Siemens: A Continuing Legacy of Innovation
Unless you’ve lived your whole life off-grid, you know the name Siemens. It’s practically everywhere, on a staggering number of different things. Which leads to an obvious question: Who or what is Siemens and what do they do?
Long explanation short, Siemens is a technology company. It was established in Germany in 1847 and found success innovating long-distance telegraphs. Since then, Siemens accrued an astounding 46,700 granted patents worldwide (276 per year), according to a 2023 press release. The multi-national corporation employs 320,000-plus people in over 190 countries around the globe.
With this in mind, let’s focus on the Northern California branch! We spoke with Siemens’ NorCal Director of Business Development and Smart Infrastructure, Dennis Thompson, who’s been with the company for 21 years. He said as a company, Siemens is a major technology provider to the built environment, and their branch structure is organized around project development, delivery and service teams.
The Siemens Northern California District office specializes in smart building technologies, focusing on critical environmental control and building performance analytics. They’ve been a Bay Area SMACNA member for 25 years.
“In healthcare we get to deliver solutions that help people live healthier and longer. Of all the things I’ve built in the past 40 years, the healthcare facilities are among the top,” he said. “We’ve delivered and been involved with eight brand new medical centers in NorCal in the last 15 years, and we’ve delivered numerous commercial office spaces and life science projects.”
These facilities operate at maximum efficiency thanks to Siemens’ intelligent building technologies, on which the company continues to lead innovation. Thompson noted that Siemens is on the forefront of enabled artificial intelligence, which can further enable autonomous operations and make buildings increasingly “smart.”
“We see the evolution of this technology as a critical bridge enabling our customers to truly achieve digital transformation of their businesses,” he said.
Increased building intelligence and efficiency equates to a smaller carbon footprint and increased sustainability, which one could consider public service. Siemens is also more directly involved with public service. The company started the Caring Hands charitable association in 2001 to provide assistance to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. It continues to offer support in the wake of major emergencies around the globe.
Locally, Siemens partners with the national non-profit Rebuilding Together on Bay Area outreach projects. Rebuilding Together helps revitalize local communities through volunteer work on homes and structures in need of repair due to either economic instability or damages from natural disasters. Additionally, Siemens encourages and supports employee philanthropic efforts.
“What sets Siemens apart from our competitors? Our people,” Thompson said. “They’re true professionals with a commitment to customer satisfaction, working at a company dedicated to innovation.”