Schneider Electric: new location for new services

The French group opens a new center in Casalecchio di Reno (BO), which at the same time functions as a base for commercial activities and as an expertise center serving the manufacturing industry, with particular reference to the packaging sector. The venue also hosts a showroom, offering a first hand experience of Schneider’s offer in terms of digital innovation in industry and energy. Riccardo Ceredi

Energy is a precious commodity, the demand for which is constantly growing. Schneider Electric, with a long experience in the electrical distribution sector, is well aware of this and since 2005, when lounching  the EcoStruxure™  platform has specialized in the management of digital energy transformation and automation, in just over ten years managing to triple its turnover, up to the current 24 billion euros.
The company has therefore “married” a sector that has shown great vitality and that truly involves everyone, going from people’s daily habits right up to the industrial sphere. You just have to think of the use of network linked devices which fall within the definition of the “internet of things”, and which increase progressively by type and quantity, to the point that - as is prophesied - in 2023 their number will be 20 times higher than that of actual people.

This will contribute to a considerable increase in the demand for energy, even in the face of the much-hoped for increase in the use of “green” energy. In fact, according to the estimates disclosed by Schneider, in 2030 renewable energy, above all solar energy, will be cheaper than fossil fuels.
At the same time, it is expected that in 2050 industrial production will consume 50% more than it does today, a figure that specifically affects the manufacturing sector and in particular that of packaging, to which Schneider is traditionally linked.
Currently the French group provides solutions to 8 of the 10 leading manufacturers of automatic machines in the world, proposing an integrated offer for  automation and energy management. Hence the reason behind the expansion of the Bologna center, with the inauguration of a new headquarters in one of the world’s most important automation districts and the establishment of a center of expertise specifically dedicated to the packaging sector, including a customer dedicated “Innovation hub” of over 250 square meters.

Nella foto: Aldo Colombi (Presidente e Amministratore Delegato Schneider Electric SpA),  
Massimo Merli (Vice President, Industry Business Schneider), Gianfranco Terzi (responsabile del Service)

EcoStruxure live in the hub
The latter is part of a network of innovation centers that Schneider Electric has set up in Italy and around the world, dedicated to the “EcoStruxure” digitization platform. It is an architecture that the company has developed over a decade to offer connectivity, efficiency, security and digital transformation capabilities in industry, in energy management, in the world of buildings, infrastructure and data centers.
Specifically the Casalecchio di Reno Innovation Hub is dedicated to the EcoStruxure Plant & Machine platform for machine and process automation. Here there are demo stations based on the presentation of real applications made by customers, ranging across all the most innovative technologies: virtual reality, augmented reality, the Industrial Internet of Things, big data, analytics, software platforms that enable the placement of innovative services alongside the “traditional” offer of automation and energy management. The application on show during the inauguration of the new headquarters simulated the functioning cycle of a biscuit packaging line and was based on a series of technological islands, each of which assigned to one or more functions.

They allowed us to appreciate how much Schneider systems give a complete overview and control over production, starting from the analysis of the macrodata on the energy functioning of the entire line up to offering consumption estimates for each single component, so as to be able - in the specific case - to evaluate the difference in terms of energy cost between “bio” and traditional type biscuit packaging.
It has also been shown how the use of technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality, enhances the capacity for analysis and control of the data offered and, secondly, facilitates its use.
Everything is also designed for remote use, so you never lose contact with your machines even thousands of kilometres away.
Moreover, the most traditional mechanical related applications are also present: islands equipped with Cartesian robots and pick and place devices, these too designed and assembled by Schneider. The hub was born as an open and advanced collaboration and sharing environment, able to offer its services not only to local companies, but also to institutions and training organizations, with the aim of developing skill innovation projects including the involvement of schools, universities and, in general, local companies.

Training competence center
The new center is also home to the OEM Packaging Solution Competence Center, a facility previously housed in Castelmaggiore (BO), where machine builders can find the support needed to design ad hoc solutions to meet the demands of their end users.
It is a place where, in practice, “co-innovation” can be practised, effectively pooling skills, technological platforms and experience. The staff of the new center comprises around a hundred commercial and technical personnel, including about twenty figures dedicated specifically to co-design, called ‘application design experts’, whose role will be precisely that of interfacing with the client to develop innovative solutions in partnership. Following a trend that Schneider is adopting in the global context, great importance has been given to the recruitment of young figures - meaning those within the so-called “digital native” agegroup - who with their background can contribute to the further development of the company .

The new Bologna center, inaugurated 12 October in the presence of the President of Schneider Electric SpA, Aldo Colombi, and Vice President of the Industry division of Schneider Electric in Italy, Massimo Merli, represents a model, on the basis of which new centers will be established up and down the country; indeed the opening of two new centers in Milan and Turin is already scheduled for 2019.