IF we’re talking about bringing baggage to the table, Alan Wood must be heaving a trunk. The Siemens UK chief executive, who this week launches his Wood Review into European procurement (at the behest of HM Treasury), heads one of Britain’s biggest manufacturers, but also works for a vast German company with history. On top of which he is a passionate advocate for joining the euro. Gordon Brown, I think we can safely assume, is not.

So what is going on? “If I was Gordon Brown,” says Wood in his Sheffield tones, “I would have felt this review would have more credibility if headed by someone who ran the strong UK side of a multinational, rather than the boss of a UK company who might be partisan — wouldn’t you?” He is probably right. Wood’s review is going to unpick the perception that it is far harder for British companies to get public work in continental countries than it is for continental firms to get business over here. It is going to collect evidence, interview companies, make recommendations and dig out some best-practice examples. Those Siemens-European links might help.

And what if it uncovers bias? “If there are blatant cases where British companies are getting the rough edge of the stick, the government would like to go and lobby its counterparts in other countries as to why they have not implemented the European directives in a fair manner and what they must do to correct that.”

In other words, it could be hugely sensitive — the public procurement market accounts for 16% of EU GDP — and it is likely Wood was selected not just because he chairs the Engineering Employers Federation economic policy committee, nor solely for his continental connections. The crucial fact may be that he is just rather good at treading lightly while getting things done.

Sitting in the third-floor boardroom adjacent to his rosewood-lined office at Siemens’ UK base in Bracknell, Berkshire, Wood is an engaging advocate for any cause. Tall, blond and looking about 10 years younger than his 56 years, with an eager-to-please manner and an anxious chuckle, he seems more like an amiable college lecturer than a greasy-fingered engineer-turned-big-company chief.

Don’t even get him started on Siemens’ surprisingly enduring relationship with Britain (set up here 150 years ago, everything confiscated in the first world war, set up again in the 1920s, everything confiscated in the second world war, set up yet again in the 1960s).

A key point, he says, is that the electronics giant’s roots in Britain are deeper than most people realise. In Victorian times, Siemens rolled out the first cable link to America and the first telegraph line to India. By 1914, Siemens’ first UK incarnation was bigger than Siemens in Germany. Then events (like the slave labour that shamed the parent company during the second world war) got in the way.

Now, of course, Siemens UK is part of something very different. The parent company is a respected global leviathan headquartered in Munich, employing 417,000 and turning over €74 billion (£50 billion), with divisions handling telecommunications (mobile handsets), transport (trains), medical equipment, (scanners), lighting (Osram), power, automation and control systems, and more.

The UK division accounts for €3.9 billion of turnover and has 18,000 employees. But it has real clout over here, partly due to heritage, but also because of Wood, six years in the top slot, the first Brit to head the UK arm since Siemens set up here again.

The son of a garage manager, he has worked in a wide variety of manufacturing — everything from margarine (he was a Unilever engineering trainee) to office systems — yet belies that breadth of experience with a persuasive, personal touch.

His predecessor as UK chief, Juergen Gehrels, cites that touch, combined with a nous for strategy, an eye for innovation, and a strong competitive streak, as Wood’s key attributes. “In spite of what is said about multinationals, Siemens is a people business,” says Gehrels, “and Alan is very good at motivating people.”

He is also adept at dealing with the politics of running a region in a vast corporate entity. Siemens is a hugely complex business, with global divisional heads liaising with regional chiefs who can also carve out their own product fiefdoms, while at the same time representing head office’s corporate interests to national governments and beyond. The ability to lobby and persuade, in both directions, is key.

Wood has always been flexible, not just in the jobs he has taken on, but also in what he is prepared to push Siemens into. Despite being a passionate advocate of manufacturing, he has actually driven the UK firm more towards becoming a service provider than any other Siemens subsidiary (42% of revenues, compared with 25% elsewhere in the group), simply because the opportunity presented itself.