Philipp has big plans for his adoptive home of Chile. From his office in the capital city of Santiago, he’s been busy coming up with a business plan that could put the South American country well and truly on the sustainability map. “I want to take renewable energies from Chile to decarbonize the world,” he says.

Working in energy management for one of the world’s biggest companies, Philipp doesn’t underestimate the complexity of solving a problem like global warming. “Without some major disruptive technical changes, many countries will not be able to meet their CO₂ targets for 2030,” he says.

So far, the best solution we’ve come up with is to swap our dependence on fossil fuels for renewable energy, but that comes with its own set of problems. “To change the type of energy we use, we need new infrastructure,” Philipp explains. Just look at electric cars. Of course, they represent an essential step on the road to reducing environmentally harmful emissions, but we need to ensure there are enough charging points to go around. And we haven’t even started on electric planes and cargo ships.

Philipp may well have an alternative solution. He and his team have been busy developing a new e-fuel. Using electrical energy to make hydrogen, they have figured out a way to produce a synthetic fossil fuel from sustainable sources. “We can make all kinds of oil derivatives, like diesel or kerosene but with a neutral CO₂ balance.” With e-fuel, there would be no need to change all our existing infrastructure. Just fill up the tank and go.

Once in production, e-fuel will need a reliable supply of electrical energy to keep up with demand. And that’s where Chile comes in.

A geographic wonder, the pencil-thin country is wedged between 6,000km of Pacific Ocean coastline and the rugged Andes. For the past century its biggest resource has been its mining industry, but now its diverse geographical terrain could potentially hold the answer to global warming. “There’s no better place in the world to produce renewable energies at a very competitive cost,” Philipp goes on to explain. “To the north you have the Atacama Desert, which produces the best solar radiation in the world, and in the Patagonian region in the south you have the steadiest and strongest winds in the world.”

All this means Chile is a natural starting point when it comes to bringing e-fuel to the world. “Even if another country has access to the same technology,” Philipp clarifies, “it all comes down to geographical conditions.”

Making substantiality good for business

“There’s a key concept at Siemens called business to society,” says Philipp. “Of course, we want to do business but it has to have a positive impact on society.”

Philipp doesn’t come from a technical background ­– he studied business administration — but, while living in Colombia, he took an internship in Siemens’ energy strategy department. “During that time, I was very close to my final thesis, I began asking around saying ‘I wanna write about two things: renewable energies and South America.’”

This led the head of strategy to ask Philipp if he wanted to work with him in renewables in Chile. “We just kept developing ideas around all the renewable energies here,” he says. “Now I work on several projects — not just the e-fuel one.”

Philipp Bezler was born in Germany. After living in Mexico, Canada, and Colombia he now calls Santiago in Chile home. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Philipp is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

How Chile could power the world was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Claudio is obsessed with technology. As an engineer in automation and a teacher at a local university, you’d think his home would provide a respite from the world of wires, circuits, and electrical currents.

But that’s not the case.

Married to a fellow engineer, Claudio’s family have technology hardwired into their DNA. Even his children carry the engineering gene. “My three-year-old daughter is learning about programmable logic controller functionality,” Claudio laughs. “It’s amazing.”

But Claudio’s love of engineering isn’t just about practical or technical skills. It’s based around his passion for knowledge. “It’s about curiosity,” he explains. “My family are all very curious people, that’s why we’re always building and learning new things.”

Seeing his ideas come to life is an endless source of inspiration for him. “Siemens is everywhere in Chile, from Santiago’s electric buses to the fact that last year, the company employed 2,600 people across the country. We’re everywhere.”

As a Product Manager in automation, Claudio is helping the country with one of its biggest resources — mining. “Mining takes a lot of water,” he explains. “In the north of Chile, where some of the materials are, it’s a complete desert.”

Rather than shipping in vast amounts of water or depleting a local reserve, Claudio is helping companies to use seawater. Desalination removes contaminating salts and minerals from seawater so it can be used in production plants. It’s then piped more than 300km overland to the mine. “The whole process is about integration,” he explains. Using automation and cloud technologies, people can constantly monitor the chemical balance in the desalination plant no matter where they are.

Digitization can transform entire industries

“My principal challenge is to show people in Chile what we can achieve with this kind of technology,” says Claudio. Day-to-day, he spends time transferring information from one person to another. “All my clients and customers need support. My colleagues do. Even I do! We need to work well with each other — that way we can reach the best solution.”

Claudio has high hopes for the innovations he is working on. But new ideas don’t just happen on their own — they require inspirational people to develop new capabilities and push them forward. “We need to train people in Chile to jump from traditional jobs to ones that use digitization,” Claudio says. “Because those traditional jobs don’t always help build people’s skill sets for the future.”

He is doing his bit to educate and inform everyone about digitization, because — as the famous saying goes — knowledge is power. And the best way to help people is by teaching them how to help themselves. Whether it’s his three-year-old daughter or educating himself on the latest innovations, Claudio will never stop believing in learning.

Claudio Gaete lives in Santiago, Chile, with his wife and three children. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Claudio is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

A family connected by technology was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I was at university, I really started to notice how software had been changing,” says Andrés. He uses mobile phones as an example, remembering that just 10 years ago their main use was to make calls. Now smartphones are capable of so much more, with many of us unable to imagine a time without them. To Andrés, it demonstrates how quickly the software industry is developing and subsequently impacting our lives.

Andrés believes the ever-evolving world of software has given him the opportunity to spark real-world impact. “Software is changing everything,” he says. “I think it’s one of the things that will change the future.”

Based in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Andrés combines his love of software with two other disciplines that he fine-tuned while at university: electronics and mechanics. “I have always been oriented to software and programming, and now I think I have reached a position where I can combine software programming with a mix of electronics and mechanics,” he says.

Working within the oil and gas industry as a Motion Control Specialist, his responsibilities include developing new ways for electrical drives to move the motors within huge pumps to collect oil and gas reserves. It’s no simple task as these pumps can be as far as three kilometers underground. “I think it’s very exciting to understand different functions for this industry,” he said.

But beyond meeting his personal desires to make an impact within his career, Andrés relishes the fact that, through his work, he is able to influence tangible change within his home country. His customers are largely based within Colombia, and working within a complex and constantly evolving industry means he uses his software and mechatronics know-how to deliver unique solutions. “I really like that I develop technology for pumping applications in oil and gas,” he says. “I have the opportunity to develop my own codes and new products.”

Andrés Felipe Sánchez Perdomo graduated from the University of San Buenaventura in 2006 as a Mechatronic Engineer. He then attended the University of Los Andes as a Specialist in Industrial Process Automation. He joined Siemens as a Service Engineer in 2010. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Andrés is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

Fascinated by the power of software was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Industry is changing. Digitization has brought about a new pace of work; timely problems can now be solved in the blink of an eye thanks to a constant stream of new updates, innovations, and solutions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in industrial automation.

As the Lead Business Unit — Factory Automation for Siemens in Chile, Fabian is responsible for introducing new products into the market. “Not only am I tasked with sales and marketing, but I also have to make sure the client knows how the product works for them,” he says.

The main way of helping people understand new technologies is through education. From his clients to potential new employees, he has to make sure everyone is up to date with the latest innovations. “As a business we’re always looking at how we can support new ideas and technology in the future,” he explains. “And a big part of that is education.”

One of the programs Fabian works on is helping students enter the WorldSkills championship. Taking place every two years, it’s an international competition that celebrates young people’s vocational skills — from telecommunications to industrial control. Founded in the 1940s, it was designed to create employment opportunities for young people in some of the economies that were devastated by the Second World War.

At one of the competitions two years ago, Fabian invited a school from the south of Chile to enter. “Chile is a very long and thin country,” he says. “So people from poorer schools in the south don’t get many opportunities to travel to Santiago, the capital.”

During preparations for the competition, the teacher came to Fabian and said he had a problem with his students not having the right skills or confidence to work with Siemens on industrial robotics.“I sat down and spoke with one of the students,” Fabian says, “and told him ‘Now you have to work like an engineer’ but his reply was: ‘I’m not an engineer.’”

Fabian asked the student to look up ‘engineer’ in a dictionary and he came back with the definition: Someone who invents, designs, analyses, builds, and tests machines, systems, structures, and materials to fulfil objectives and requirements while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. “I told the student that being an engineer was about acting like one, which he was already doing,” he adds.

Fabian knew he had to give the student the confidence and motivation to believe he was an engineer: “I told him that, if he won, I’d give him a job at Siemens when he was finished studying.” The student came in first place.

Ever since he attended university, Fabian has loved what education can do for people because of the domino effect it has. Educate a person and you change their lives, which in turn impacts their family’s lives, which has a positive impact on society and means, ultimately, you’re playing a part in changing the future.

Fabian Hernandez lives and works in Santiago, Chile. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Fabian is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

A passionate educator was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alejandro knows if there’s one thing that’s certain about his job, it is that it will change beyond recognition over the coming years. As GP SD — Sales Representative Colombia, it’s his responsibility to offer services and parts to power plants based across the country.

“There are some basic requests like needing parts for mechanical equipment, but then there are other solutions related to digitalization, upgrades, and modernization,” he says. “I’m in charge of handling those kinds of customer requests.”

And it’s no small feat in an area that’s changing as much as the energy sector. Compared to today, when he started in his role five years ago, many customers approached energy in a completely different way. “For example, in the past, business was like a car,” he says. “Customers would take their car to the shop, their equipment would be repaired and that would be it, but today, the customer is always asking for digital solutions.” They don’t want to just focus on day-to-day business, they look to the future and are focused on improving their units, which requires many fast-evolving technical developments from Alejandro and his team.

The current rate of change shows no sign of slowing — quite the opposite in fact. Currently, much of Alejandro’s role involves working in thermal energy while the infrastructure required for renewable energy to become mainstream is strengthened. He believes changes in the energy sector will have a global impact and that the industry will be unrecognizable in the next five to 10 years.

“Renewables will change completely,” he says. New control room solutions will be built to link not only power plants but different sources of energy, which will provide greater reliability to people across the world.

For some, working in an industry with so much change and so many unknowns could be overwhelming. But for Alejandro, it suits his desire to find constant variety. “I love to change,” he says. “I don’t like routine.” In the time he’s worked within the company, he’s had four different positions including working as a Strategic Projects Analyst, meaning he’s had the opportunity to make many connections and learn about different topics. “I think in my five years at Siemens I have had the chance to do what a regular person in a regular company would do in 10 years. I have grown a lot.”

Alejandro Vanegas joined Siemens in 2013 as an intern. He studied Industrial Engineering at the University of La Sabana before joining the University of Los Andes to take on a masters degree in marketing. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Alejandro is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

The energy of youth was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When you think of a buzzword as overused as ‘digitalization’, it can run the risk of losing real meaning. It may sound familiar, but do you know how it will actually impact your life? It’s Alejandro’s job to help convert the term into reality, finding ways for the ever-evolving industry to impact the real world.

As a former Field Service Engineer, Alejandro still calls upon his technical skills in his current position as a Solution Partner Representative, a role that sees him works with industry customers from various sectors including oil, gas, and food.

One of the ways he uses digitalization to make a genuine impact is by finding ways to automate food and drink factories. “Siemens as a German company is very strong in the food and beverage industry,” he says. “The most important topic when it comes to improving efficiency is standardization.”

It’s down to Alejandro and the rest of the team to come up with solutions to help customers ensure their factories follow international standards for equipment, like controllers in bottle lines or electrical drives used within the production process. And, in an increasingly globalized world, it means his work is not necessarily confined to Colombia, with some customers based around 9,000km away in countries like Germany and Belgium.

But it’s not just the food and drink industry, as more and more customers look to Siemens to find innovative ways to help them be as efficient as possible — and that’s where digitalization comes in. Previously, a customer might have a real, concrete idea of the process or the solution they are looking for, but the rate of change now means Alejandro listens to every unique request in order to come back with methods that might not exist yet. “Right now, it’s very important to have a close relationship with our clients and not only make business transactions. We need to hear what their requirements are for the future. How can they improve their processes?”

Of course, a job like this does not allow for Alejandro to become comfortable by continuously using tried-and-tested methods. After all, that’s not real innovation. It’s exactly this emphasis on development that drives him, knowing that tomorrow will not be the same as today. “The market is changing, needs are changing, and our clients are requiring more solutions in the cloud,” he says. “Siemens is leading solutions in those kinds of products and software solutions. Everyone is talking about Industry 4.0, that’s the future.”

Alejandro Tamayo joined Siemens in 2003 after graduating from the National University of Colombia as an electrical engineer. Although he began as a Field Service Engineer, he decided he wanted to develop his business skills by switching roles and has now climbed his way up the ranks to become Solution Partner Representative. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Alejandro is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

Meet Colombia’s change-maker was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In charge of the remote operations center at Siemens in Argentina, Diego Flores is passionate about using technology to release people from the mundane, repetitive or unfulfilling aspects of their work. “We want people to do people’s work — not a machine’s work,” he says. “We’re using technology to free people’s time up so they can work on other activities. It alleviates people from some of the repetitive tasks in their roles.”

Overseeing a team of 10, as well as assisting his colleagues, Diego spends his working day exploring new ways of integrating Siemens technology to the remote operations center. “At the moment, not only do our technologies mean we can remotely operate the plants,” he explains, “but we’ve also been able to automate certain tasks.”

Based in Buenos Aires, Diego’s team manages the remote operations of four different power stations. Technically defined as infrastructure, highly skilled specialists maintain and operate the plants from a centralized hub. “When the national grid calls us to start generating more power, that’s all done remotely,” he explains.

Managing other engineers means having to understand and empathize. In previous roles, Diego often found himself working in isolation, so didn’t always get the chance to develop the skills required to supervise and helps others. He says he learned that from playing the bass guitar. “I moved to a new city for a previous job and didn’t know anyone, so I thought goofing around in bands would help me meet people. Actually, what it ended up doing was teaching me how to be open to new things, how to be flexible and gel with other people.”

Since joining the company Diego has gone from strength to strength. A central theme to his current role is communications — after all, remote operations can only exist if there’s a strong and stable connection between the plant and control room. “When I first started I was a supervisor for two of the plants but as it’s started to grow my background in network infrastructure and communications have played an even bigger part.”

Now, tasked with using innovation to add extra value to the remote operations center, Diego is using the latest technology to help people. Not only how they work together but also in their own learning experience. “Every job we do is about making projects more interesting and more dynamic, and allowing people to be more creative and build up more experience by freeing them of the boring aspects of their job.”

Diego Flores lives in Buenos Aires, where he still plays the bass guitar whenever he can. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Diego is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

Striking the right chord was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When you ask the average person how to protect themselves against hackers, most people will start talking about the importance of having a secure password or not opening a phishing email.

As a Senior Software Architect at Siemens Argentina, Adrián Allende doesn’t work on this type of cybersecurity. “My job is very different,” he says. “I’m an IT guy working in industry, so I deal with specialized automation equipment. It’s closer to electronics and operational technology than information technology. In IT your most important priority is confidentiality — then integrity and then availability.”

It’s the total opposite in operational technology (OT). Big systems can’t afford to go down for any amount of time and developers can’t duplicate and back them up like software. “You can’t have a back-up power plant,” he jokes.

The biggest hurdle Adrián has to overcome is getting his clients to think about computers beyond the realm of screens and keyboards. “In industrial facilities, there are so many devices that can be attacked,” he says. “But even the people who work there who know electronics don’t think of these machines as something that can be hacked.” The reality is that anything with a computer inside of it is vulnerable to malicious takeovers, so every device has to be safeguarded.

For Adrián, this means creating rings of protection around each device. “It’s a bit like a castle with a moat around it,” he explains. “It increases the defence measures and increases the odds of trapping the intruder in between each one and stopping them from causing any more damage.”

It’s not just devices Adrián has to teach his customers about. Hackers rely on any form of connection to break in and hijack a device. Traditional factories are little mini cities of communication with vast amounts of cables connecting isolated factories with the outside world. “Even cables a couple of kilometres long in a distant place with an isolated network are the potential starting point for an attack,” he acknowledges.

Not only has the internet made devices less secure, but it’s also helped hackers refine their abilities. After all, factories produce some of the most valuable goods in the world, from the technology itself to oil and gas, so it’s easy to understand the temptation to breach OT security. “It’s easy to find out how to do one of these attacks online,” Adrián says. “There are even YouTube videos on it. But still, our customers don’t always realize the damage intruders can bring about.”

Another reason why Adrián’s customers don’t grasp the gravity of industrial cybersecurity is because they tend to rest on old and out-of-date perceptions. Security by obscurity has often been a mantra of the cybersecurity community. It means that, if a security system’s flaws are well hidden, then it’ll remain concealed from the prying eyes of hackers. “They think all this information is tucked away in some dark place but, for some people, it’s not. A potential hacker can learn everything they need in a week.”

At the most basic level, Adrián wants these titans of industry to embrace a holistic approach to defence. In Argentina, the law is starting to catch up by making people aware of hacking activity but it can’t come soon enough. “It’s like different cultures,” Adrián adds. “Cybersecurity is entirely dependent on the environment.”

Adrián Allende lives in Buenos Aires. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Adrián is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

Not your traditional IT guy was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Looking back on her childhood in Venezuela, Oriana Méndez Torres has plenty of fond memories — exploring beaches, going sailing with her father, and playing football. But those positive experiences were at times overshadowed by the realities of the country’s difficult political situation. “Growing up, one of the main things that I remember is that we were under a junta government,” she recalls. “I was therefore very aware that it was important to fight for my ideals. To fight for my dreams.”

Having graduated in business administration and started working at Siemens Venezuela, Oriana was 26 when she was offered the opportunity to develop her professional career by taking a similar position within the finance team Argentina. That was three years ago and, during that time, Oriana has been working on more than just her role as a Commercial Controller.

Along with her partner, she established Venezolanos Emigrantes en Argentina — a foundation that’s dedicated to supporting other Venezuelans who arrive in Argentina. “I came here with help from Siemens. But many people from my country, and immigrants from other countries, arrive with difficult situations,” she says.

At work, Oriana deals with budgets and forecasts, and ensures the myriad administrative tasks related to maintaining gas turbines are carried out quickly and efficiently. Put simply, her role demands that she is organized and prepared for whatever the future might hold. And in that sense, it’s not a million miles from the work she does with the foundation.

A helping hand

From securing a job and gaining access to healthcare through to ultimately becoming a resident, new arrivals in Argentina face many challenges and Oriana seeks to help them overcome each and every obstacle they might face along the way.

“We mostly help people find the right information so that they can responsibly immigrate to Argentina and other countries,” she says. “Many people arrive in a vulnerable condition, for example, they might be unwell or in need of government support. We give them guidance.”

It’s a huge challenge and one that is likely to be even more in demand as Oriana’s home country continues to face tumultuous times. “The Venezuela diaspora is not a secret to the world. We are providing aid in what is a humanitarian emergency,” says Oriana, who draws on her own experiences of arriving in a new country to inform her approach to helping others.

“As an immigrant, every day is a challenge. There are new cultures and new ways of expressing yourself that you need to learn. For example, we all live in Latin America and we think that because of that everybody speaks Spanish. But we have differences, so it’s very difficult to start over again. You are far away from what you know, and that means you have to create a comfort zone every day.”

In search of a better life, Oriana says she couldn’t have made the move without the support of Siemens. “Years ago, if you had asked me if I wanted to leave my country I would answer ‘no’. But I had this opportunity so I took it. I said ‘yes’, I will go to another country because I need to help my family and my friends. I think that Siemens is a company that appreciates their people as humans and wants to give them positive opportunities.”

So far, the foundation has helped 8,000 Venezuelans and Oriana is intent on changing the lives of more people. Part of this involves collaborating with various organizations, and Siemens has been actively involved over the years. A number of Oriana’s colleagues are volunteers and the company has been quick to donate essential items such as food and medicine, as well as laptops.

Oriana hopes that having a desire to give something back will encourage more people and organizations to get involved. “We have to be grateful in life,” she says. “I had this opportunity to move to Argentina and I think it’s important to return that kind of benefit in the form of something that people need.”

Oriana Méndez Torres lives in Buenos Aires with her wife and their dog. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Oriana is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

Dedicated to changing lives was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dominik is a pragmatist. He knows that in order to get to where you want to go, it helps to have a clear view of the route ahead.

Working in Corporate Strategy at Siemens Chile, he spends his days trying to identify all the environmental factors that will shift, stall, and expedite the goals of his company. “As a strategist, I coordinate all the pieces of the puzzle so they can come together and take form,” he says. “I help plan out the bigger picture.”

Siemens is a huge company that’s split into many different divisions, all of which have their own strategy. Dominik works on the overall strategy for the company — helping to steer the ship so the rest of the fleet know where they’re going. “We just create an umbrella,” he adds. “So rather than having 10 people here and two people there, we align everyone for the best impact.”

Before he begins to roadmap the company’s objectives, Dominik tries to uncover the different routes his team could take. “What are all the aspects we need to think about? Which government agencies do we need to go to? Where are our customers? How can our CEO and CFO help us get to where we need to be?” he explains.

At the moment, Dominik says one of the biggest problems facing Siemens Chile is a shortage of much-needed skills. “There’s a lack of trained personnel,” he explains, “especially in some technology topics like cybersecurity.”

He says Siemens is not alone and that major companies across the country are experiencing the same challenge. “Recently, one of Chile’s biggest local banks had a mammoth cybersecurity breach — $20 million was stolen from people’s accounts,” he says. “All the banks suddenly scrambled around to try and hire cybersecurity experts but there were none left.”

It’s a similar story when it comes to identifying and hiring people who are well versed in artificial intelligence. Even within basic topics, like instrumentation, it can be hard to find the right people. Dominik says an ability to find medium-level engineers is where the Chilean job market is falling short. “We need people with the right qualifications to help us solve certain problems. Some people might know what they’re doing in a particular field, but they won’t have the same context as someone who is, for example, a field engineer.”

“We’ve set up a working group that takes the form of a weekly meeting where we try and future proof our workplace. We ask: what are the profiles of the people we would like to have in Siemens in five to six years’ time? And then we figure out if we need to set up a training program or something like that.”

Dominik Stieler lives in Santiago with his wife, daughter and stepson. Find out more about working at Siemens.

Dominik is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.

The secrets of a strategist was originally published in People at Siemens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.