The 2021 Schneider Electric Green Smart Manufacturing Innovation Summit Opens

　　“On May 20, 2021—currently, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert its impact on the global economy. To tackle climate change, the Chinese government has made solemn commitments to achieving carbon neutrality and peaking carbon emissions, and the pressure to reduce carbon emissions is gradually becoming more apparent. Meanwhile, the shortage of specialized talent is increasingly exacerbating the challenges facing the industrial sector... The challenges and opportunities confronting industrial enterprises today are unprecedentedly immense. But the good news is that green intelligent manufacturing is emerging as the most powerful tool for helping industrial enterprises rise to these challenges,” said Pang Xingjian, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Industrial Automation Business in China, at the opening of the 2021 Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit held today.

　　Facing a future full of uncertainties, Schneider Electric introduced the concept of “Green Smart Manufacturing” as early as 2019. This concept advocates leveraging the integrated application of information technology, operational technology, data technology, energy technology, and communication technology to help enterprises achieve informatization, automation, digitalization, greening, and networking in their production and operations. By doing so, it aims to enhance industrial efficiency, resilience, and sustainability, thus paving the way toward the future of industry. As an annual industry highlight, the Schneider Electric Green Smart Manufacturing Innovation Summit 2021 brought together industry leaders, experts, ecosystem partners, and renowned economists from the industrial sector—virtually—to share and discuss topics including the challenges and opportunities of carbon neutrality, case studies of digital transformation, trends in open automation development, and practical applications of innovative technologies.

　　Pang Xingjian, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Industrial Automation Business for China

　　Challenges and Opportunities for Industrial Enterprises Under the “Carbon Neutrality” Trend

　　In March of this year, the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Visionary Goals for 2035 were officially released, clearly outlining a roadmap for carbon neutrality and identifying digital economy, new energy, and innovation as key pillars for achieving the carbon neutrality target. In response, Mao Tao, Director and Researcher at the Institute of Energy, Resources, and Environment of the International Economic and Technical Cooperation Center under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that decarbonizing key sectors such as industry is crucial for realizing the carbon neutrality goal. With the establishment of the carbon neutrality target, implementation policies in the industrial sector are also being actively promoted. For instance, in terms of industrial structure, there will be a shift from high-carbon to low-carbon production, and from mid-to-low end to mid-to-high end segments of the industrial chain. On the corporate side, an increasing number of companies are moving from passive responses to proactive strategic planning—particularly medium- and large-sized enterprises, which are leveraging their technological strengths and industrial chain advantages to help smaller enterprises reduce their carbon emissions.

　　For example, Schneider Electric can leverage its industry influence to drive small and medium-sized enterprises—particularly those upstream in the industrial chain—by providing training, technical assistance, and other forms of support, thereby enhancing their capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieving synergies in carbon reduction. As one of the world’s earliest companies to focus on sustainable development, Schneider Electric launched the “Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Index” as early as 2005 and has consistently implemented and iterated upon it, accumulating profound expertise along the way. To industry, “carbon neutrality” may seem like a constraint at first glance, but in reality, it also presents a historic opportunity.

　　Embrace Industry 4.0 with Open Automation

　　Currently, with the application of innovative technologies, the benefits brought to the industrial sector by Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things have been thoroughly validated. However, as IT technologies continue to evolve—experiencing exponential growth in computing power, storage capacity, and communication capabilities—proprietary automation systems that fail to keep pace with these advancements are increasingly being questioned, placing the deep integration of IT and OT technologies in a challenging predicament. In response, Dai Wenbin, an associate professor at the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, believes that, as new demands continue to emerge, the promotion of open automation is “just the right time.”

　　“The primary reason for the strong response to open automation lies in the pressing needs of end users,” said Peng Yu, Honorary Chairman of PLCopen China. Compared to traditional automation projects, which often take several years to implement sequentially, digital technologies such as simulation and digital twins have significantly shortened the time required—from design to production launch—of automation projects. Peng Yu pointed out that the key to realizing this vision of open automation lies in the support provided by the open IEC 61499 standard and in automated orchestration technologies. Open automation has become an irreversible trend; while the technical approaches to achieving it may vary, this path is one that enterprises absolutely must take.

　　As one of the vendors actively embracing open automation, Schneider Electric leverages its deep expertise in automation technologies and extensive field experience to drive this transformation. To usher in the era of “software-driven automation,” Schneider Electric has launched a brand-new industrial automation system—the EcoStruxure Open Automation Platform (EcoStruxure Automation Expert). Qiao Zeng, Director of Market for Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric China, stated that Schneider Electric will engage fully with customers across various industries to foster greater awareness, develop relevant solutions and applications, and continue to deeply integrate its product lines with open automation technologies throughout project development and product iterations.

　　The practical implementation of innovative technologies in industry

　　From digitalization and intelligentization to the industrial internet, innovative technologies in the industrial sector are emerging one after another and evolving at a rapid pace. Yet no matter how new these technologies may be, they ultimately must address practical challenges faced by industrial enterprises—namely, enhancing safety, improving quality, reducing costs, and boosting efficiency. In this regard, Cao Jiguang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Technology and Standards at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and Co-Chair of the Edge Computing Group within the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance, pointed out that networking and intelligentization represent key pathways for upgrading industrial enterprises, with networking serving as the very foundation: “The integration of 5G with industry holds great promise for reshaping the infrastructure of existing industrial networks, optimizing enterprise operations, management, and business processes, and simultaneously creating more exemplary application scenarios.”

　　Especially regarding the common challenges faced by industries—such as limited reusability of industrial intelligence, unclear benefits from industrial intelligence, and a shortage of talent capable of integrating industrial intelligence into broader business processes—Gu Weixi, Director of the Intelligentization Research Institute at the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, believes that due to the unique characteristics of the industrial sector, artificial intelligence is currently being applied more extensively in the visual domain within industry. In the future, as data acquisition capabilities continue to improve, the development of AI technologies in industry will accelerate further. In particular, breakthroughs in areas such as causal relationship analysis and knowledge graphs will speed up the integration of data-driven approaches with expert knowledge, thereby better empowering small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises.

　　As an enabling technology, industrial big data becomes less efficient when analyzed solely through traditional, data-centric approaches. In response, Dr. Lu Wei, founder and CEO of Kunlun Data, suggests: “To better unlock the value of this data, enterprises must integrate it closely with domain-specific mechanisms, experiential knowledge, and deep process expertise.” In light of both technological dividends and the real pain points faced by businesses in their daily operations, Schneider Electric is joining forces with its ecosystem partners to provide support. For example, the “Chuangying Program” series of events—organized jointly by Schneider Electric and its ecosystem partners—helps small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those making cutting-edge breakthroughs in innovative technologies, reduce trial-and-error costs and collaboratively develop standardized solutions tailored for industrial enterprises.

　　Xpeng Motors, a new force in automobile manufacturing, discusses “smart factories.”

　　As a domestic designer and manufacturer of smart electric vehicles, as well as a technology company that integrates cutting-edge internet and artificial intelligence innovations, Xpeng Motors has a deep understanding of the intelligent R&D and manufacturing processes for automobiles in the digital age. Regarding how to achieve intelligent management, efficient production, and rapid response through the construction of smart factories, Wu Xiaolong, Deputy General Manager of Xpeng’s Zhaoqing base, stated: “The key difference between smart cars and traditional cars lies in the fact that smart cars have a ‘brain’—a central processing unit—that can transmit data online in real time and analyze and process it via cloud computing. At the same time, they are equipped with a localized onboard processor—a ‘small brain’—that analyzes and combines the collected data, as well as an array of sensing devices acting as ‘senses’ to perceive the surrounding environment during driving.”

　　The importance placed on data is evident in XPeng Motors’ production processes. In response to the rapid iteration of both hardware and software in vehicles, as well as the evolving demands in design, development, and manufacturing, XPeng Motors has jointly developed with Schneider Electric an intelligent information-based production management system for the stamping workshop at its Zhaoqing plant. This system leverages Schneider Electric’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Energy Management System (EMS), driving the advancement of automotive production intelligence across multiple dimensions. As a result, XPeng Motors has achieved qualitative improvements in areas including quality, cost, efficiency, management, as well as safety and environmental performance.

　　In the digital age of automotive manufacturing, every stage—from the initial raw material input to the final scheduling, production, warehousing, inventory management, and product distribution—requires highly sophisticated design and practical exploration. The data-driven approach is absolutely essential. Wu Xiaolong believes that both XPeng Motors and Schneider Electric share an inherent “smart” DNA: “We often say we should use smart factories to build smart cars. The intelligent information-based production management system jointly developed with Schneider Electric has truly achieved automation of information flows, transparency of data, and predictability of data trend changes, bringing XPeng Motors meaningful, valuable, and quantifiable benefits.”

　　Data shows that 32% of carbon dioxide emissions—either directly or indirectly—originate from industry. To fulfill the nation’s commitments and requirements for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, industrial enterprises have a responsibility to make their production processes greener and more sustainable through measures such as optimizing operational workflows. In this regard, Pang Xingjian stated that, whether it’s the Modicon 084 PLC—a pioneer of Industry 3.0—or the next-generation open automation platform, Schneider Electric has consistently been at the forefront of industry development, constantly exploring how to leverage technology and collaborative innovation to drive digital transformation. “Schneider Electric is committed to turning industry challenges into opportunities for enhancing efficiency, promoting sustainability, and building business resilience, thereby closing the loop from data to intelligence. We look forward to welcoming more companies to join us in co-creating green, smart manufacturing and jointly shaping a sustainable future for industry.” (Guo Yu, Jing Xiaocui)

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