Schneider Electric on Wednesday announced the launch of its Smart Factory in Bengaluru. This is the second such facility by the company in the country.

 

According to a company release, the facility “seeks to demonstrate how Schneider’s EcoStruxure architecture and related suite of offerings drive process automation, increases operational efficiency and reduce costs in the industrial environment”.

“Having two Smart Factories located in India reinforces the company’s contribution to the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, which is designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skills development and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure in the country,” the release added.

“Schneider Electric is committed to developing more than 100 Smart Factories by 2020, globally, and the Bengaluru Smart Factory, which manufacturers IT products and drives that are delivered to customers across the globe, is one of our key smart facilities in this region,” the release quoted Mourad Tamoud, Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Schneider Electric as saying.

Schneider Electric India’s first Smart Factory was inaugurated in Hyderabad in February this year. The facility has allowed over 500 customers experience a host of EcoStruxure solutions for their power distribution and management, and machine automation needs.

As one of the leading global players in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, the company has launched several smart factories around the globe in countries including Mexico, China, France, the US, Indonesia and the Philippines. The Bengaluru Smart Factory is integrated, with digital tools such as augmented reality enabling operators to gain visibility into operations and maintenance, driving a 10 per cent reduction in the mean time to repair critical equipment. Besides, digitised processes have eliminated paperwork by 95 per cent and are contributing to a cleaner plant with optimised energy consumption.

The EcoStruxure open architecture and platform enables real-time monitoring of machine performance and preventive maintenance to significantly enhance agility and optimise costs in the Bengaluru factory. The site showcases digital transformation best practices and serves as an example of the benefits of digitising energy management and automation in the manufacturing industry.

The Bengaluru facility also provisions a space where engineering students from top global institutes can work on emerging technologies and develop digital solutions using Microsoft’s technology under Schneider Electric’s Center of Digital Innovation (CODI) program. Also, the site contributes to a local skills development programme for underprivileged youth and school leavers in India in partnership with the Government of India called Project National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM).