Listen In: Inside Siemens’ exiderdome strategy

-- Control Engineering, 5/7/2008 8:07:00 AM

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico—During a visit to Siemens’ exiderdome at the last stop on the Mexico leg of its North American tour, Control Engineering was offered an inside look at the exhibit and its technologies in advance of its U.S. tour. The U.S. leg of the tour launches July 21-24 in Chicago. Listen In: Click here to hear Tom Varney, vice president of communications for Siemens Energy & Automation, tell Control Engineering why Siemens created exiderdome (a traveling exhibit of Siemens' technology), what value the exhibit holds for engineering visitors, and why the company views the U.S. as its most important market. (3.5 minutes; MP3 format).

Composed of 55 international standard shipping containers providing nearly 10,000 square feet of exhibit and training space in a two-story structure, Varney says, “The exiderdome building itself has a very high ‘wow’ factor, but it’s the content—the multimedia show, the tour and the opportunity to interact with experts in their fields—that gets the real conversations started.”

Displays in exiderdome are designed to provide visitors an interactive experience with Siemens technologies, including commercial and industrial power infrastructure, industrial controls, drives and motors, motion control, discrete automation, and process automation. Siemens claims to showcase 137,000 technologies in its exiderdome displays.

Following a guided tour of exiderdome, visitors can revisit specific technology displays to ask more detailed questions and interact with the technologies, says Matias Ernst, global product manager for exiderdome. “Technology experts are available for in-depth discussion with those looking to gather further information on our products,” he says.

Beyond altering displays to address regional language differences as the exhibit travels around the world, principal areas of exiderdome—from specific technology displays to multi-media presentations—are customized to the interests of the target markets in those regions. In addition, training and other learning events held in exiderdome focus on the latest developments in security, energy and the environment, innovation, productivity and other key business challenges relevant to the region exiderdome visits. exiderdome learning events are led by Siemens executives and outside experts such as industry analysts, futurists, academics and dignitaries.

exiderdome was created after the successful conclusion of exider train—a 12-car train featuring Siemens technology—in 2004.

“The train was very successful, but we wanted to do something bigger and better,” Varney said.  “With exiderdome, we are able to bring more of our global expertise, drawn from our experience in more than 190 countries. It really gives us an opportunity to help our customers stretch their thinking and consider new avenues for competing in a global economy.”

For details on the U.S. and Canadian stops on the exiderdome tour of North America in 2008-2009, click here to read the “Siemens’ exiderdome prepares for U.S. tour” news article previously posted on www.controleng.com.

For more information about exiderdome, visit: www.exiderdome.com/us.

—David Greenfield, editorial director, david.greenfield@reedbusiness.com,
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