Schneider Electric unveiled several Industries of the Future innovations and called for stronger cross-industry collaboration at the all-digital Hannover Messe 2021. Schneider Electric says it believes that through universal automation, digital energy and innovation, industrial enterprises with achievable sustainability goals will lead the global economic recovery while safeguarding our natural environment.
“Industry is undergoing a massive paradigm shift further toward digitalization,” said Peter Herweck, executive vice president, Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric. “We’ve witnessed advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, and machine learning, and other innovations, but their full potential can’t be realized within closed industrial systems. To reach the next level of efficiency, resiliency and sustainability, we must be bold. It’s time to reimagine what is possible when industries embrace interoperable technology and partnerships. With universal automation and our recently expanded capabilities that are delivered through the combination of operational data management and industrial software, we continue our commitment to being open, agnostic partners to our customers, enabling them to gain the agility and resilience they need to thrive in the post-pandemic world.”
The offers and partnerships announced at the virtual event included:
- EcoStruxure Automation Expert 21.1 is a hardware independent automation control system that easily integrates with third-party solutions to help manufacturers and process industries achieve step-change operational advancements. “EcoStruxure Automation Expert v21.1 is an important milestone in our journey to help manufacturers achieve the step-change advancements possible with a digital-first approach to industrial automation,” said Fabrice Jadot, senior vice president, Next Generation Automation, Schneider Electric. “Today’s operations need to react quickly to fluctuating market and environmental dynamics and rapidly mitigate potential risks. By separating the hardware and software lifecycles, EcoStruxure Automation Expert enables automation applications to be built using asset-centric, portable, proven-in-use software components, independent of the underlying hardware infrastructure. This software-centric approach delivers unprecedented cost and performance gains and frees engineers to innovate by automating low-value work and eliminating task duplication across tools.”
- SM AirSeT medium voltage switchgear is a leap forward for sustainability, using pure air and vacuum interruption instead of SF6 gas. It allows users to take full advantage of digital features to unlock the true value of their data.
- EcoStruxure Service Plan helps ensure 24/7 service business continuity for large industrial players through remote consultancy, on-site support and condition-based maintenance.
- Service and Modernization Plan is a solution lasting between three and seven years and designed to relieve companies’ CAPEX pressure while still modernizing their electrical installations.
- Galaxy VL is a three-phase uninterrupted power supply (UPS) for mission-critical industrial environments that supports both energy and process efficiency and improves resiliency and reliability of operations, minimizing asset total cost of ownership.
This is in addition to the recent announcement combining OSIsoft’s world-class PI System for operational data management with AVEVA’s leading industrial software, enabling industries to harness the power of information combined with artificial intelligence and human insight to simplify design processes, optimize production, reduce energy and maximize performance.
Call for universal automation
Schneider Electric also called for stronger industry collaboration and is urging industrial enterprises to embrace universal automation, sustainable efficiency and digitalization to boost global economic recovery and advance manufacturing and process industries.
The company says it is challenging industry to advance the underlying technology model to meet modern agility and resiliency demands. “Open automation,” as it exists today, is not open enough as companies are bound by automation solutions that prioritize vendor lock-in rather than innovation. By contrast, universal automation is the world of interoperable, “plug and produce” automation software components, enabled by the IEC61499 standard. Portable application software is an essential enabler for next-generation industries, capable of unlocking step-change improvements in efficiency and sustainability impossible a decade ago, it says. EcoStruxure Automation Expert is Schneider Electric’s first offer based on the universal automation vision.
Schneider Electric represents partner country, Indonesia
The Ministry of Industry for the Republic of Indonesia has chosen Schneider Electric’s Smart Factory in Batam to showcase the implementation of the fourth industrial revolution in Indonesia at the event, where the company joined the Ministry of Industry as a co-exhibitor in the Indonesian Pavilion. Schneider Electric also featured a virtual tour of its Smart Factory in Batam as part of its Hannover Messe content stream.
Schneider Electric has an ongoing strategic partnership with the Ministry of Industry for the Republic of Indonesia around the initiative "Making Indonesia 4.0," which started in 2018. In conjunction with Hannover Messe 2021, Schneider Electric has signed a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia to become a partner in the development of a Digital Capabilities Center and a university-level curriculum training program related to the Ministry of Industry’s Industrial Vocational Program 4.0.
