Schneider Electric recently announced the launch of its Smart Factory in Bengaluru. This is the second such facility by Schneider Electric in India which demonstrates how the company’s EcoStruxure architecture and related suite of offerings drive process automation, increases operational efficiency and reduces costs in the industrial environment. Having two Smart Factories located in India reinforces the company’s contribution to the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ program which is designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skills development and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure in the country. Schneider Electric India’s first Smart Factory, inaugurated in Hyderabad in February 2019, has helped more than 500 customers experience a host of EcoStruxure solutions and make informed buying decisions for their power distribution and management and machine automation needs. With the inauguration of the Bengaluru Smart Factory, Schneider Electric further strengthens its contribution to the Industry 4.0 agenda in India by providing customers with a showcase of the benefits of industrial digital transformation, including enhanced performance, increased reliability and safety, and remote monitoring and preventive maintenance. Schneider Electric has launched several Smart Factories around the globe in countries including Mexico, China, France, USA, Indonesia and the Philippines. Today the Bengaluru Smart Factory is smart and integrated, with digital tools such as augmented reality empowering operators to gain visibility into operations and maintenance, driving a 10 per cent reduction in the meantime to repair critical equipment. In addition, digitized processes have eliminated paperwork by 95 per cent and are contributing to a cleaner plant with optimised energy consumption. Commenting on the launch, Mourad Tamoud, Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Schneider Electric said, “The Bengaluru Smart Factory demonstrates how the digitisation of industrial environments using EcoStruxure can optimize the processes for both production and end to end supply chain operation and take energy efficiency to a whole new level. Our Smart Factory Program has been recognized by the World Economic Forum’s network of manufacturing lighthouses, which aims to create a learning platform through the world’s best manufacturers who are embedding the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution into modern production. Schneider Electric is committed to developing more than 100 Smart Factories by 2020, globally, and the Bengaluru Smart Factory, which manufacturers IT products and drives that are delivered to customers across the globe, is one of our key smart facilities in this region.” In the Bengaluru Smart Factory, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure open architecture and platform enables real-time monitoring of machine performance and preventive maintenance to significantly enhance agility and optimize costs. The site showcases digital transformation best practices and serves as an example of the benefits of digitizing energy management and automation in the manufacturing industry. The site is reporting the following results:Up to 10 per cent energy savings yearly through EcoStruxure Power solutions including EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert and EcoStruxure Resource AdvisorImprovements in industrial efficiency of up to five per cent through EcoStruxure Plant solutionsIncreased asset performance and reliability delivered through EcoStruxure Machine solutions including AVEVA Insight and EcoStruxure Augmented Operator Advisor, which have contributed to improved asset availability of 10 per cent and driven a shift from reactive to predictive maintenanceEffective real-time quality management to improve process robustness The Bengaluru Smart Factory provides a space where engineering students from top global institutes can work on emerging technologies and develop digital solutions using Microsoft technologies under Schneider Electric’s Center of Digital Innovation (CODI) program. In addition, the site contributes to a local skills development programme for underprivileged youth and school leavers in India in partnership with the Government of India called Project NEEM.