Schneider Electric Highlights Sustainability & Efficiency

Schneider Electric, the industrial technology leader of energy management and automation, will showcase the latest innovations in its portfolio, including industrial software, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twin technology. These solutions will be demonstrated through the lens of a digital and sustainable life science campus, highlighting Schneider's deep domain expertise across the entire industrial value chain.

“With industry contributing around 45% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is clear we must act to reduce this and support industrial decarbonization as quickly as possible. The question is how we achieve this while boosting productivity,” said Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric. “Automation, which is at the heart of industrial operational technology optimizes production processes and is a key enabler for successful digital transformation. It drives productivity and efficiency and helps make the most of energy and raw materials.”

Driving productivity and efficiency through Software-Defined Automation

Hannover Messe, the world’s premier industrial trade fair, is taking place in Hannover, Germany, from April 22 to 26. At the event, Schneider Electric is presenting its vision for automation.

Following the launch of EcoStruxure Automation Expert in 2020, the company continues to build upon its pioneering open, software-defined approach to automation, developing a single, scalable industrial automation environment for continuous, hybrid or discrete processes.

Focusing on supporting customers’ need to be agile and innovative in response to industrial challenges while simultaneously protecting investments, the company aims to reduce total cost of ownership, simplify processes and operations, and enable industry to operate at higher levels of efficiency and resiliency.

Frei continued “Much of the automation in operation today was designed and installed decades ago, based upon hardware tied to a single supplier and before the massive computing power we have now. With software defined automation and our open approach, we simplify the existing complexity and allow customers to update or change their automation based on what they need, when they need it and from whom they want it.”

New industrial innovations showcased at Schneider Electric’s booth (Hall 11, Booth C52)

• CONNECT: This agnostic, end-to-end industrial intelligence platform from AVEVA enables visibility and integration of engineering and operational data across the entire value chain, building an ecosystem of employees, partners and even customers. Enriched with AI and founded on the intelligent digital twin, CONNECT empowers businesses to unlock efficiencies and drive sustainability using Schneider Electric, AVEVA, etap, RIB and other third-party software providers.
• EcoStruxure Plant Apps: EcoStuxure Plant Predictive Energy the latest of Schneider’s Industrial IoT software solutions, running on CONNECT Data Services, monitors energy consumption anomalies across multiple sites to enable better decision-making and significant energy savings.
• EcoStruxure Edge Apps: an open, scalable, and ready-to-use ecosystem that leverages edge compute and AI technology, provides real-time data processing by converting data into actionable insights at the source - machine, line, or plant-floor level. The first Apps to be launched and demonstrated at HM include EcoStruxure Edge Apps Manager, Condition-Based Maintenance, and Autonomous Yield Optimization.
• Hybrid Cloud MES: AVEVA’s MES takes a new dimension with applications adopting CONNECT and gaining new capabilities: Data management, Visualization, and Advanced analytics.
• EvoPacT™ HVX: a new circuit breaker for medium-voltage power distribution with an operational lifespan up to three-times longer than today’s circuit breakers. With comprehensive health monitoring and IoT-enabled features, it helps users and partners make a sustainability impact and meet the needs of an all-digital, all-electric world.
• MasterPacT MTZ Active: the latest addition to this comprehensive range of high-power air circuit breakers leverages the advanced digital features of its MicroLogic X control unit for maximum maintenance and energy efficiencies.
• Lexium SCARA Robot: A new ultra-compact, high-speed industrial robot with high positioning accuracies for improving productivity and efficiency in manufacturing and assembly processes. It seamlessly integrates into unified machine control systems, enabling centralized control of multiple robots to foster synchronization and provide collaborative data flows, addressing the demands of smarter, more flexible, and sustainable manufacturing.
• Automation application copilot: Leveraging the power of Gen AI to boost engineering productivity, this application offers a highly assisted user experience to a control engineer for total application generation workflow tasks including application structure, asset creation from associated libraries and code/documentation/test case generation.
• TeSys motor control: celebrating 100 years of innovation, Schneider Electric‘s world-leading reliable, sustainable, and efficient motor control solutions are connected, integrated and IoT-ready to provide industry 4.0 protection.

Schneider Electric in the wider industrial ecosystem: Co-created innovations

Automation application copilot for PLC code generation [Microsoft Booth, Hall 17, booth G06]: Designed to help engineers to rapidly write high-quality, tested, and validated code for Programmable Logic controllers (PLCs), this code generation solution combines Schneider’s deep industrial domain expertise with Microsoft’s cutting-edge Generative AI technology. The tool is changing the status quo by automating repetitive tasks and providing intelligent code suggestions to reduce programming time.

MARGO Initiative under Linux Foundation launch [Capgemini Booth, Hall 15, booth F52]: Schneider Electric and AVEVA cement their founding membership of MARGO on Tuesday April 23. This new open standard initiative for industrial automation edge interoperability aims to accelerate digital transformation and foster increased growth for organizations of all sizes. Hosted by the Joint Development Foundation, as part of the Linux Foundation, this initiative aligns with Schneider’s Open Automation approach.

Data4industry-X [Platform 4.0 booth]: Trusted data is fundamental to driving collaboration and establishing new industrial models that accelerate transformation. Schneider Electric is part of the Data4Industry-X, a Gaia-X Lighthouse project and part of Manufacturing-X initiative, supported by the France 2030 national investment plan and the NextGenerationEU economic recovery program. Data4Industry-X relies on technological and industrial expertise to support industrial digital transformation and capitalize on the high potential of industrial data.