Our Subotica plant is working at full capacity and we are satisfied with this development. I believe the environment in Serbia is ready for an investor like Siemens and I have seldom seen such a dynamic government and program to attract foreign investors in the country
1. What are your this year’s expectations in business and how much the general environment for doing business in Serbia are favorable for realization of your plans?
I believe the environment in Serbia is ready for any investor and I have seldom seen such a dynamic government program to get foreign investors in the country and Serbia does a great job there. However, a company that actually comes here has to be aware that there are certain obstacles as well. There are many important factors to attract investors and to keep them in the country. My messages to the government remain the same as before, that for every company the business environment is the key factor. Complicated VAT system, complicated process of imports and exports, combination of tax policy, and stability, are the most important factors for further investments. Business environment in Serbia needs to be as simple as possible. Entrepreneurs need to be focused of further business development and growth while following global trends. My personal belief, along with the Siemens position, is that any business has to be sustainable on its own. If it needs subsidies to survive then it’s not sustainable and that is why Siemens did not take any subsidies. We run two types of businesses. One is the production, and the other one is project executions and sales of equipment and solutions in the field of industry, transport, infrastructure, energy. Coming to the Subotica environment we are 100 % exporting, we are not depending at all on the Serbian state in regards to the outcome of the business itself. But we are depending on the easiness of doing business when it comes to customs regulations and general taxation and general administration. And as an investor, here we do see improvement potential but also willingness from the authorities to work on the open topics. As far as the factory is concerned, we are very satisfied with our development trough years. The picture on the Divisions side is very much diversified. With all the burden of delaying and lowering numbers of tenders we are faced with a challenge that complicates reaching our targets and expected profitability. This situation is very much a challenge in business generally, as our shareholders would like to have clear picture and reliable forecasts from their operating companies. On the other hand, the latest developments in infrastructure projects give us some indication that business in Mobility Division is speeding up a little. As those are mostly Chinese and Russian Investments, we can just emphasize the importance to keep European Standards, especially in the field of Railway infrastructure. When it comes to engagements in the cities, we are talking to all relevant authorities to define strategies and roadmaps for improving life of people living in them, by offering Siemens advanced technologies in all infrastructure areas. One of those are solutions for integrating methods and systems to reduce traffic congestion and its logical managing. With most of the bigger systems we offered our know-how and experience in developing respective strategies.
2. How does the „City Performance Tool” work and why is CyPT important for functioning of every modern city?
This is specific topic in respect to our strategic initiatives in Serbia and on the global level. We are supporting cities in getting sustainable, and increasing the quality of life. Knowing that cities are a backbone for economic growth and prosperity of each country, Siemens has developed an interactive and comprehensive tool – the City Performance Tool (CyPT). It gives guidance to a city on how to achieve their environmental targets while providing an indication on how each infrastructure-related decision will influence job creation and the infrastructure sector growth. In the nutshell, CyPT is a simulation of your investments which gives urban decision makers option to virtually select bespoke technologies that offer their own cities maximum environmental and economic benefits. You are setting a frame for future years – you would like safe, clean, comfortable, with decreased pollution city – you put your investments inside, you put your credentials… the tool is there, and you can see if your investments into the infrastructure will get you where you want to be. It shows you how to best protect your investment. We have strengthen partnerships with the City of Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad by signing the Memorandum of understanding on business and technical cooperation between this cities and Siemens, where we agreed on cooperation with a goal to help these cities to evolve, and offer them strategies and tools which will ensure that they will become social, cultural and economic hubs.This tool is just a great solution to make informed decisions at the city level.
3.Where do you see the possible usage of your latest technology solution here in Serbia?
In our wind generator factory, we are really producing state of the art wind turbines for a lot of companies on a global level, and I see a lot of improvement potential of getting out turbines into the Serbian market.
Then, the whole digitalization of the society and production technology will lead to change in doing business. Digitalization will disrupt many Industries and it’s not just falling from the stars.
Digitalization is at any CEOs agenda and will be driven by top managers in respective industries. And Siemens has to offer solutions based on digitalization in many business segments – we are here to provide to our customers adequate solutions that will help them use all advantages it brings.
We are currently driving many strategic projects with clients in Serbia.
But here is no solution out of the shelf in 4.0. You have to understand the clients business in order to digitalize his processes. We are going deep into the processes and suggest certain improvements and digitalization of processes, which as a result has improvements of their competitive position on the market.
The industry 4.0 is more impressive in advancing than anything before. It is an engagement never seen before, it is really groundbreaking.
4. How much did Siemens advanced in adopting Industry 4.0 postulates and what does it mean for its local partners?
Industrie 4.0. meas that we have the extensive networking of humans and machines and the resulting (and truly new) implicit and explicit actions and reactions that are leading to a change of paradigm. Siemens’ answer to the Industrie 4.0 requirements is “Digital Enterprise Software Suite”, which offers the basic software framework needed by companies wanting to upgrade their position in the industry. Also, I would like to point out the MindSphere – Siemens Cloud for Industr y, which makes that the Internet of Things becomes a reality. We are providing the first cloud infrastructure that will allow our customers to offer services using worldwide data collated from their applications. All of this shows that we are placing great emphasis on supplying our customers with the tools they require to realign themselves towards digitalization and the Internet economy. We want to offer solutions that will lead them trough the digital revolution, which is definitely unstoppable. There are five postulates that represent the core of the 4.0 Industry policy and for Siemens these are – reducing time-to-market, enhancing flexibility, increasing quality, increasing efficiency and increasing security.