Leipzig, January 20, 1995
The full spectrum of the integrated technological group is now represented in the new federal states in the form of the Daimler-Benz Group, with its corporate units Mercedes-Benz, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie, and Daimler-Benz InterServices (debis). Commercial vehicle assembly, locomotive construction, aircraft maintenance, and local computing centers are just part of the network of entrepreneurial commitment which Daimler-Benz is bringing to the process of economic and social reconstruction. Other examples of the group's commitment cover a range extending from sales offices and service stations, on the one hand, to various social, cultural and ecological promotion activities, on the other. This was the view of Matthias Kleinert, General Manager for Public Affairs at Daimler-Benz AG, speaking at the opening of the Leipzig branch on January 20, 1995.At the end of 1994, some 10,000 workers in the east of Germany were employed in the companies of the Daimler-Benz Group. Moreover, this figure does not include the 5,200 or so staff of Mercedes Benz's partner firms. A further 10,000 employees are working in companies which, following purchases by the corporate units in the new federal states, have achieved a turnover of approx. DM 1 billion. Taking the opportunity to present a brochure specifically covering the Group's activities in the new federal states, Kleinert stressed that there is not a single state in the east in which the Daimler-Benz Group is not maintaining plants and service facilities.
One of the most important companies in the East is Ludwigsfelde Commercial Vehicles. For over a year now this company, which has sole production responsibility for the T2 van series (4.5 to 7.5 t), has belonged 100% to Mercedes-Benz. The rail systems business area, one of the core activities of AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie, has its headquarters in Henningsdorf near Berlin. When this location is expanded to become the main center for developing and producing locomotives, trainsets, streetcars, underground trains, and regional trainsets, Henningsdorf will have evolved into the biggest industrial company in Brandenburg, and one of the most modern factories for rail-bound vehicles in Europe. In Laage near Rostock, TEMIC, an AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie subsidiary, is investing DM 70 million in building a plant for the production of airbag gas generators. The Elbe Aircraft Plant in Saxony and MTU Ludwigsfelde are important enterprises of Daimler-Benz Aerospace. In October 1994, a branch of debis Systemhaus sfi was established in Leipzig; the new enterprise offers, among other things, services for communal data processing in the Leipzig district and provides work for 80 employees. All in all, according to Kleinert, the Daimler-Benz Group will have invested more than DM 2 billion in the new federal states by 1996.
The East German purchasing drive initiated around two years ago by 33 major West German companies has been supported by Daimler-Benz from the very start. In 1994, the Group achieved the billion mark threshold for purchases made in the new federal states - a full year ahead of schedule. According to Kleinert, this achievement was the result of a "variety of measures" in which contact with East German companies was sought, nurtured and developed. The competitiveness of the partner firms in the east has developed quite respectably - a fact that is due in no small way to the setting-up of so-called "guardians." Dr. Gerhard Liener, the Group's representative in the new federal states, has been one of the most vociferous in actively promoting the purchasing drive. And just a week ago in Weimar, at a project seminar attended by east German business people, politicians and trade representatives, the Daimler-Benz board member was able to hear at first hand just how positively the "guardians" scheme was regarded by the companies under care. Liener has already announced that the purchasing drive would continue until 1996.
Kleinert continued his address by stressing that the companies within the Daimler-Benz Group were not only making their contribution to improving the macroeconomic performance of the new federal states, but also showing considerable social commitment. Examples of the latter could be clearly seen in the form of facilities and initiatives provided to promote activities in the areas of culture, sport, social events, and conservation. Kleinert cited as examples the renovation of the Chinese tea-house in Sanssouci Palace gardens, the sponsoring of the "SOS Kinderdorf" children's village at Zwickau alongside patronage of a European Youth Football Tournament in support of it, a training initiative for young unemployed people in Hoyerswerda, support for the Lake Müritz national park, and the extensive activities coinciding with the 1995 Global Climate Conference in Berlin.
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