EINDHOVEN – Siemens VDO is to relocate its Dutch Head Office from Amsterdam to Eindhoven on 1 April. This relocation means that some forty of the employees engaged in the production of navigation and other systems will shortly come to work within the region.

By RIK ELFRINK

Siemens VDO is one of the ten divisions within the Siemens concern. The company is considering moving its workforce currently based in Eindhoven to new premises in the foreseeable future. The locations currently being considered include the High Tech Campus.

Its Managing Director, F. van der Vliet, confirmed this yesterday. Mr Van der Vliet considers a move to Eindhoven in keeping with market developments. ‘Siemens VDO already has a major research & development division in Eindhoven. It employs some 270 people. We are now keen to base the headquarters here too. The Zuidoost-Brabant region has developed into the automotive region of the Netherlands. Suppliers, manufacturers, and the most important university and specialists to us are all located in and around this area. The decision by TNO Automotive to also relocate its operations to this region was a positive sign.’

Move

The move to the High Tech Campus is still far from finalised according to Mr Van der Vliet. ‘Other options are still being considered. We might choose to expand our premises at Luchthavenweg, for instance. However, I simply cannot deny that the Campus would be an excellent location for our purposes.’
Siemens VDO has great expectations in the rapidly expanding market for vehicle navigation systems and automotive software in general. The company, which is the market leader in its segment, expects employment opportunities for electronics experts to increase substantially. ‘Within the next five years, Europe will require a further 100,000 specialists with a significant understanding of automotive software,’ one of the company’s managers, C. van de Weijer, explained.

Ambition

What this will actually imply for the company’s new Head Office in Eindhoven, Siemens VDO declined to say. ‘Our ambition is certainly to expand, but we do not wish to link this to any predictions at the moment.’
Siemens VDO has a global of around 10 billion euros. This amounts to one tenth of the Siemens concern’s total turnover. Siemens VDO has a global workforce of around 50,000. It employs some 350 in the Netherlands.

In addition to navigation systems (such as VDO Dayton) Siemens VDO manufactures audio systems and tachographs. The division based in Eindhoven was established through a takeover of the company formerly known as Philips Car Systems. The latter was the first firm to market navigation systems in Europe, using the brand name Carin.



Source: Brabants Dagblad, 2 January 2006