Schneider Electric is our spotlight company of the week. A powerhouse providing digital automation solutions, the French-based company is a key player in transforming the digital twin market. Over the last two centuries, Schneider has been at the forefront of technological innovation. Now, the French multinational is shifting its focus towards digital twin development.
As our Top 10 Digital Twin Providers in Europe article mentioned, Schneider Electric has its own proprietary digital twin platform, the EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin. This platform is a key piece of software in the company’s armory, creating virtual simulations of physical machines used by OEMs. The software enables OEMs to create virtual replicas of their machines before they are built, allowing stakeholders to test and optimize, saving time and money.
Schneider Electric states that EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin results in a 20% reduction in costs, a 60% reduction in commissioning time, and a 50% faster go-to-market for OEMs. ACMA is one of these manufacturers that utilizes EcoStruxure Machine Expert in their workflows. ACMA, a developer of consumer-orientated packaging machines, has used the software to build a digital twin of its apparatuses. The result? A smaller carbon footprint, higher productivity, and a faster time to market. Unilogo is another customer of Schneider Electric that uses its platform to simulate virtual machines. Unilogo experienced a similar time-to-market as ACMA. The SOMIC group also benefited from using the digital twin software, developing high-performance packaging systems that resulted in a 40% savings in energy management and producing double the output in half the space.
Across the company’s numerous case studies, Schneider Electric employs its EcoStruxure Machine Expert digital twin platform with a manufacturing transport system named the Lexium MC12 Multi-Carrier System. The Lexium MC12 Multi-Carrier System is a physical carrier that can be modeled digitally via Schneider Electric’s digital twin platform for testing, ensuring an improved go-to-market time, reduced staff training time, and mitigated potential issues before production.
Schneider Electric’s clients have reported that Lexium MC12 integration has resulted in a 50% increase in machine performance, 40% savings on investment costs, and a 20% reduction in emissions, to name but a few metrics.
Alongside Schneider Electric’s digital twin platform, the company offers its electric customers a digital twin service called the EcoConsult Electrical Digital Twin. This service uses ETAP software to design and deliver bespoke digital twins of electrical single-line diagrams (simple electrical systems) for clients. The service helps Schneider Electric’s customers improve their projects’ costs, efficiency, reliability, and visualization. Customers of this service include Nestle, with EcoConsult cutting operating costs by 10%, reducing capital expenses by 30%, boosting equipment reliability by 18%, and reducing energy losses by 30%.
Schneider Electric also acquired leading industrial software AVEVA last year. AVEVA is known for working on world-class digital twin projects with the likes of BP. Schneider Electric has partnered with AVEVA on several projects, including the development of digital twins for the oil and gas sector and wind and solar farm operations through integration with the AVEVA Unified Operations Center for Renewables.
Thus, Schneider Electric is laser-focused on being at the forefront of digital twin innovation through its various technologies, acquisitions, and research. For more information on the data provided in this article, check out our intelligence platform.
