APC 2005 Annual Report Download - page 18

A global organization
with local roots
Schneider Electric has 88,670 employees in 130
countries around the world. Thanks to our global
organization and local operations and distribution net-
works, we can serve international customers every-
where and meet local customers’ expectations with
products that comply with each country’s specific
standards and practices. Around the world, we serve
90% of distributor and user needs within 48 hours.
An organization
focused on growth and efficiency
Our organization is designed to speed growth and
execution, leverage all the benefits of our global
scope, put customers at the center of the product
design process, and make it easier to integrate acqui-
sitions and develop new activities.
Departments that report
directly to the Chairman and CEO
Finance and Control - Legal Affairs
Human Resources and Communication
Strategic Deployment
Departments that report directly to the COO
new2Company Program
Quality
Corporate Divisions
Customers & Markets
Products & Technology
Globalization & Industry
Services
Operating Divisions
Europe
North America
Asia-Pacific
International & Iberian
Growth Platform Departments
Building Automation and Security
Secured Power
Sensors for Repetitive Machines
Powerful, market-oriented R&D
Our sustained innovation strategy for products, soft-
ware, services and production processes helps us
widen our technological lead, enhance competitive-
ness and quality, refresh and broaden our lineup more
quickly and generate high value-added growth.
With 5% of revenue invested in R&D, 6,500
researchers and developers in 25 countries, world-
class test labs, and cooperation agreements with
more than 50 prestigious institutions, our R&D com-
mitment puts us among the top world players in our
businesses.
Around a third of the R&D budget is devoted to main-
taining our ranges, increasing quality levels, reducing
raw material, component and process costs, and
adapting products to new environmental regulations
such as RoHS and WEEE –a Schneider Electric prior-
ity. Nearly two-thirds go to innovation and new product
research. Our objective here is to move even farther
ahead of the pack by offering products and solutions
that deliver more and more value to users.
We have internationalized our R&D base to put R&D
centers closer to customers, innovate directly in our
markets and adapt production processes to local con-
ditions. In addition to France, we have highly effective
R&D teams with some 1,500 people in Germany, the
US and Japan. Our new centers in Monterrey, Mexico,
Bangalore, India, and Shanghai, China had nearly
600 employees at the end of 2005.
With a sharp focus on market and customer expecta-
tions, our R&D concentrates on optimizing safety and
efficiency, making solutions easier to implement and
operate, and ensuring that products, systems and
services are open-ended and technically compatible.
Improving design quality, offering simplicity through
innovation and reducing time to market are ongoing
objectives.
We involve our country organizations in devising the
lineup and increasingly co-develop with major cus-
tomers, notably OEMs. We are committed to develop-
ing and patenting products that can be marketed
worldwide. With this strategy of globalization, we can
penetrate a maximum number of markets while opti-
mizing costs.
We have stepped up research and innovation in dig-
ital electronics, power electronics, mechatronics, soft-
ware and Internet-based technologies. As buildings
become increasingly networked, we are developing
Voice-Data-Image (VDI), radio and Power Line Carrier
technologies for the residential market, along with
specific software. We’re also working on speed drives
for energy measurement or lighting control in our
search for solutions to reduce energy consumption. In
medium voltage, new sensors and software are
enhancing advanced diagnostics equipment. In
automation, we’re developing software technologies to
create web services, for example, which facilitate
operation and the direct transfer of workshop data to
MES/ERP systems. Our teams are also designing
new electrical distribution products to feed energy
from solar power, micro-turbines, wind farms or fuel
cells into the power grid.
Another important component of our R&D is the
Schneider Electric Ventures fund, created in 2000 with
a potential capital of 50 million. Designed to keep us
ahead of the technological curve and acquire new
competencies, the fund invests in start-ups whose
technologies will form the core of the Company’s
future lineup. These include software, network and
communication electronic components, RFID solu-
tions, network security, VDI systems, radio communi-
cation, and MEMS sensors.
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