• Growing business with innovative solutions and by proximity to customers in Asia Pacific
SINGAPORE, June 23, 2008 -- Siemens Water Technologies in Singapore has started providing water treatment solutions and services in South East Asia, India and China. "We expand our business network out from Singapore with innovative products, water treatment solutions and operational services in order to reinforce our local presence and our proximity to the customer", explained Chuck Gordon, CEO of Siemens Water Technologies, to the press in Singapore on Monday. He is expecting "considerable" further growth in the Asia Region thanks to establishing the worldwide R&D Center of Water Technologies in Singapore. "Unlike elsewhere Singapore public authorities and research institutes have proactively identified the urgency of water management and the need for innovative technological solutions and services", Gordon said. This provides an ideal background for further expansion of business.
For instance Siemens Water Technologies has been awarded the first-ever Innovative Technology Challenge from Singapore's Environment and Water Industry Development Council (EWI) for development of advanced desalination technology, which could cut energy consumption by at least 50% compared to existing desalination technologies. Siemens Water Technologies' executives accepted the 4 million SGD research grant on June 23 at the Singapore International Water Week.
Siemens Water Technologies and the Singapore Public Utility Board (PUB) also have agreed to cooperate on a full-scale membrane bioreactor testing facility at PUB's Changi Water Reclamation Plant. The new, 250,000 gpd (1,0 Mio liters/day) MBR system will treat domestic wastewater and test new innovative design parameters for the Siemens MBR system. PUB will provide the location for the new plant, while Siemens will be responsible for all operation and maintenance aspects of the validation plant. Siemens expects the plant to be in operation for a minimum of 5 years.
"We are surrounded in Singapore by Asian countries with a high demand for new solutions in water treatment, "said Chuck Gordon. Gordon announced that Siemens Water Technologies is making a significant investment to set up operations in India. This includes a team more than 25 engineers and technology transfer from USA and Singapore. "It is our intention to adress the Indian market with local product solutions and services". Gordon said.
In March 2008 Siemens Water Technologies acquired the Singapore-based private limited Chemitreat Group. With sales of more than 25 million EURO in 2007 and 240 employees, Chemitreat provides water treatment technologies and services in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and China. "Chemitreat has been a very respected player in our region for more than 30 years and covers services from operations to maintenance for both industrial and municipal customers and holds technology expertise in key industrial applications including high purity water treatment".
The acquisition is primarily about geographic expansion in South East Asia allowing better market penetration. "The market segment for water treatment equipment and services is growing by 7-9 percent a year in Asia", Gordon stated, "and Chemitreat helps us to better address the growing water needs of industry and the public in this region". "With Chemitreat we now bring our water treatment and service portfolio to Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines", Gordon said, "This will provide us with a strong platform to accelerate our market entry into other countries, such as India and Vietnam".
The acquisition continues the growth strategy of Siemens in the Asia region. Since 2006 Siemens has ramped up its water treatment business in the Asia-Pacific region with joint ventures in China and a research and development center in Singapore. With an investment of EUR25 million over five years, Singapore will be developed as a business and technology center for research, development and engineering of water and wastewater treatment technologies.
Growing populations are struggling to develop the infrastructure needed to make and keep water clean and available, and commercial consumption is staggering and continues to rise. Siemens isn't just a chronicler of the water story. We have taken an industry-leading leap in creating and producing advanced filtration systems that keep clean water flowing day in and day out. Our commitment, as always, is to innovation that keeps resource needs and usage in harmony.
To serve better customers and penetrate the market Siemens Water Technologies has focused its 28 mainly technology-oriented business units into four new segments aligned to specific markets and target groups. "By integrating our business in this way, we will lay the foundations for further growth in water business and expansion of our position in the market", explained Gordon In the future, the Water Technologies business will be divided among four segments: industry, municipal, chemical feed and services.
Since the acquisition of USFilter in 2004, the worldwide water business of Siemens has grown to a total of 2 billion Euros, according to the latest figures. In addition, the company's water business, which was originally US-based, has business volumes of more than one third outside of U.S. For Gordon, this is a "clear demonstration of what the global Siemens network can achieve". He now expects further growth -- primarily from the expansion of global service business: "Service business and partnerships with our customers for providing and keeping their equipment maintained -- from installation and modernization to expansion of capacity -- not only lends impetus to the market but also has potential in respect of volume and earnings", said Gordon. With its global network, Siemens has created an outstanding general framework for further development of its water business in future. "We intend to continue growing more quickly than the market, which is currently expanding at a rate of six percent per year worldwide -- and we want to achieve this goal especially in individual regions such as China and India where the growth potential is double the global average."
The Siemens Industry Solutions Division (Erlangen, Germany) is one of the world's leading solution and service providers for industrial and infrastructure facilities.
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Also see:
-- "Siemens to develop innovative seawater desalination technology with grant from Singapore EWI"
-- "Siemens, Singapore's PUB cooperate on full-scale MBR validation plant at Changi Water Reclamation Plant"
-- "Siemens, Singapore's A*Star to establish joint Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory"
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