Industrial technology and automation

Siemens AG

Siemens has a concrete circularity case inside electrical infrastructure. It reports that a switchgear retrofit can extend operating life by up to 15 years while reducing material use by up to 80% versus new equipment. That is the right standard for this brief: a named product, a performance baseline, a service decision and a recovery route, not a company-wide circularity narrative.

Industry
Industrial Equipment & Automation
Evidence through
Sources
3 public

Key facts

Company
Siemens AG
Industry
Industrial Equipment & Automation
Materials
Aluminum, Plastics, Steel
Processes
Recycling
Evidence through

Material inputs to resolve

Industrial technology, electrification, buildings, grids, mobility and healthcare

Siemens reported EUR 78.9 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue. Smart Infrastructure reported EUR 23.0 billion in revenue and a EUR 19 billion order backlog at September 30, 2025. Company disclosures describe circular product design, secondary-material use, lifecycle extension and customer-circularity tools. Public sources do not establish a single product BOM, recovered-material allocation or named downstream buyer.

EUR 78.9B FY2025 group revenue

EUR 23.0B Smart Infrastructure FY2025 revenue

EUR 19B Smart Infrastructure order backlog

Evidence Product-level material loop needs qualification

  • Copper, aluminum, steel, engineering plastics and electronics in switchgear, controls and building systems
  • Digital components, sensors and power electronics
  • Packaging, service parts and returned equipment

Outputs and residuals to resolve

  • Grid control, power distribution, switching, building automation and energy-management systems
  • Retired electrical equipment and service-return streams
  • Recovery, reuse and secondary-material allocation are not disclosed as one product-level mass balance

First decision: Choose one Smart Infrastructure product family and one customer lifecycle. Request the BOM, material declarations, service-return pathway, replacement interval and recovered-material accounting before making a circularity claim.

Control

Siemens AG is the public parent across industry, infrastructure, mobility and healthcare.

Operating wedge

Smart Infrastructure spans buildings, electrification, grids, automation, power distribution and energy management.

Circularity evidence

Siemens describes three levers: circular products, circular business and customer circularity. Its FY25 reporting says 67% of its relevant portfolio was covered by Robust Eco Design. Its FY25 reporting says 67% of its relevant portfolio was covered by Robust Eco Design.

Evidence boundary

The company-level direction is clear. A product-level material flow, recovery route and buyer specification remain open.

Decision boundary

The public record supports one bounded next move: Choose one Smart Infrastructure product family and one customer lifecycle. Request the BOM, material declarations, service-return pathway, replacement interval and recovered-material accounting before making a circularity claim. It does not establish a buyer, commercial approval or supply agreement.

Material flow map

Material or streamQualification gateProcess or destinationEvidence still needed
Copper, aluminum and steelGrade, recycled content, safety and performanceElectrical product BOMSupplier, mass balance and test evidence
Returned equipmentAsset identity and conditionService, refurbishment or recoveryTake-back volume, routing and yield
Electronics and plasticsSubstance, durability and end-of-life rulesControl or building systemMaterial declaration and recovery pathway

This is a public screening map. It separates company-disclosed flows from open qualification work. It does not convert a destination into a buyer or an announced ambition into operating capacity.

Three defensible entry lanes

Prove circularity in one electrical product family

The product must carry the story through a BOM, a performance test and a recovery route.

Next evidence: Select a product, site, supplier set and end-of-life pathway.

Connect service data to material value

Lifecycle extension can keep equipment in use. Siemens gives switchgear retrofit as a public example, but service records still need to identify what can be repaired, upgraded or recovered.

Next evidence: Map serial-level service events, replacement parts and disposition rules.

Build a customer-facing circularity map

Smart Infrastructure serves grids, buildings and industry. A named installation creates a credible first case.

Next evidence: Choose one site and show input materials, installed asset, maintenance, upgrade and recovery decisions.

Evidence register

Source hierarchy: filings and company disclosures first. The brief states what those sources support and leaves the unresolved plant, grade, permit, buyer and mass-balance questions explicit.

Material Transition editorial interpretation

Siemens is already selling the digital and electrical infrastructure that makes a more resource-efficient physical economy possible. The useful question is where one product line can prove the material loop, not whether the company has a circularity narrative. The next useful working session starts with: Choose one Smart Infrastructure product family and one customer lifecycle. Request the BOM, material declarations, service-return pathway, replacement interval and recovered-material accounting before making a circularity claim.

Sources

  1. [1]
  2. [2]
  3. [3]