The 2021 Schneider Electric Green Smart Manufacturing Innovation Summit opens

May 20, 2021—— "At present, the impact of the new epidemic on the global economy is still continuing; in response to climate change, the Chinese government has also made a solemn commitment to carbon neutrality and carbon peaking, and the pressure to reduce carbon is gradually emerging; at the same time, the impact of the shortage of professionals on industry has further increased... Industrial enterprises face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The good news is that green intelligent manufacturing is becoming the most powerful weapon to help industrial enterprises cope with challenges." At the 2021 Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit opened today, Pang Xingjian, senior vice president of Schneider Electric and head of industrial automation business in China, said.

In the face of an uncertain future, Schneider Electric has put forward the concept of "green intelligent manufacturing" in 2019, advocating to help enterprises realize informatization, automation, digitalization, greening and networking of production and operation through the comprehensive application of information technology, operation technology, data technology, energy technology and communication technology, so as to improve the efficiency, toughness and sustainability of the industry and move towards the future industry. As an annual industry event, the Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit in 2021 attracted industry leaders, experts, ecological partners, well-known economists and other celebrities from the industrial field to share and discuss the challenges and opportunities of carbon neutrality, digital transformation cases, open automation development trends, innovative technology implementation practices and other topics.

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

Challenges and opportunities for industrial enterprises under the trend of "carbon neutrality"

In March this year, the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" and the outline of the Vision for 2035 were officially released. The carbon neutral roadmap was clear, and digital economy, new energy, innovation and other elements were taken as the key pillars to achieve the carbon neutral goal. In this regard, Mao Tao, the director and researcher of the Institute of Energy, Resources and Environment of the International Economic and Technological Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that decarburization in key industries such as industry is crucial to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. With the determination of the carbon neutral target, the implementation policy in the industrial field is also actively promoted. For example, the industrial structure will shift from high carbon to low carbon, and from the middle and low end of the industrial chain to the middle and high end; On the enterprise side, more and more enterprises begin to shift from passive response to active layout, especially some medium and large enterprises begin to use their own technology and industrial chain advantages to help SMEs "reduce carbon".

For example, Schneider Electric drives small and medium-sized enterprises through its own industry influence, especially through training, technical assistance and related support in the industrial chain to improve the ability of upstream enterprises to reduce greenhouse gases, so as to achieve the synergy of carbon emission reduction. As one of the first companies in the world to focus on sustainable development, Schneider Electric launched the "Schneider Electric Sustainable Development Impact Index" in 2005, and insisted on implementation and iteration, accumulating profound experience. "Carbon neutrality" is a constraint on the surface of industry, but it is also a historical opportunity in fact.

Embrace the Industry 4.0 Era with Open Automation

At present, with the application of innovative technologies, the benefits of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things to the industrial field have been fully verified. However, with the development of IT technology and the exponential improvement of computing power, storage and communication capabilities, proprietary automation systems that cannot match IT technology are constantly questioned, and the deep integration of IT and OT technology is facing a dilemma. In this regard, Dai Wenbin, associate professor of the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, believes that with the continuous emergence of new demands, the promotion of open automation is "just in time".

"The main reason for the strong response of open automation is the urgency of the end users", said Peng Yu, honorary chairman of PLCopen China. Compared with the years long serial landing process of traditional automation projects, with the support of digital technologies such as simulation and digital twins, the time from design to production of automation projects has been greatly shortened. Peng Yu pointed out that the key to realizing this vision of open automation lies in the support of the open IEC61499 standard and automatic editing technology. Open automation has become an irreversible trend, and the technology routes can be different, but enterprises must follow this path.

As one of the manufacturers actively embracing open automation, Schneider Electric has integrated its own profound automation technology and industrial field experience to promote this change, and launched a new industrial automation system, EcoStruxure Automation Expert, to open the era of "software driven automation". Qiao Jing, Marketing Director of China Business of Schneider Electric Industrial Automation, said that Schneider Electric would fully communicate with customers in all fields, promote the generation of relevant understanding, schemes and applications, and would continue to realize the deep integration of product line and open automation technology in project development and product iteration.

Implementation Practice of Innovative Technology in Industry

From digitalization and intelligence to industrial Internet, innovative technologies in the industrial field emerge one after another with rapid iteration. However, no matter what new technology is, it still needs to solve the practical problems of safety, quality improvement, cost reduction and efficiency increase in industrial enterprises. In this regard, Cao Jiguang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Technology and Standards of China Academy of Information and Communications and Co Executive Chairman of the Edge Computing Group of the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance, pointed out that networking and intelligence are the key path for industrial enterprise upgrading, in which networking is the foundation: "The combination of 5G and industry is expected to reconstruct the existing industrial network infrastructure, optimize enterprise operation and maintenance, management and business processes, and create more typical scenarios."

Especially for the common problems faced by industries such as limited reusability of industrial intelligence, insignificant dividend of industrial intelligence, and lack of industrial intelligence financing talents. In this regard, Gu Weixi, director of the Intelligence Research Institute of China Industrial Internet Research Institute, believes that due to the particularity of the industrial field, AI is more widely used in the visual field in the industry. In the future, with the stronger ability of data acquisition, the development of AI technology in industry will be further accelerated, especially the breakthroughs in causal relationship analysis, knowledge mapping, etc., which will accelerate the integration of data driven methods and expert knowledge, So as to better empower small, medium and micro enterprises.

As an enabling technology, it is inefficient to analyze industrial big data only in the traditional pure data way. In this regard, Dr. Lu Wei, founder and CEO of Kunlun Data, suggested: "To better release the value of these data, enterprises must combine with the mechanism, experience and knowledge, and process depth of the corresponding fields." In the face of technical dividends and the actual pain points in the enterprise operation, Schneider Electric cooperated with the ecosystem forces to give support. For example, the "Win Win Plan" series of activities sponsored by Schneider Electric and its ecosystem partners help SMEs, especially those with cutting-edge breakthroughs in innovative technology, reduce trial and error costs and jointly provide standard solutions for industrial enterprises.

Xiaopeng Automobile, a new force in car making, talks about "intelligent factory"

As a domestic intelligent electric vehicle design and manufacturer and a technology company integrating cutting-edge Internet and artificial intelligence innovation, Xiaopeng Automobile is familiar with the intelligent production and research context of cars in the digital era. As for how to achieve intelligent management, efficient production and rapid response by building an intelligent factory, Wu Xiaolong, deputy general manager of Zhaoqing Base of Xiaopeng Automobile, said that, "The difference between an intelligent car and a traditional car is that it has a 'brain' that can transmit data online in real time and analyze and process it through cloud computing. At the same time, it also has a 'cerebellum' such as a localized on-board processor to analyze and combine the collected data, and a series of detection devices as' senses' to perceive the environment during driving."

The emphasis on data is reflected in the production process of Xiaopeng Automobile. For example, in view of the rapid iteration of hardware and software and the changing requirements in design, development and production, Xiaopeng Automobile and Schneider Electric jointly developed the intelligent information production management system for the stamping workshop of Xiaopeng Automobile Zhaoqing Factory, and applied the manufacturing execution system (MES) and energy management system (EMS) developed by Schneider Electric, The intelligent level of automobile production has been promoted at multiple levels, which has made Xiaopeng Automobile improve in quality, cost, efficiency, management, safety and environment.

In the digital era, every link of car building, from the billet online to the final part scheduling, production, warehousing, warehousing and circulation, requires very refined design and practical exploration, and the concept of data driven is essential. Wu Xiaolong believes that both Xiaopeng Automobile and Schneider Electric have the gene of intelligence: "We always say that we should use intelligent factories to manufacture intelligent cars. The intelligent information production management system built with Schneider Electric has truly realized the automation of information flow, the transparency of data and the predictability of data change trends, bringing meaningful, valuable and quantifiable benefits to Xiaopeng Automobile."

The data shows that 32% of carbon dioxide emissions directly or indirectly come from industry. In order to realize the national commitment and requirements for carbon peaking and carbon neutralization, industrial enterprises have the responsibility to make production more green and sustainable through process optimization and other means. In this regard, Pang Xingjian said that Schneider Electric is always leading the industry from Modicon 084 PLC, the leader of Industry 3.0, to the next generation open automation platform, thinking about how to use technology Jointly innovate to implement digital transformation: "Schneider Electric is committed to transforming industry challenges into opportunities to improve efficiency, green and business resilience, and to achieve business closed-loop from data to intelligence. We look forward to more enterprises joining us to create green and intelligent manufacturing together with Schneider Electric, and jointly shape a sustainable future for the industry." (Guo Yujing Xiaocui)