Schneider Electric
Canvas Category OEM : Electrical Equipment
Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies to realize the full efficiency and sustainability opportunities for your business. We provide end-point to cloud integration connecting products, controls, software and services. We enable lifecycle solutions from design and build to operate and maintain phases through a digital twin. We deliver capabilities to transform from site-to-site to an integrated company management. Our integrated solutions are built with safety, reliability and cybersecurity for your homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.
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Schneider Electric and Saint-Gobain Collaborate on Innovative Automation Initiative Driving Smarter and Safer Glass Production
Schneider Electric, leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, and Saint-Gobain, leader in light and sustainable construction, have joined forces to deploy the first-of-its kind software-defined automation system for glass production.
Unveiled at Glasstec 2024, the world’s leading trade fair for the glass industry, the project addresses the urgent need for enhanced reliability in the critical lehr process. This furnace, vital for annealing and cooling flat glass, usually lasts for 15 to 20 years. However, any downtime in the process halts production completely, as highlighted by industry studies, where a mere 1-minute power interruption can lead to up to 6 months of production loss, often requiring equipment replacement, and costing up to €200,000 per day.
Saint-Gobain together with Schneider Electric has developed the first open automation solution for the lehr process. The proof of concept (POC) is powered by Schneider Electric’s open automation technology, EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE) which decouples hardware and software, allowing devices and equipment to be freely connected across architecture layers, regardless of manufacturer.
Schneider Electric and Glencore collaborate to drive copper circularity
Schneider Electric, the world’s most sustainable company and leader in the digital transformation of energy management and industrial automation, has partnered with Glencore, one of the world’s largest globally diversified natural resource companies, to transform its copper supply chain and enhance decarbonization efforts.
The industrial technology company assists Glencore in advancing its global operations by deploying a mix of automation, digitalization and electrification technologies, as well as providing consultancy support around sustainable procurement. Specifically:
- Sustainable procurement of capital equipment – Schneider Electric helped Glencore Copper in developing high-efficiency, low-carbon procurement specifications for capital equipment supporting ‘best practices’ aligned to Schneider Electric’s Zero Carbon Project.
- Enhanced energy consumption reporting – Schneider Electric is working with Glencore to develop business cases for fuel switching and energy efficiency measures. In addition, Schneider Electric is designing and deploying Power and Energy Management Systems with measurement and analytics features, helping Glencore to monitor and report on energy consumption more accurately.
- Lowering CO2 output of copper supplies – To support Glencore in improving efficiency and lowering carbon intensity of its raw material supply Schneider Electric is providing industrial digital transformation services and process electrification consulting services, leveraging solutions including AVEVA PI System and Operations Control which captures and analyses process and energy data and ETAP electrical simulation (ETAP) which simulates and optimizes power distribution handle varying power inputs without disrupting the overall distribution network in mining operations, crucial in contexts with increasing power needs, renewable energy complexities and cost fluctuations.
- Implementing automation and standardization – Leveraging Schneider Electric’s Automation installed base and Flex Agreement, Schneider Electric’s Industrial Digital Transformation Consulting team is assisting Glencore Copper in developing their IT/OT Corporate Standards. This is in addition to developing applications for Digital Twins (Mechanical, Process, and electrical), central control, and Predictive Analytics. With the proliferation of advanced control and analytics, Schneider Electric has deployed these types of technologies within Glencore Data Centers, energy management and process automation systems.
Schneider Electric collaborates with GR3N to tackle plastic recycling challenges and drive circularity in chemical sector
Schneider Electric, the world’s most sustainable company and leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation has partnered with GR3N, the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) chemical recycler to create the first open automation system for the advanced plastic recycling industry.
With 50% of global plastic waste ending up in landfills and only 9% recycled, GR3N developed MADE, the Microwave Assisted DEpolymerization solution. This new process breaks down PET into its chemical building blocks that can be recombined to create new PET pellets with virgin-like quality for packaging and textiles, effectively closing the loop for hard to recycle plastic. The technology is based on alkaline hydrolysis, and it can manage a higher amount of impurities compared to the existing ones.
In March 2024, GR3N successfully demonstrated MADE and the power of Schneider Electric’s open automation technology, EcoStruxure Automation Expert at its demonstration site in Italy. MADE plant is conceived to anticipate the usage of all the technologies that will be finally adopted for the first industrial-scale facility, foreseen to be installed in Spain and with an expected capacity of over 40.000 ton/year of PET waste treated. The intrinsic modularity of GR3N’s proprietary recycling process has allowed MADE to be the first plastic recycling plant to use the shared automation runtime managed by Universal Automation, based on the IEC 61499 standard.
ABB co-launches interoperability initiative to unlock Industrial IoT insights for more efficient and sustainable industry
At the Hannover Messe on April 23, 2024, founding members ABB (including B&R), Capgemini, Microsoft, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric (including AVEVA) and Siemens announced collaboration on a new initiative to deliver interoperability for Industrial IoT ecosystems.
Hosted by the Linux Foundation and open to further interested parties, the Margo initiative draws its name from the Latin word for ‘edge’ and will define mechanisms for interoperability between applications, devices and orchestration software at the edge1 of industrial ecosystems. In particular, Margo will make it easy to run and combine applications from any ecosystem member on top of the hardware and runtime system of any other member. Margo aims to deliver on its interoperability promise through a modern and agile open-source approach, which will bring industrial companies increased flexibility, simplicity and scalability as they undergo digital transition in complex, multi-vendor environments.
Schneider Electric Confirms Talks With Bentley Systems
Schneider Electric, the global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, confirms that, as part of its continuous exploration of opportunities in furtherance of its One Software strategy, it has been holding discussions with Bentley Systems with regards to a potential strategic transaction. Discussions remain at a preliminary stage regarding a potential transaction, and there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed upon.
Schneider Electric Collaborates with NVIDIA on Designs for AI Data Centers
Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to optimize data center infrastructure and pave the way for groundbreaking advancements in edge artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twin technologies.
Schneider Electric will leverage its expertise in data center infrastructure and NVIDIA’s advanced AI technologies to introduce the first publicly available AI data center reference designs. These designs are set to redefine the benchmarks for AI deployment and operation within data center ecosystems, marking a significant milestone in the industry’s evolution.
In the first phase of this collaboration, Schneider Electric will introduce cutting-edge data center reference designs tailored for NVIDIA accelerated computing clusters and built for data processing, engineering simulation, electronic design automation, computer-aided drug design, and generative AI. Special focus will be on enabling high-power distribution, liquid-cooling systems, and controls designed to ensure simple commissioning and reliable operations for the extreme-density cluster. Through the collaboration, Schneider Electric aims to provide data center owners and operators with the tools and resources necessary to seamlessly integrate new and evolving AI solutions into their infrastructure, enhancing deployment efficiency, and ensuring reliable life-cycle operation.
Nozomi Networks Secures $100 Million Investment to Accelerate Mission to Defend the World's Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Threats
Nozomi Networks Inc., the worldwide leader in OT and IoT security, announced a $100 million Series E funding round to help accelerate innovative cyber defenses and expand cost-efficient go-to-market expansion globally. This latest round includes investments from Mitsubishi Electric, a global leader in digital manufacturing, electronics and electrical equipment and Schneider Electric, a global leader in digital automation and energy management. They join a growing list of OT original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who have invested in Nozomi Networks, including previous investors Honeywell and Johnson Controls.
The company will use this latest investment to help scale product development efforts as well as its go-to-market approach globally. With criminal and nation-state cyber threats to industrial and critical infrastructure on the rise, the need for Nozomi Networks solutions has never been greater. At the same time, recent consolidation in the OT and IoT security space is driving a new need for full-featured solutions that aren’t limited to single-vendor support, but rather are able to holistically address the cybersecurity requirements of the vast majority of industrial and critical infrastructure organizations who must protect complex, multi-vendor environments.
NTT DATA and Schneider Electric Join Forces to Drive AI Innovation at the Edge
NTT DATA, a global leader in IT infrastructure and services, and Schneider Electric, a pioneer in digital transformation for energy management and automation, have unveiled a first-of-a-kind co-innovation that empowers enterprises to harness the power of edge computing. The strategic partnership introduces a unique solution that seamlessly integrates Edge, Private 5G, IOT, and Modular Data Centers, providing unparalleled connectivity and supports the computational demands of Generative AI applications deployed at the edge.
The joint offering combines NTT DATA’s Edge as a Service, which includes fully managed Edge to Cloud, Private 5G, and IoT capabilities, with Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure, a modular data center that fuses OT solutions with the latest in IT technologies. This powerful combination enables companies to maximize energy efficiency and meet the demands of compute-intensive tasks such as machine vision, predictive maintenance, and other AI inferencing applications at the edge.
Smart factory deployment with Schneider Electric & Cognex machine vision
Schneider Electric partners with ArcelorMittal on low-carbon steel to reduce the environmental impact of its products
ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, and Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced today a partnership whereby ArcelorMittal will supply Schneider Electric with XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel for its electrical cabinets and enclosures.
Produced at ArcelorMittal’s site in Sestao, Spain, XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel is made using a very high proportion of recycled steel in an electric arc furnace, powered with 100% renewable electricity. This results in CO₂ emissions which are close to 70% lower than the same product made without XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel.
ArcelorMittal’s XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel will be used by Schneider Electric to manufacture the new PanelSeT SFN floor-standing enclosures built to protect large electrical panels for industrial automation, power distribution and electronic applications. As these enclosures are built to withstand tough operating environments, the XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel is also coated with Magnelis®, a metallic coating offering high corrosion protection.
Schneider Electric and Compass Datacenters Expand Partnership with $3 Billion Multi-Year Data Center Technology Agreement
Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced at its Capital Markets Day meeting with investors a $3 billion multi-year agreement with Compass Datacenters. The agreement extends the companies’ existing relationship that integrates their respective supply chains to manufacture and deliver prefabricated modular data center solutions.
Since the inception of the initial agreement between the companies, Schneider Electric has manufactured and delivered about 150 modular data center solutions to Compass from its West Chester, OH operation. As demand for more data center solutions increase, the 110,000 square-foot Red Oak, TX operation—which the companies jointly announced in the summer—will also be used to support projected growth.
UnitX Raises $5M from SE Ventures to Elevate Manufacturing Quality with AI-powered Defect Detection
UnitX, a robotics company building next-generation AI vision systems at the forefront of quality and yield management in manufacturing, is proud to announce a $5 million investment from SE Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture fund backed by global energy and automation giant Schneider Electric.
UnitX, through its software-defined vision system (“OptiX”) and its edge AI compute platform (“CorteX”), delivers unparalleled inspection and defect detection capabilities to manufacturing customers. This technology can drive step-change improvements in the detection of visual defects that often escape error-prone and overworked human inspectors or legacy machine vision systems. By partnering with UnitX, customers can significantly reduce scrap, improve yield, and maintain the highest quality standards.
It’s arrived: Commoditization for industrial process control
With the advent of industrial process-control commoditization has come technological advancements that have expanded the boundaries of modern manufacturing–right to the computing edge. Traditionally, administrators had to walk out to a control system–USB stick in hand–and apply an update manually. Today, thanks to the combined work of Intel Corporation, Schneider Electric, and Red Hat, manufacturers can enjoy an edge-ready, software-defined, industrial control system that relieves the burden of manual effort and runs on commodity hardware and a commodity operating system and uses commodity automation techniques.
AI-Driven Grid Resilience firm, Prisma Photonics secures approximately $20 Million
Prisma Photonics, the dynamic, AI-driven startup that monitors large-scale infrastructure, such as power grids, announced today that it raised approximately $20M in a Series C round led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, with participation from Elements, a Climatech fund, SE Ventures (Schneider Electric’s venture capital arm), Future Energy Ventures (the venture capital investment and collaboration platform of E.ON), Chione Switzerland, and INcapital.
The investment will accelerate the company’s break into the global power and renewable energy market while supporting its continued growth. This round brings the total funding raised by Prisma Photonics to over $50 million. The company’s earlier investors include Israel Electric Corporation, Israel Natural Gas Lines, and i3 Equity Partners.
🖥️🏭 Pico MES Announces $12M Series A to Boost American Manufacturing for Mid-sized Factories & Build a Connected Supply Chain
Pico MES, a software company that is enabling digital transformation for small to medium-sized American factories, today announced a $12.35M Series A investment led by Bosch Ventures and joined by new investors from Counterpart Ventures and Momenta. Existing investors Lemnos, Congruent Ventures, Union Labs, and SE Ventures participated in the round as well. Since its founding in 2019, Pico MES has integrated 10,000 processes into digital data streams from over 700 workstations and connected over 1,900 devices to its platform.
⛏️ International investors pile into BHP-backed mining tech start-up, Plotlogic
BHP-backed mining tech start-up Plotlogic has banked a $US28 ($43 million) series B funding round, co-led by Galvanise Climate Solutions, a US-based investment firm founded by former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer and SE Ventures, the venture arm of French energy and automation giant Schneider Electric.
Founded in 2018 by ex-mining executive Andrew Job while doing his PhD at the University of Queensland, Plotlogic uses advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to determine the quality of minerals and metals. Mr Job said Plotlogic’s revenue had increased 10-fold over the past 10 months and the technology was being used by the likes of BHP, Brazilian miner Vale, South32 and leading lithium company Pilbara Minerals to help increase output and reduce waste.
Plotlogic’s OreSense technology combines LIDAR (laser-based light detection and ranging, hyper-spectral imaging) and machine-learning algorithms to deliver a more accurate view of an orebody.
Schneider Electric Partners with Intel and Applied Materials to Help Decarbonize the Semiconductor Value Chain with New Catalyze Program
Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today launched Catalyze, a new partnership program aimed at accelerating access to renewable energy across the global semiconductor value chain.
Unveiled during SEMICON West 2023, Catalyze is a first-of-its kind program of collaboration among key semiconductor and technology industry leaders to address the supply chain emissions within their industry. The program joins other Schneider Electric supply chain partnership initiatives that seek to leverage the power of supply chain cohorts, including the Energize program for the pharmaceutical industry, and Walmart’s Gigaton PPA program.
New Ways of Automation: A Documentary about Manufacturer-Independent Automation
Transforming industrial crane system automation at Schneider Electric with 5G
AVEVA announces the completion of its acquisition by Schneider Electric
AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, today announced the completion of its acquisition by Schneider Electric, a leading global industrial company specializing in digital automation and energy management. Since its foundation, AVEVA has grown from a niche design software developer to a leading global industrial software company with a value of more than £10bn.
Schneider, Deere Investing $76M in Reshoring Projects
Executives with Schneider Electric and Deere & Co. will invest tens of millions of dollars to expand factories in Kentucky, Nebraska and Louisiana—with Deere’s move shifting some production work to the United States from China. Schneider will put to work a total of $46 million at plants making circuit breakers and other electrical output products in Lexington, Kentucky, and Lincoln, Nebraska. The investments will include new equipment and machinery that will be more automated and technologically connected than the plants, which are 65 years and 50 years old, respectively, are today. Deere’s Louisiana plans call for the maker of agricultural and construction equipment to invest nearly $30 million to grow its operation in Thibodaux, west of New Orleans. That facility today designs sugar harvesting and earthmoving equipment and makes a range of products but will grow in the next two years to also produce medium-chassis cotton harvesters now being built in China.
Sustainable Buildings Made Possible by Cisco and Schneider Electric
Harmonics in industry: A difficult to apprehend common issue, but not a fatality
Harmonic pollution is yet another manner of long-term vigilance. Even though mitigation might be fully achieved in the past, harmonics can yet reappear. Processes, loads, and loading typically evolve in time and in particular as motor control moves towards developing into more VSD. It is therefore highly recommended to keep monitoring Power Quality to timely detect abnormal harmonic levels. It can be done locally through adapted power monitoring devices or globally on a large network through Power management software and Power reliability services. Of course, in case of noticeable and unexplainable troubles, an audit can especially be conducted to closely investigate.
Digital twin: Empowering power systems with real-time training and predictive simulation
Uncontrolled operation and neglected maintenance of electrical systems increase safety and financial risks in such facilities, often resulting in unplanned outages that can cause equipment damage and injuries to on-site personnel.
Consider the average cost of power outages in the following critical industries:
- Oil and Gas- $800K to $3M per outage event (per Schneider Electric’s internal Voice of Customer study).
- Semiconductor- $3.8M for a single electrical event
- Data Center -30% of all reported outages cost more than $250,000, with many exceeding $1M
Leveraging digital twin technology, fully digitized electrical single-line diagrams can help address these concerns by boosting operational efficiency and reducing safety exposures. This is an example of the same digital twin technology used during the design phase of an electrical system being applied in the operation and maintenance phases of the lifecycle.
The business of sustainability in steelmaking
These upgrades at the Train 2 plant allowed ArcelorMittal to save 15-20% on installation, reduce downtime by 5-10%, save 170 equivalent metric tons of CO2, and prevent reprocessing 26 tons of materials. Sensor-based equipment condition monitoring also let the steelmaker’s staff track energy use and identify potential faults before they cause downtime. These improvements also increase the facility’s installation reliability, energy efficiency, personnel safety and equipment life with predictive maintenance.
Global Lighthouse Network: Unlocking Sustainability through Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies
The Global Lighthouse Network is a community of production sites and other facilities that are world leaders in the adoption and integration of the cutting-edge technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Lighthouses apply 4IR technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D-printing and big data analytics to maximize efficiency and competitiveness at scale, transform business models and drive economic growth, while augmenting the workforce, protecting the environment and contributing to a learning journey for all-sized manufacturers across all geographies and industries.
Inside Schneider Electric’s Smart Factory
According to Clayton, the goal of Schneider Electric’s IIoT initiative in Lexington is to boost efficiency and overall market competitiveness by introducing technologies that modernize and reinvent the control, monitoring and management processes of the plant.
It’s part of Schneider Electric’s global effort to digitally transform its factories and distribution centers. The 183-year-old company’s supply chain encompasses nearly 300 factories and logistics centers in more than 40 countries. Most of those facilities use the same IIoT technology that the company offers to its customers.
“These facilities are core to [our] Tailored Sustainable Connected Supply Chain 4.0 program, which creates a customized, sustainable and end-to-end connected supply chain across the plan, procurement, make, customer and sustain domains,” explains Clayton.
Augmented reality becomes actual reality
When applied to electrical power distribution across a wide range of businesses and industries, AR has the potential to greatly increase power availability, electrical safety, and efficiency. Here’s why:
- Availability: AR helps organizations optimize operations and maximize continuity for better productivity and profitability
- Safety: AR helps to reduce the risk of occupational injuries and fatalities
- Efficiency: AR help reduces the total cost of ownership by offering more accessible and effective training
Uplight Adds New Investors Schneider Electric and Huck Capital-Led Investment Group in Deal Valued at $1.5 Billion, with Growth Capital to Accelerate the Clean Energy Ecosystem
Uplight, the technology partner of energy providers transitioning to the clean energy ecosystem, announced today that it has agreed to a new investment from a consortium of investors, co-led by Schneider Electric, the global leader in sustainable energy solutions; AES, a global company accelerating the future of sustainable energy; and a group of private equity investors led by Huck Capital that includes Coatue and Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Fund II. Uplight is valued at $1.5 billion in the transaction, which includes the investment of new equity to support significant organic and inorganic growth and adds world-class strategic and financial partners as the energy industry surges forward into transformation. Prior Uplight majority investor Rubicon Technology Partners, who along with AES led the formation of Uplight through the merger of six companies, will also remain a minority investor.