The expansion of Siemens’ operations in Romania, either through acquisitions, or through greenfield investments, has led to an increase in personnel at a rate of around 100 new employees per month.
“At present, around 3,600 people are employed in the activities Siemens is carrying out in Romania. Our personnel is increasing at a monthly pace of 100 people. If the overall economic growth rate maintains, this pace may be sustained on long term,” stated Wolfgang Hirzi, CEO with Siemens, in his first interview since he was appointed as a CEO with the German group’s domestic branch.
At the beginning of last year, Siemens had around 2,500 employees domestically, while the company’s number of employees amounted to only 600 people in 2003. “Approximately 2,200 people are employed on the segment of software development alone, meaning around 7% of Siemens’ global number of employees in this field. If we consider Siemens has 7,000 employees in Slovakia, and the country has 8 million inhabitants, the Romanian market’s potential is huge,” Hirzi also said.
The increase in the number of employees was generated both by Siemens’ acquisitions domestically, and by the group’s investments. The company’s most recent acquisition in Romania is the Cluj-based Frosys automation company, which had around 80 employees. This is the second acquisition Siemens has made domestically, after having taken over, in 2005, Forte Company IT system integrator, with around 220 employees and turnover worth around 20m euros. Besides acquisitions, Siemens has also invested in production centres domestically. The most important such centres include the plant in Timisoara, Siemens VDO Automotive, a supplier of electronic systems for the car market. Other major investments are the two electronic part plants of Sibiu. All these investments have in their turn created hundreds of jobs.
“For this year, we expect double-digit turnover growth, approximately double the GDP growth pace,” says Adrian Baicusi, general manager with Siemens. Last year, Siemens reached total turnover worth 290.3m euros, up 21% against 2005. Its domestic branch, Siemens SRL, generated turnover worth 205m euros and net income standing at 4.3m euros, double the figure posted in 2005. The major projects to be carried out in the oil and gas industry, the European funds, infrastructure, public transportation or traffic management are some of the potential growth drivers for Siemens’ local operations.
With regard to the expansion of the group’s presence in all the areas of the country, Siemens representatives say the project of regional offices is well under way. “We’ve recently opened an office in Constanta, (…) to be soon followed by one in Brasov and one in Craiova,” said Baicusi.
Siemens
The expansion of its operations in Romania generated a personnel growth rate of around 100 new employees per month
Currently has 3,600 employees in Romania, against around 2,500 at the beginning of last year
Personnel growth was triggered by the company’s acquisitions domestically and by its investments
This year expects to witness double-digit turnover growth, double the GDP growth rate
Is expanding its presence through regional offices