SMS Siemag- Cisco
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SMS Siemag, an engineering company with 9,000 employees globally, implemented Cisco TelePresence to reduce costly travel between sites in Germany. An initial trial showed significant cost savings from replacing travel with video calls. SMS Siemag has since expanded TelePresence to other international offices in China, India, and the United States, finding the technology improves collaboration across sites.
SMS Siemag- Cisco
- 1. Solution Overview Progressive by tradition Right from the outset, the Cisco TelePresence CTS 3000 system convinced the managing board members from SMS Siemag. By using Cisco TelePresence®, a mechanical engineering and plant construction company achieved substantial reductions in its travel costs, while facilitating collaboration between employees and partners worldwide. SMS Siemag AG is part of SMS GmbH, the holding company for a group of Overview of the technology used businesses working internationally in the field of mechanical engineering and plant 2 Cisco TelePresence System 3010 construction for the processing of steel and nonferrous metals. In 2009, some 6 Cisco TelePresence System 1300 9000 employees around the world generated a turnover of 3.9 billion euros. The machinery and plant built by SMS Siemag reflects the experience of over 140 years In total: of metallurgical engineering and rolling mill technology. Further development of this 5 rooms in Germany process expertise is constantly in progress through the group’s own research work 1 room in China and through its numerous global cooperative arrangements with other companies and specialist institutes. 1 room in India 1 room in the United States SMS is an established solutions provider and technology leader in modernization, mechanical engineering, and the installation of complete turnkey plants. Its activities range from reduction metallurgy, steel making, and secondary metallurgy to continuous casting technology, concentrating solar power technology, hot and cold rolling mills, and strip processing lines. SMS Siemag currently has 5600 employees worldwide, and last year alone the company received orders worth approximately 3.9 billion euros and achieved 2.5 billion euros in turnover. In autumn 2008, an employee mentioned a videoconferencing system seen on a customer’s premises in India. The system referred to was a Cisco TelePresence installation used by Tata for communications between employees, partners, and customers. TelePresence—convincing from the outset The members of the SMS Siemag managing board attended a presentation at Cisco to see for themselves how the Cisco TelePresence system worked and assess the various application scenarios. “We set up a live demo where representatives from SMS Siemag were able to confer with Tata people in India through an HD video The production sector also relies on link, to give them an initial idea of the quality and the available options,” explains video communication. Cisco Account Manager Sven Barten. “One of the most important drivers for using © 2011Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 3
- 2. Solution Overview the Cisco system at SMS Siemag was to significantly reduce travel costs. Some capabilities of the TelePresence system, such as simultaneous participation of several people at different locations, immediately triggered a favourable response.” SMS Siemag then drew up a simple cost-benefit calculation. The company’s two largest German sites are in Düsseldorf and Hilchenbach in the Siegerland region, with 1200 and 2000 employees respectively, many of whom commute frequently between the two sites. Initial calculations showed that the cost of setting up the TelePresence system would quickly be recouped if using the system could reduce business travel between these two sites. “Acceptance of the system here was very Cisco TelePresence System 1300 has been an high from the start and remains so,” says Werner Frowein, CIO at SMS Siemag. integral part of corporate communications at “After a presentation on Cisco’s premises, even the Works Council was enthusiastic SMS Siemag since April 2010. and came out in favour.” Before theory was turned into practice, SMS Siemag decided on a 180-day trial involving the sites in Düsseldorf and Hilchenbach, beginning in October 2009. “We wanted the trial to coincide with the start of winter,” says Dr. Ferdinand Klaus, head of the Network and Front End Systems Specialist Division at SMS Siemag. “That’s when driving is particularly unpleasant, so staff were very willing to adopt this new solution.” By January 2010, SMS Siemag was so convinced of the value of the TelePresence system that the two rooms were continuously occupied for almost nine hours each day with meetings involving up to 20 participants. It soon became clear that, with this amount of use, the monthly costs for the two TelePresence systems would be covered by the savings made on business trips. From Germany out into the world Video changes business life Cisco TelePresence has been an Cisco TelePresence represents a new generation of videoconferencing systems integral part of SMS Siemag’s corporate because it enables virtual meetings to be held across the network, while communications since April 2010, and conveying a realistic meeting experience. Thanks to a high-resolution, life-size the company has set up three more video display and natural lighting, the communication of gestures and facial Cisco TelePresence System 1300 expressions is crystal clear, which is particularly important because more installations at its locations abroad, than 60 percent of human communication is nonverbal. including one at a large construction site in Alabama, USA. The complexity of this Cisco currently has more than 900 TelePresence installations in operation major American contract meant that the worldwide, covering more than 50 countries and almost 230 towns. More than cost of travel for SMS staff was relatively 40,000 meetings are held each week using TelePresence, and these systems high, which is why the decision to set work on average at a 63 percent capacity (based on five eight-hour working up a TelePresence system in a mobile days each week). container— to be used at the site over The system is set up at all Cisco sites in Germany, and hotels like the Lindner the next 18 months—was made quickly. Group offer public conference rooms equipped with TelePresence. Nowadays, SMS Siemag has also installed a Cisco high-end video systems are by no means restricted to major corporations. TelePresence System 1300 in each Increasingly, small businesses are using them as a way of reducing travel costs of its subsidiaries in Asia –in Beijing, between different locations. China, and Delhi, India. Unlike the sites in Germany, these systems were not linked up to a large-scale network, which meant that they required higher bandwidth to be installed. Even with these additional costs, however, the installations will pay for themselves very quickly. © 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.. Page 2 of 3
- 3. Solution Overview The capabilities and quality of the Cisco TelePresence system have met all the expectations of SMS Siemag, while the cost-benefit case has also proved convincing. The company currently has five TelePresence rooms of different sizes in Germany, plus three rooms at its locations abroad, and it has already upgraded to Cisco TelePresence System 3010 at its main sites. Cisco TelePresence System 3010 Americas Headquarters Asia Pacific Headquarters Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, San Jose, CA Singapore The Netherlands Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices. Cisco and the Cisco Logo are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1005R) © 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.. Printed in the UK ES/11654/0911 Page 3 of 3