Dubai, United Arab Emirates -  16 July  2019:   Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, opened today its first smart factory in Mexico, a showcase for customers and partners to witness how digital transformation can help them make informed, data-driven decisions that bring about improved profitability, asset management performance, operational efficiency and a smarter productive workforce while keeping the operations secure, agile and environmentally sustainable. 

 

Schneider Electric integrates its EcoStruxure solutions spanning connected products, into its manufacturing operations to show the value of transitioning to a smart factory and how easy it is to start its digitization journey.

 

Smart Factories form a core component in its own Tailored Sustainable Connected 4.0 supply chain digital transformation within its Global Supply Chain organization, where it leverages digitization to deliver end-to-end integration and visibility across its supply chain operations to enhance overall performance

Enrique Gonzalez Haas, Country President Schneider Electric Mexico and Central America, said, “At Schneider Electric, we continue to bring the digital transformation to the Mexican economy, so the new smart factory in Monterrey, as an innovation showcase, is an example of how manufacturing facilities can be more efficient, profitable and sustainable with the use of technology, and a look at the new era of Industry 4.0.”

 

The smart factory showcase in Monterrey deploys five EcoStruxure™, Schneider Electric’s IoT open and interoperable system architecture and platform, domains:

 

• EcoStruxure Building: From design, through integration to commissioning, EcoStruxure™ Building brings best-in-class engineering efficiency to buildings. Combined with assets and energy performance services, it enables lifetime efficiency of your building ensuring productivity and comfort for occupants. 

 

• EcoStruxure Power: Designed for low and medium voltage architectures, EcoStruxure Power enhances connectivity, operational reliability, and smart analytics.

 

• EcoStruxure Data Center: In a connected world, it’s now more important than ever to protect critical information and data. Ensure that our customers’ data center’s physical infrastructure can adapt quickly to support both future demands driven by IoT and growth -- in the cloud and at the edge -- without ever compromising the availability or operational efficiency. 

 

• EcoStruxure Plant and EcoStruxure Machine: Our Industrial IoT (IIoT) technologies, including integrated software, are ready for smart manufacturing and can deliver new business opportunities for plants and machine builders.

 

 

Schneider Electric team in Monterrey has successfully tested several digital solutions, upskilled its workforce for IIoT, and deployed them across the company’s global manufacturing network. These include 1,100 employees, in two production lines manufacturing products like motor control centers, enclosed drives, lightning panelboards, and safety switches.

 

Schneider Electric's smart factory also has partnerships with the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Tec Milenio, Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Universidad del Valle de México, to conduct teaching programs and upskill professional practices at conferences, workshops, and seminars, as well as professional practices. It has ISO9000 and ISO14000 quality certifications and is a member of the Asociación de Maquiladoras y Manufactureras de Exportación de Nuevo León (Association of Maquiladoras and Export Manufacturers of Nuevo Leon).

 

Miguel Servando, VP Industrial Manufacturing Schneider Electric North America, said, “We understand that it is not easy for organizations to take the first step towards IIoT, and we are hopeful that our Monterrey’s smart factory serves as a showcase for existing and potential customers to see for themselves the benefit of digital transformation in energy management and automation within the manufacturing industry. Through our own experience, we can help organizations to get started on their digitization journey.”

 

“The use of our own EcoStruxure solutions empowers us, delivering real-time tracking of the performance of operations from shop floor to top floor, giving us visibility of machine performance, preventive maintenance needs, process quality control compliance, process drifts, energy management and so on. These are most activities you can find in a manufacturing shop floor. All employees in our factories benefit from this digitalization as they have more time to focus towards the strategic tasks that support the company’s growth, increase productivity and better decision making based on real-time data analytics and improve working conditions. The return on investment of such technologies vary from less than 6 months up to 2 years,” he said. 

 

With EcoStruxure domains, the Smart Factory in Monterrey expects several productive benefits that include:

 

• Reduction of maintenance costs by 20%, while increasing overall equipment efficiency by 7%.

• Agile management and process efficiency, with less than 1-year ROI through process efficiency.

• Transparency and visibility through all the plant’s operation

• Increase of process efficiency above 10 %. 

• Deployment on the most critical machines like the paint system, robowelder, panel boards line where critical variables are monitored; receive alarms and collect data to prevent unexpected breakdowns 

• Reduction in maintenance time

• Significant safety improvement during maintenance intervention though Augmented Operator Advisor.

• Energy efficiency: An additional 10% of savings on an already optimized consumption level.

• Foot Print Co2 reduction of 377 Tons.

• Asset performance and reliability: Facility management maintenance optimization of 10%, on labor costs and spare parts.

• Increase of preventive vs corrective maintenance.

As of 2018, Schneider’s Global Supply Chain Operations comprising of 200 manufacturing plants in 46 countries and 98 distribution centers, saw its 86,000-strong workforce manage over 260,000 references and process over 150,000 order lines daily.