Schneider Electric Takes ‘Green Yodha Yatra’ to Pune

With an aim to increase sustainability, efficiency and resilience of the Indian sugar industry, Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy automation and management in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) brought its pan-India roadshow-Green Yodha Yatra to Pune. Creating awareness on sustainable manufacturing and greener industrial practices in the sugar sector, the initiative will serve as a discussion forum for the sugar industry to explore, evaluate and embrace new-age technologies, becoming globally competitive. This will further open avenues to discuss ways to reduce carbon emission in the industry.

Launching the Green Yodha Yatra in Pune, Shri Shekhar Gaikwad, IAS Commissioner of Sugar, Govt. of Maharashtra said, “As India becomes the world's largest sugar producer, the future of digitised sugar production lies with the integration of people, assets, processes, and enterprise systems, as well as the effective use of readily available data.”

India's sugar industry is vast, justifying the country's status as the world's second-largest producer of sugar and an important contributor to the Agri economy. However, the industry is also a prominent emitter of GHG (Green House Gas). As per industry research, the production of a tonne of sugar is likely to release greenhouse gases equivalent to 324 to 834kg of carbon dioxide. Moreover, the sugar industry is faced with several challenges of supply chain management, shortage of skilled manpower and uncertain production etc. Most of these issues can be addressed utilizing digitization and IoT- enabled technologies, from collection to plants, processing to storage, supply chain management to plant automation. Schneider Electric, with its technology partner ProLeiT, provides industrial automation, process control technology and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) for the sugar industry.

Speaking on the importance of sustainable practices in sugar manufacturing, Mohammed AlKhateb, CPG Industry, Director, IMEA, Schneider Electric said, “The purpose of the Green Yodha Yatra is to influence the Sugar industry ecosystem, to use innovation, scenario planning, and strategic analysis to address sustainability in an integrated manner. We believe that partnership with ProLeiT will act as a guiding force to help the sector advance its digital transformation journey while driving increased productivity and efficiency.  Our IoT-enabled EcoStruxure solution will further help the sector accelerate the adoption of technology, thereby making it competitive and compliant at the global level.”

In its quest to handhold Indian Industry in their inevitable journey of Digital Transformation, CII Pune & CII Centre for Digital Transformation provides the Digital push for enhancing competitiveness of the Sugar Sector, to help them with digital adoption in order to become globally competitive. It aims to empower the sector by leveraging and utilizing cost effective technology solutions to achieve economies of scale.

In his address Mr Amit Ghaisas, Convenor, CII Pune MSME Panel & Managing Director, Statfield Equipments Pvt Ltd emphasized that “The Indian sugar industry is a key driver of rural development, supporting India's economic growth. While every sugar producer faces specific manufacturing challenges, solutions to these challenges can be found in application of digital technologies. Emphasis on data management and data security would play a pivotal role in adopting digitalization in Sugar Industry.”

Sharing his perspective on the steady development of sugar sector in Western India, Shri. Bhairvanath Bhagvanrao Thombare, President, West Indian Sugar Mills Association (WISMA) said, “In the digitization of the sugar industry, a comprehensive management information system should be implemented. The majority of digital systems today are not fully integrated. Companies, suppliers, and customers are rarely interlinked. The melding of departments like engineering, production, and service is important. Its need of an hour to integrate all these & to have solid infrastructure in place.”

Schneider Electric’s Green Yodha initiative was launched in conjunction with the vision of building a community of Eco- Warriors that unite conscious citizens, businesses, and institutions to take collective action to adopt energy efficiency, renewables and solar, automation, digitalization, and a new world of electricity to meet both individual and corporate sustainability goals.