Siemens Group sells large drive applications LDA, protested by employees

Siemens Group sells large drive division, protested by employees

PART 01 Siemens employees protest against LDA spin-off plan

Image source: Siemens official website

Last year, the Siemens Group began planning to spin off its 7,000-employee Large Drive Applications (LDA) division. After breaking up the energy business, Siemens CEO Roland Busch actually wants to keep the remaining group largely together. Nonetheless, there is one big possible spin-off for sale, the large Drive Applications division LDA with around 7,000 employees.

Siemens employees thought the split was a mistake because of the changing world situation. Siemens employees are now mobilizing against a possible spin-off sale ahead of Wednesday's supervisory board meeting, and they are planning a protest demonstration in front of the headquarters. "We ask that the decision to split the company LDA is reviewed again," said Hagen Reimer of Siemens' supervisory board and the trade union IG Metall.

The geopolitical situation has fundamentally changed since Siemens' initial decision last year. The extraction of raw materials such as rare earths has become more strategically important. The Large Transmission Applications division LDA produces electric motors for mines, for example, but also smaller-scale drives for submarines. Given supply chain problems and geopolitical turmoil, Siemens' business must be reassessed, Hagen Reimer asked. "The question is whether you want to hand over such a business at this time."

A demonstration by employees at Munich's Wittelsbacher square had triple-digit participants. It will also test the relationship between CEO Roland Busch and his employees, which so far has been viewed as somewhat constructive by both parties.

As early as February this year, 150 employees held a demonstration in Berlin's Siemens City after Siemens planned to spin off the large drive applications division LDA. Employees in Berlin protested plans to sell LDA, the large drive applications division, at a Siemens Group conference. About 150 employees gathered in front of the company's Dynamowerk factory in Berlin's Siemens town on February 10 this year, according to the IG Metall union.

Regina Katerndahl, the second authorized representative of the Berlin district, stressed: "Because of the ecological challenges we face today, we need alternative drive technologies. We can and should develop these locally and link them to digitalization. That's why the split And the possible sale of LDA, the large transmission applications division, does not make sense."

PART 02 LDA is on the Siemens sale list

Image source: Siemens official website

Siemens' Large Drive Applications Division LDA is headquartered in Nuremberg, where it and Berlin have a total of about 2,200 employees, and about 4,800 employees in the Czech Republic, the United States and China. Its main products are used in mining, chemical, petroleum and Large motors in industries such as natural gas—mainly motors, frequency converters and generators for medium and high voltage.

LDA will be spun off and bundled into a separate company in the future, and these businesses of LDA no longer fit into the new image of an IT and technology group and are therefore no longer counted as part of the core business. That's why Siemens announced last year that the LDA business unit would be independent, and a spin-off, as is often the case, is the first step in selling part of the company. "We want to give the business more autonomy and freedom so that it can better focus on its markets and customers," a spokesman for the group said.

A Siemens spokesman referred to last year's decision, arguing that LDA still needs more flexibility and independence, which is true. Industry sources stress that the sale of the business unit is not a foregone conclusion, but is just one of many options. These plans have raised concerns among the factories concerned. The traditional Dynamowerk factory in Berlin was on the verge of closing many years ago, but has since been brought back to life. Factories in Erlangen and Ruhstorf were also affected. Regardless, the company wants to phase out production at Ruhstorf.

Large Drive Applications LDA is the largest remaining piece of the Siemens Group's so-called portfolio companies (Pocs), which are no longer counted as part of the core business. Siemens sold one of its drivetrain makers, Flender, to financial investor Carlyle a year ago for more than 2 billion euros. A Siemens spokesman said LDA had grown well over the last year and was one of the leading suppliers in the market. The division also manufactures drives for ships or rolling mills.

In February of this year, Roland Busch had announced the sale of its postal and parcel logistics business to the Körber Group for 1.15 billion euros. In addition, Siemens sold its stake in a joint venture for electric vehicle components to French partner Valeo.

This means that the Siemens Group's sale list has been basically completed. According to insiders, large business units such as train manufacturing will continue to belong to the group, and Roland Busch has no further plans to break it up. In the last major step in his corporate restructuring, predecessor Joe Kaeser spun off the power engineering division into Siemens Energy and listed it on the stock exchange.

西门子集团出售大型传动事业部，遭到员工抗议

PART 01  西门子员工抗议LDA分拆计划

图片来源：西门子官网

西门子集团去年开始计划分拆其拥有7000名员工的大型传动应用事业部(Large Drive Applications，下文简称LDA)。在分拆能源业务后，西门子CEO Roland Busch实际上希望将剩余的集团基本保持在一起。虽然如此，但仍有一个大的可能的分拆出售对象，即拥有约7000名员工的大型传动应用事业部LDA。

西门子员工们认为因为世界形势的变化，这项分拆是一个错误。在本周三的监事会会议之前，西门子员工们现在正动员起来去反对可能的分拆出售，他们并计划在总部前举行抗议示威。西门子监事会成员、行业工会IG Metall的Hagen Reimer表示：“我们要求再次审查分拆公司LDA的决定。”

自西门子去年初步作出该决定以来，地缘政治局势已经发生了根本性的变化。稀土等原材料的开采在战略上已变得更加重要。大型传动应用事业部LDA生产例如用于矿井的电机，也生产用于潜艇的较小规模的驱动设备。鉴于供应链的问题和地缘政治的动荡，西门子的业务必须被重新评估，Hagen Reimer是如此要求的。"问题是你是否想在这个时候把这样的业务交出去。"

员工们在慕尼黑Wittelsbacher广场举行的示威活动有三位数的参与者。这也将考验CEO Roland Busch和员工们之间的关系，到目前为止，双方都认为这种关系有一定建设性的。

在西门子计划分拆大型传动应用事业部LDA后，早在今年2月份，150名员工就曾在柏林西门子城举行了游行示威。柏林的员工们在西门子集团的大会上抗议将大型传动应用事业部LDA出售的计划。据IG Metall工会称，今年2月10日，约150名员工聚集在该公司位于柏林西门子城的Dynamowerk工厂前

柏林区的第二位授权代表Regina Katerndahl强调称：“由于我们今天面临的生态挑战，我们需要替代驱动技术。我们可以而且应该在当地发展这些，并将其与数字化联系起来。这就是为什么分拆和可能出售大型传动应用事业部LDA是没有意义的。”

PART 02  LDA位于西门子出售清单之列

图片来源：西门子官网

西门子的大型传动应用事业部LDA的总部设在纽伦堡，在那里和柏林有一共大约2200名员工，另外在捷克、美国和中国有约4800名员工，其主要产品是用于采矿、化工、石油和天然气等行业的大型电机———主要是用于中压和高压的电机、变频器和发电机。

LDA将在未来被剥离并捆绑在一家独立的公司里，LDA这些业务不再适合作为一个IT和科技集团的新形象，因此不再算作核心业务的一部分。这就是为什么西门子去年宣布LDA业务部门将独立，通常情况下，分拆是出售公司的一部分的第一步。该集团的一位发言人表示：”我们希望给企业更多的自主权和自由，以便它能更好地专注于其市场和客户。”

西门子的发言人提到了去年的决定，认为LDA仍然需要更多的灵活性和独立性，这是事实。业界人士强调，该业务部门的出售尚未成为定局，而只是众多选择中的一个。这些计划在有关工厂中引起了关注。位于柏林的传统Dynamowerk工厂多年前曾濒临关闭，但后来被救活了。位于Erlangen和Ruhstorf的工厂也受到影响。无论如何，该公司希望逐步停止在Ruhstorf的生产。

大型传动应用事业部LDA是西门子集团所谓的投资组合公司（Pocs）中剩下的最大一块，它们不再被算作核心业务的一部分。西门子在一年前以超过20亿欧元的价格将其中一家传动系统制造商Flender卖给了财务投资者Carlyle。西门子发言人说，LDA在去年发展良好，是市场上的领先供应商之一。该部门还生产船舶或轧钢厂的驱动装置。

今年2月，Roland Busch已经宣布将邮政和包裹物流业务以11.5亿欧元的价格出售给柯尔伯Körber集团。此外，西门子将其在电动汽车零部件合资企业的股份出售给法国合作伙伴法雷奥Valeo。

这意味着西门子集团的出售清单已经基本完成。据内部人士透露，火车制造部门等大型业务部门将继续属于集团，对此Roland Busch没有进一步拆分的计划。在其企业重组的上一个重要步骤中，前任Joe Kaeser将电力工程部门分拆为西门子能源，并在证券交易所上市。