Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ plant in Augsburg has won the prestigious Factory of the Year/GEO 2005 award in the “Country Champion” category. The jury was particularly impressed by the facility’s exceptional production flexibility in respect to work schedules as well as customer and market requirements. It is the latest in a series of several awards won by the leading European IT vendor for its commendable supply chain management, which has helped the company increase productivity by an annual rate of eight per cent over the past five years.

According to the judges, Fujitsu Siemens Computers offered a compelling demonstration of how producing in Germany – despite enormous labour cost pressure from Asia – offers sustainable competitive advantages due to factors such as distance to suppliers and customers.

Heribert Goeggerle, Senior Vice President Supply Operations at Fujitsu Siemens Computers said: “Our geographic proximity enables us to satisfy customer needs fast. We also offer custom configurations that cannot possibly be delivered as quickly to the customer from Asia.”

The Factory of the Year/GEO competition is an annual benchmarking comparison and is considered one of the toughest tests for manufacturing companies. It was initiated in 1992 by consultancy A.T. Kearney and German industry weekly Produktion.

The “living and breathing factory” in Augsburg

The 2,000 Fujitsu Siemens Computers employees at the Augsburg plant produce mainboards, ESPRIMO professional PCs and standard-architecture PRIMERGY servers. They also configure professional LIFEBOOK notebooks and STYLISTIC tablet PCs. In cooperation with the works council, Fujitsu Siemens Computers has fulfilled its vision of a “living and breathing factory” for several years now. Depending on the inflow of orders, work times at the plant, which can produce up to 16,000 systems daily, vary between six hours a day, four days a week and eight hours a day, six days a week.

Pan-European supply chain management for the professional segment is also directed from Augsburg. The facility stands out for the high degree of automation and vast development, manufacturing and logistical flexibility in combination with cost levels that allow it to stay competitive in a global market. For its outstanding supply chain, Fujitsu Siemens Computers has already received the “Best Factory/Industrial Excellence Award 2003” from management schools INSEAD and WHU as well as the Ken Sharma Award for Excellence from i2 Technologies.

You can download a photo of the March 2006 award ceremony, showing Heribert Goeggerle, Senior Vice President Supply Operations, and Dagmar Wöhrl, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics & Technology, on the Fujitsu Siemens Computers photo server:

http://www.fsc-mediaserver.com/ms/go.cfm?itemid=17783&
jumpfactor=6

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About Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers is the leading European IT provider with a strategic focus on next-generation Mobility and Dynamic Data Center products, services and solutions. With a portfolio of exceptional depth, our offering extends from handhelds through desktops to enterprise-class IT infrastructure solutions. Fujitsu Siemens Computers has a presence in all key markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Leveraging the strengths, innovation and global reach of our joint shareholders, Fujitsu Limited and Siemens AG, we make sure we meet the needs of customers: large corporations, small and medium enterprises and private users. The company is a member of the United Nations Global Compact initiative.

For more information about Fujitsu Siemens Computers, please visit: http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk