the way for outstanding operational results worldwide. And we haven’t lost sight of quality. Extensive training and certification programs for project managers and the introduction of quality assurance gates have noticeably improved our project management. Over the last few years, we’ve also increased the quality and considerably reduced the costs of our own internal services by bundling them in a new Global Shared Services unit.