“We are proud to announce Sarah as head of Motion Control – a key business in our holistic offering to industry and manufacturing,” says Brian Holliday, managing director of Siemens Digital Industries UK & Ireland. “She brings immense experience to this role and a manufacturer’s knowledge that will hold her in good stead to work with our customers.
Black-Smith’s career with Siemens spans almost 20 years. She holds a BEng in Manufacturing Engineering and Management from Loughborough University and an MSc in Operations Excellence from Cranfield University. Black-Smith was in a placement at Alstom Power when it was sold to Siemens in 2003. Siemens then sponsored her final year, taking her on as a young graduate joining as a lean implementer in Lincoln in 2004, progressing to manufacturing manager in 2010.
Black-Smith became head of manufacturing at Congleton in 2014 and head of factory operations in 2016. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
Commenting on her appointment, Black-Smith says: “In my new role as general manager of the Motion Control division, I will be responsible for growing the business and increase our strategic positioning in the UK industry.
“While I’ll be focussed on order intake and revenue, I’m hard-wired into manufacturing where safety, sustainability, quality, cost and delivery are top priority,” she adds.
Sarah Black-Smith: newly appointed general manager of Siemens Motion Control in the UK
Siemens has committed to increasing the number of women working in engineering. In 2021, half of its graduates and 42% of its intern recruits were women.
“Women are certainly making a mark in engineering and we at Siemens are continuously working toward employing females in this sector,” says Brian Holliday. “Whilst there are many challenges including gender parity, our strong foundations to mitigate these hurdles will, in the long term, show the results.”
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