Siemens extend devepolment to African Manufacturing�Sector

Posted on : Thursday , 11th December 2014

 THE Managing Director, Siemens Nigeria, Onyech Tifase, has described the company's feat in addressing challenges in Nigeria's real sector as a testimonial to the fact that the company fully understands the Nigerian terrain and is deeply committed to the country's development.

According to her, Siemens is ready to assist its customers to surmount the challenges in the manufacturing environment, with inadequate levels of infrastructure, increasing technological requirements, difficult access to finance, increasing competition, company regulation and shortage of skilled employees.

She noted that the company has offered a wide range of solutions and services to meet the challenges in Nigeria's energy, healthcare, industry, and infrastructure and cities sectors.

Indeed, the commissioning of the Geregu II power plant for Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC), adding 434 MW to the Nigerian grid has been described as a success story.

Speaking at a customers' forum recently, where it offered different solutions to meeting manufacturing challenges in Nigeria, she said: "Recognised for leadership in creating sustainable industrial growth, we focus on helping our customers do things better, through engaging with our innovative technology, people and partners.

"At Siemens we are committed to ethical and responsible actions while achieving high performance and excellent results, supporting you in improving your business through applied solutions. We are here to listen to your needs and offer best-in-class engineering expertise to help you innovate and create sustainable value."

She disclosed that the company has successfully delivered solutions for industry, manufacturing, power and skills development for over 160 years across 190 countries; and our main objective here today is to determine how these solutions can be adapted for our peculiar situation.

She disclosed that the company has been involved in most of Nigeria's post-colonial electrification and communications infrastructure development and today remains a major player in the now deregulated, privatized electricity market.

"Our products, systems and solutions are deployed across manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, oil & gas, power generation, transmission and distribution facilities nationwide. Our commitment to investing for the long term in Nigeria is reflected in our MOU with the FGN with a focus on developing power generation capacity and the establishment of a high-tech gas turbine workshop to provide world-class after-sales services, training and other support in country. I wish to reassure you of our continued commitment, not only to continue to meeting your expectations but indeed to exceeding them", she added.

Also, the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, said that the sector faces basic challenges that must be overcome before it can play its expected role in the growth process.

He said that these challenges have impeded the competiveness of locally manufactured products and therefore rendered them unattractive in the global arena.

According to him, the scale and scope of globalization has continued to increase, and countries are discovering that they cannot operate outside the process.

"This again has posed some challenge to the competitiveness of local production. With expanding liberalization of trade, our market is opening up allowing the influx of all sorts of goods into the economy".

Jacobs therefore stressed the need to encourage positive attitudinal changes towards achieving best manufacturing practices.

He said that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should be more competitive and more efficient in their production processes.

He stated: "Government should provide a better and more conducive manufacturing environment through provision of necessary infrastructure, research and development (R&D) and other policies that will facilitate their development.

"Constraint to finance should be seriously addressed through provision of specialized SMEs funding windows with single digit interest rate.

"Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives should be introduced to encourage manufacturers with high local content in raw material usage.

"Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives should be introduced to encourage partnerships and linkages between large firms and SMEs. In order to achieve this, partnering organizations working with the appropriate regulatory agencies should develop acceptable product standards.

"Appropriate skill development programmes should be organized for existing and potential SME operators in order to sharpen and focus their entrepreneurial disposition".