Siemens 2012 Annual Report Download - page 193

135 D. Consolidated Financial Statements
239 E. Additional Information
130 C. Siemens AG (Discussion on basis of
German Commercial Code)
134 C. Notes and forward-looking statements
129 C. Compensation Report, Corporate Governance
statement pursuant to Section a of the
German Commercial Code, Takeover-relevant
information and explanatory report

.. Quality management
Outstanding quality in our products and solutions is a key suc-
cess factor for our Company. We believe that Siemens is known
for high quality in its business processes and customer proj-
ects, which many customers consider essential in meeting
their needs.
Our main objective in terms of quality is high customer satis-
faction, which we measure using the Net Promoter Score,
which is discussed in more detail below. Internal audits and
assessments, together with regular benchmarking, help us en-
sure the effectiveness and further development of our quality
management. Our quality management system is designed to
meet or exceed relevant recognized international standards.
We aim to maintain a strong culture of continuous improve-
ment and high transparency. Transparency in this context
means to measure quality and make it visible. To that end, we
have developed a comprehensive quality approach throughout
the Company to increase the quality of our products and pro-
cesses. We have defined binding standards in the areas of
quality responsibility, quality controlling, process quality and
quality awareness for all Siemens units worldwide.
The quality management organization, with some , em-
ployees in our continuing operations, is well established at all
levels of our business and is operating actively for quality man-
agement and quality assurance within our operational units.
We believe that it is particularly important to ensure that qual-
ity is measurable and transparent.
The quality of our products and processes depends strongly on
the capabilities of our employees. Training on quality is there-
fore an integral part of our corporate culture. Training opportu-
nities are made available to all employees. This applies in partic-
ular to quality managers who, as experts in their fields, must
demonstrate expertise with the relevant quality tools. Profes-
sional development options include web-based solutions, train-
ing plans specific to particular target groups, and on-the-job
training. We regularly expand the portfolio of our training cours-
es to complement traditional areas of the Siemens Quality Man-
agement approach such as quality management in projects, in-
spections and audits, and quality tools. We develop training
courses in cooperation with experienced internal personnel and
experts from universities and partner institutions. This approach
seeks to ensure effective transfer of expertise within the Compa-
ny as well as to and from external specialists.
Product safety is an essential aspect of product quality and an
element of technical compliance. For this reason, product safe-
ty is also a strategic objective of the entire value-added pro-
cess. Safe product design encompasses the safety of all prod-
ucts and services developed, manufactured and sold by
Siemens. It involves and defines requirements for just about
every function in the Company and addresses the entire lifecy-
cle from development, production and maintenance / repair to
enhancement / modification until final disposal. Accordingly,
we consider legal requirements and relevant standards as well
as the current state of science and technology.
.. Distribution and customer relations
Our Sectors, Divisions and Business Units, and SFS have global
responsibility for their business, sales and results. They are
able to support customers around the world directly from their
respective headquarters, especially for large contracts and
projects. However, most of our customers are small and medi-
um-sized companies and organizations that require local sup-
port. To address local business opportunities with them, we
are able to draw upon a large global sales force steered by our
regional companies. They are responsible for the distribution
of the Siemens portfolio across our Sectors and Divisions in
their respective countries. This keeps us close to our custom-
ers and positions us to offer fast and customizable solutions to
their business needs. We are currently present in around 
countries. Because of our long-lasting local presence we are
often perceived as local citizens. Taking the fast-growing BRIC
countries as an example, we founded our first subsidiary in
Russia in , opened our first permanent office in China in
, founded our Brazilian subsidiary Siemens do Brasil in
 and our first Indian subsidiary in .
Sustainable customer relationships are the basis for our long-
term success. We employ a structured key account manage-
ment approach throughout the Company to take care of our
key customers. This means that we seek to tailor our products
and solutions to their size and regional site structures, and we
aim to ensure that our key account managers continually de-
velop and maintain relationships with them over the long
term. This approach is supplemented by our Executive Rela-
tionship Program, in which all members of the Company ’s
Managing Board stay in direct contact with selected customers
and maintain an ongoing dialogue with them to familiarize
Siemens with their needs.
Our business success is strongly dependent on the satisfaction
of our customers. For this reason, we measure customer satis-
faction in every unit of the Company using the Net Promoter
Score (NPS). This internationally recognized and commonly
applied managerial performance indicator, which we deter-
mine annually on a worldwide basis by means of customer sur-
veys, measures the referral rate of our customers. The NPS for