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| Siemens Rides Technology Train To 10 Cities Coast To Coast |
First Stop Will Be Chicago and National Manufacturing Week 1,000-Foot Exider Train Expected To Bring New Customers Aboard
ATLANTA (Nov. 18, 2003) -- Perhaps because no one else in the industry would think of doing so, Siemens Energy & Automation is bringing the Exider technology train to Chicago for National Manufacturing Week, kicking off a 10-city, coast-to-coast tour of the 1,000-foot exhibit on rails.
Siemens will use the sleek, blue train as a high-tech platform to showcase its products, solutions and services. Jammed with technology, the 14 rail cars will house 224 plasma screens and monitors, 189 DVD players, four servers, nine miles of electrical cables and almost two miles of data lines.
Rolling coast-to-coast, the “trade show on rails” will need the technology to simulate specific customer applications in pharmaceutical and chemical industries, automobile manufacturing, commercial power distribution and other customer sectors.
For instance, in the process automation section, visitors will pass through a tube (see photo) where different process industry planning steps are demonstrated using animated video installations. Later, visitors will find themselves in a simulated control room, overseeing the entire production process in realistic detail.
Customer Event On Wheels
“It’s a customer event on wheels,” said John Dimmerling, Siemens Energy & Automation director of Marketing Communications and Exider project coordinator. “The technology and applications that customers can get close to in this unique environment are fantastic.”
First stop will be McCormick Center and National Manufacturing Week (NMW) Feb. 23-26 in Chicago. This is the one stop where the rolling exhibit will come off its wheels. The nine exhibit cars that normally travel by rail will be brought in from the Windy City chill for the warmth of massive McCormick Center. NMW’s anticipated 30,000 exhibit attendees can visit “cars” dedicated to such customer themes as process and discrete manufacturing, machine tool components, commercial and residential power distribution, and engineering services.
“Who else besides Siemens can make this kind of statement about the breadth of their products, services and solutions and show this kind of commitment to the marketplace by taking a 1,000-foot customer event directly to the customer?” asked Dimmerling.
A Global Success Story
Siemens is betting that the Exider (pronounced “exciter”, but with a “d” instead of a “t”) can continue cutting through cultural differences and racking up staggering numbers as it has around the world. Since its rollout in Europe in 2002, the Exider has toured more than 90 cities in 20 countries and hosted 80,000 visitors, figures that don’t reflect its most recent 16 city, three-month tour of China.
According to Siemens statistics, 25 percent of Exider’s guests have been potential customers, and the average guest’s visit has lasted 87 minutes. In Spain, the Exider contributed to a 3 percent increase in market share, and in Great Britain the Exider delivered a $10.5 million increase in sales volume, company figures show.
Running On Schedule
The U.S. goal is to board more than 15,000 carefully selected guests who make purchasing decisions as engineering constructors, contractors, consulting engineers, OEMs, government agencies and industrial and system integrators.
After Chicago, the train heads down to Atlanta (March 15-16), then, over a two-and-a-half month period, onto Washington, D.C. (March 22-23), New York
(March 25-26), Boston (March 30-31). Detroit (April 6-7), Houston (April 13-14), Los Angeles (May 12-13), San Francisco (May 17-18) and Seattle (May 25-26).
Between Houston and Los Angeles the train will be on loan to Grupo Siemens S.A. de C.V. in Mexico, and after Seattle will continue north for a tour with Siemens Canada Ltd.
“With the Exider, we are taking the Siemens message directly to our customers and joining them on a trip through the world of modern industrial automation, drive, switching and installation technology,” Dimmerling said. “It’s an ambitious ‘rolling exhibition’ that has been successful in every country it’s toured. Siemens’ technology base is so broad, we even provide some of the drives used by the train’s locomotive. If we tried to feature all the technologies that Siemens makes, this train would be miles long.”
Exider web site: www.siemens.de/exider (Click on British flag for English)
Headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Ga., Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc., manufactures and markets one of the world’s broadest ranges of electrical and electronic products, systems and services to industrial and construction market customers. Its technologies range from circuit protection and energy management systems to process control, industrial software and totally integrated automation solutions. The company also has expertise in systems integration, technical services and turnkey industrial systems.
For more information: www.sea.siemens.com.
Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), headquartered in Munich, is a leading global electronics and engineering company. Siemens and its subsidiaries employ 426,000 people in 190 countries and reported worldwide sales of $77.8 billion in fiscal 2002 (10/1/01 - 9/30/02) The U.S. is Siemens' largest market in the world, with 11 of its worldwide businesses headquartered here and annual sales of $21.5 billion in fiscal 2002. The Siemens companies in the U.S. employ approximately 70,000 people in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Corporate headquarters for Siemens' U.S. businesses are located in New York City. For more information: www.usa.siemens.com.
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