Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2015)

NEWSMAKERS

Super Mario

Leading the charge at Siemen’s Oil & Gas and Marine global business unit.

With worldwide revenue of $98B in 2014 and 343,000 em- ployees in more than 200 countries, Siemens, by any de? - nition, is big. Mario Azar, president of the Houston-based

Siemens Oil & Gas and Marine global business unit spoke with Maritime Reporter regarding the Siemens Oil & Gas and Marine’s focus and future.

By Greg Trauthwein

Say the word “Siemens” and it likely that Azar is comfortable comparing with alities in the technical requirements for ? ve global segments. For example, Sie- means 100 things to 100 people. A com- any other entity in the world. “We pulled their drives. mens has introduced a “modular home” mon thought would be ‘big.’ it together and now we are refocusing “This is now focused on (developing) concept to the O&G industry call E-

The German conglomerate is vast in on going to the shipbuilding industry, the electrical drives, (speci? cally) look- houses. E-Houses are customized, fully its product lines, engineered solutions, talking about how we could electrify not ing at standard technology platforms for equipped and pre-tested modular power and geographic presence. Late in 2014 only the drilling drives and automate the the electrical drives that are going on substations for power supply. E-houses

Siemens of? cially enacted the plan to drilling process, but also electrify the these vessels,” said Azar. “We’ve essen- are completely developed, manufac- combine its offshore oil & gas and ma- propulsion, the drives and motors, and tially doubled our R&D and brain trust tured, assembled and pre-tested at the rine business units, collectively a $1.5B the automation of the (entire) vessel.” in combining these two groups and now factory, and installed, connected and put enterprise, with Mario Azar at the helm. This Siemens business sector has a we are unifying ‘the path forward?’ This into operation on site using plug-and- “Siemens was soul-searching, trying to stronghold in Scandinavia, but it is glob- includes ‘how do we produce,’ because play technology. ? gure out ‘who we are, who do we want al in vision and reach. “(Norwegians are) the marine units (before the business unit We are also fabricating there. We have to be,’” said Azar. “We de? ned three seamen by heritage. They like the busi- integration) were producing not only in a segment for water solutions and we are core pillars to focus on as a company: ness. So we have developed a lot of our Germany but also in China. We are pro- fabricating the water treatment modules electri? cation, automation, and digitali- know-how over the years in Norway, ducing our drives mainly in Norway. So – also plug-and-play – in that yard. So, zation.” and it remains our offshore brain trust,” now we’re looking at the whole produc- you know, it’s not just about the drive

From introspection was born this re- said Azar. To this end, Azar’s business tion network and looking at ‘how do we and electrical. When you talk about an invigorated business unit, bringing to- unit is literally setting up shop around globally set it up for the different mar- FPSO, now we have in our portfolio, gether a collective set of business minds the world – a feat made easier courtesy kets?’” whether it’s E-House, whether it’s a and engineering talents to complement of Siemen’s existing global of? ce net- With the trend in shipbuilding toward compression module, a power genera- each other. work – to be closer to where ships are outsourcing of technically complex tion module, or water treatment, all these “Siemens serves many verticals (mar- being built, primarily in China, Singa- components and systems to quali? ed different modules that go on the topside. kets) but oil and gas is an important mar- pore and South Korea. “We developed a engineering and manufacturing enti- We build them and can offer them to the ket” for the company, said Azar. “So we second hub in Singapore, and a hub in ties, creating a situation where advanced shipbuilder.” looked at it and we saw that the business China, that are heavily supporting from units are delivered to shipyards ready to unit’s oil and gas solutions is heavily fo- Norway,” said Azar ‘plug and play,’ the Siemens strategy is Down is the New “Up” cused offshore. We had a different unit in designed to advance its position amongst Having just stepped into this post a

Siemens that was focused on marine sys- Standardization shipyards that increasingly seeks to im- few years ago, the current swoon in en- tems, electrical management and propul- A driver in combining the Siemens port rather than develop, manage and ergy pricing is the ? rst “down cycle” sion, electrical propulsion systems for all Offshore Oil & Gas and Marine units house internal capability. for Azar. “I think it’s actually healthy. kinds of vessels, including oil and gas, was to develop a higher level of stan- “Modularization is a trend, and it is If you really listen to the customers, the but also commercial vessels.” dardization in product, manufacture, as- a trend that we are tightly focused on,” way they see it is their pro? t will be their

The combined group represents an en- sembly and service, as the two distinct said Azar. “Our business unit is a little pro? t; the cost is what needs to adjust. gineering acumen and product line-up business sectors share many common- bit more than just strategy, as we have The oil majors look at it and ask ‘how 12 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JUNE 2015

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