The EcoStruxure Foxboro Software Defined Automation (SDA) allows companies to modern their operations faster and reduce risk.

The importance of open industrial systems was highlighted in Schneider Electric’s recent global research report with Omdia, which uncovered closed systems cost mid-sized industrial companies 7.5% of revenue through downtime, inefficiencies, and compliance retrofits every year.

Hany Fouda, Senior Vice-President, Process Automation, Schneider Electric, said the new cyber-secure system marks a “defining moment” for industrial automation.

Foxboro SDA decouples hardware from software and keeps data connected and consistent throughout the plant lifecycle, from design to production to maintenance. This enables automated workflows, better product quality, and easy integration with analytics for business decisions, according to Schneider.

It enables manufacturers to modernise at their own pace, accelerate IT and OT convergence, and increase their adoption of next generation technologies, such as AI, edge computing, and autonomous operations.

Last month at Davos, the company unveiled its Resource Advisor+ platform and suite of products, which are powered by AI-driven workflows and designed to transform ‘how organisations turn energy and sustainability data into action’.

CEO Olivier Blum said it is clear we have entered a new era where AI and energy are inseparable, and together, they will reshape every business.

“AI requires compute, and compute requires energy. That is why the world needs greater energy intelligence. Customers across every sector are facing the same challenge, the same opportunity: using energy efficiently,” he said.

AI is driving change in five key areas across the industrial gases landscape: predictive maintenance; production and process optimisation; enhanced safety and environmental compliance; logistics and supply chain efficiencies; and digital twins and remote operations. AI will be deployed for advancing AEM electrolysis in a new Spanish-German strategic partnership, which takes aim at high green hydrogen production costs.

Schneider Electric ranked first in the ‘social benchmark’ in the latest World Benchmarking Alliance assessments and third in the ‘gender benchmark’, and achieved an EcoVadis score of 87 out of 100, underlining its ongoing ESG commitments.