Siemens launches integration project to streamline product services

Siemens Drive Technologies has launched an initiative called Integrated Drive Systems to simplify its way of doing business by capitalizing on the efficiency of custom-engineered products and services, including gearboxes, couplings, motors and drives. “We have customers spending a lot of their time qualifying specifications, writing specs, comparing and contrasting warranties and service agreements, planning and engineering the implementation of the drive train,” Doug Keith, president of Siemens Drive Technologies Division, said during a media tour at Siemens’ motors manufacturing facility in Norwood, Ohio, earlier this year.  Siemens produces approximately 2,000 motors per year at its Norwood facility, of which 35% are used in the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry.

The goal of the new program is to provide a streamlined, one-stop shop, a single point of contact solution. “We have the parts and pieces. We have the people, the expertise, application experience that we believe is important for our customers to optimize how these pieces all come together,” Mr Keith said. Using an integrated approach, Siemens’ oil and gas vertical group may pull drive train products from different business groups, such as controllers, PLCs and automation equipment from the company’s automation division, he explained.

The drawworks, for example, is one area where the integrated drive system can be applied. The gearbox, which requires a motor, and coupling are designed to work together, and “you get the technical advantages of those components maximized for this specific application,” said Peter Hoglund, vice president of Siemens’ vertical market management, oil and gas.

Siemens will support its Integrated Drive Systems initiative with a global team of experts who will handle consultation and proposals, delivery, installation, maintenance and service. The company will incorporate PM@Siemens, a global training and certification program based on the success factors for project management. Additionally, the company can support customized configurations for integrated drive systems.

Siemens Drives Technologies Division has four primary US manufacturing facilities, including Elgin, Ill., for gearboxes and couplings; Norwood, Ohio, for motors; New Kensington, Pa., for medium voltage drives; Alpharetta, Ga., for low voltage and traction drives, as well as Houston for sales support. Globally, Siemens has 28 factories for motors and drives.