Innovative Minds: A Look Inside Siemens' Idea Machine (German Edition)

265 Pages·2007·2.32 MB·English

by  Ulrich Eberl

Eberl / Puma 
Innovative Minds

Innovative Minds
A Look Inside Siemens’ Idea Machine
by Ulrich Eberl and Joerg Puma
Publicis Corporate Publishing
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet
at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Illustrations used in the book:
DONG Energy / Winther airphoto (page 114 right), akg-images (pages
249, 253), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ziegler / Dr. Joerg Puma (page 251),
Bridgeman Art Library (page 254), Krones AG (page 256, lower picture).
Copyright for all other illustrations: Siemens AG.
This book was carefully produced. Nevertheless, authors and publisher do
not warrant the information contained therein to be free of errors. Neither
the authors nor the publisher can assume any liability or legal responsibility
for omissions or errors. Terms reproduced in this book may be registered
trademarks, the use of which by third parties for their own purposes may
violate the rights of the owners of those trademarks.
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Contact for authors: [email protected]
ISBN 978-3-89578-299-2
Editor: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin and Munich
Publisher: Publicis Corporate Publishing, Erlangen
© 2007 by Publicis KommunikationsAgentur GmbH, GWA, Erlangen
This publication and all parts thereof are protected by copyright. All rights
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to the use of extracts from the text.
Printed in Germany
The Courage to Do Something New
One thing that editorials, talk shows, political speeches, and even ad-
vertising campaigns have in common is a preoccupation with the term
“innovation.” Indeed, references to innovation are so frequent and in-
flated that the word is at risk of becoming meaningless. Nevertheless,
it is clear that a broad spectrum of the population has realized how im-
portant innovations are for the success of companies and economies. Ac-
cording to its original definition, as formulated by Joseph Alois Schum-
peter, an innovation is a “creative restructuring.” More precisely, it is the
commercially successful market application of an invention or other new
idea. To put it simply, if research is the process of transforming money
into knowledge, innovation is the process of transforming knowledge
into money.
Many management books describe the ideal way to generate innova-
tions – by using the right strategies, tools and processes, for example.
But reality is almost always more complicated, and the roads to innova-
tion are more complex than management theories admit. Hardly any-
thing has been published about how innovations are born, the charac-
ter traits that make up a typical innovator, and what he or she has to
do in order to overcome all sorts of obstacles. This book aims to close
that gap by offering portraits of 30 inventors and innovators. Together
with their teams – and in some cases with external partners – they have
created some of the most successful innovations of recent years. Their
achievements range from piezoinjector technology for automobiles to
new computer and magnetic resonance tomographs, from the halogen
lamp to industrial automation, and from the gas sensor for building
technology to the gas turbine for power generation. Of course, not all
of these developments have been instant successes; some are only now
being implemented, while others have faced almost insurmountable ob-
stacles. These portraits also show that alongside new products, innova-
tions often involve the optimization of processes or the development of
new business models.
Over and over, we’ve been asked who is responsible for successful
– and unsuccessful – innovations at Siemens. As with most things, the
story is more complicated than one might expect. Innovators are by no
means only researchers and developers; their ranks include specialists
in marketing, production and sales, as well as strategists and managers,
all of whom play a role in propelling an idea from its inception to market
The Courage to Do Something New 5
success. For those interested in generating their own innovations, this
book will prove to be a veritable treasure trove of new approaches from
successful innovators, which we hope will inspire you too to strike out in
new directions! Seek out the partners you need to reach your goal. And
if you’re a manager, create an environment that will attract, promote and
challenge outstanding innovators. After all, a culture of innovation is the
fertile ground in which tomorrow’s innovations will bear rich fruit. Have
the courage to do something new – and enjoy the journey! Knowing that
you’ve helped to shape our future will make all your efforts worthwhile.
Munich, April 2007
Ulrich Eberl and Joerg Puma
6 The Courage to Do Something New
Contents
Innovators as Entrepreneurs
Hermann Requardt
It’s All About People 12
Klaus Wucherer
Helping to Shape Tomorrow’s World 15
Managers on Innovation 19
Visionary Personalities
Piezo Injection – Keeping Faith with an Idea 22
Paradigm Shift – The Electronic Wedge Brake 30
Sensors in the Wall 38
Digital Bloodhounds 45
Merging Data Streams 52
New Momentum for Trains 58
The Colors of Success 64
The Path Is the Goal
Factory of the Future 74
Revolution According to Plan – Whole-body MR Tomography 81
Reactive Power Counts Too – New Solutions in
Power Transmission 90
All Ears for Customers 97
Analysis Instead of Spontaneity – Innovation Steps for
Gas Turbines 104
Harnessing the Wind 112
 Contents
Siemens and the World
The Future of Manufacturing Execution Systems 123
I-WLAN – From University Research to a Global Product 129
Biolab on a Chip 136
Recipe for Success from China 143
Simplicity as a Principle – Telephoning via Cable Networks 150
An Ocean of Energy 156
Innovation Is More Than Technology
Machines for People 166
The Power to Keep Ideas Alive 174
Software for a Global Player 179
Financing by Saving 185
Body Codes 191
The Yin and Yang of Innovation 199
From Idea to Business Success
From “Local Hero” to Number One in Automation 210
The Universal Language for Medical Systems 217
The Man Who Helped the U.S. Postal Service to Save
Hundreds of Millions of Dollars 226
Ups and Downs in the Communication Age 232
The Triumph of the Halogen Lamp 239
A Final Picture 247
The Authors 255
Contents 9