October 2020

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC has announced a digital plant management system that, it claims, will deliver reductions of up to 30% in maintenance costs, 15% in unplanned downtime, 8% in energy costs, 6% in raw material consumption, and 5% in product recall costs, as well as a 6% increase in quality. Based on pilot projects, Schneider claims that the EcoStruxure Plant Advisor can generate improvements worth €2.8m per year for a €100m manufacturing site. The scalable, open IIoT platform is based on Schneider’s EcoStruxure architecture, and provides insights into processes and operational data, as well as supporting common cross-functions, live monitoring and the sharing of application data. The platform consists of three key interconnected parts: n hybrid edge-to-cloud connections for managing data source lifecycles within one industrial data model; n an industrial data processing platform with multi-site analysis that aggregates and processes data and allows remote and live monitoring through near-real-time multi-site KPIs and analytics; and n an app builder for creating custom applications in a low/no code environment, using prebuilt IoT modules and centralised access to all production data. Schneider developed the Plant Advisor initially for use at its own smart factories. It helps users to make improvements in machine performance, predictive maintenance and asset performance. A common data model optimises remote plant operations, enabling scalability across multiple plants and improving traceability. “The volume of data available to industrial enterprises is growing exponentially,” points out Sophie Borgne, senior vice-president of Schneider’s Digital Plant Business. “However, the prevalence of legacy and proprietary systems and a lack of OT/IT integration mean industrial businesses lack the end-to-end visibility needed to rapidly adjust their operations. “As a business with over 200 manufacturing sites around the world, this is a problem we have faced ourselves,” she continues. “Deploying EcoStruxure Plant Advisor has upgraded our own resilience and productivity. It has also equipped our smart factory teams with the tools to optimise operations at a local and global level. Having perfected the platform, we are delighted to extend its benefits to the marketplace.” https://drivesncontrols.news/vegc5 n TECHNOLOGY Digital plant management system could save factories €2.8m per year Schneider Electric says its EcoStruxure Plant Advisor can cut maintenance costs by up to 30%