GLOBAL MANUFACTURING ISSUES - THE CASE OF SIEMENS AG

Over the last two decades we have witnessed a dramatic move towards a global economy and the globalisation of manufacturing. Some companies are forced to go global because of saturating domestic markets and dim inishing profits whilst others recognise the opportunities in growing and developing regions which offer lower manufacturing costs and very large customer base. This paper describes the experiences of Siemens A G in relation to global manufacturing and identifies some of the key l essons learnt from its global operations. These included the importanc e of a having a long-term strategy, the adoption of a structured appro ach for technology transfer, a broad base of research and production f acilities incorporating joint ventures and the role of training and in tegration of local technology and culture to tune products to local ma rket requirements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.