The 2021 Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit Opens

　　May 20, 2021 — “At present, the COVID‑19 pandemic continues to weigh on the global economy; in response to climate change, the Chinese government has made solemn commitments to carbon neutrality and peaking carbon emissions, gradually intensifying pressure to reduce carbon footprints; meanwhile, the shortage of skilled professionals is increasingly impacting industry… The challenges and opportunities facing industrial enterprises are unprecedented. Fortunately, green intelligent manufacturing is emerging as the most powerful tool to help them navigate these challenges,” said Pang Xingjian, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Industrial Automation for China, at the opening of the 2021 Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit today.

　　Facing a future fraught with uncertainty, Schneider Electric introduced the concept of “Green Intelligent Manufacturing” as early as 2019, advocating the integrated application of information technology, operational technology, data analytics, energy technologies, and communications to help enterprises achieve informatization, automation, digitalization, greening, and networking in their production and operations. This approach aims to enhance industrial efficiency, resilience, and sustainability, paving the way for the industries of tomorrow. As an annual industry highlight, the 2021 Schneider Electric Green Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Summit brought together leading industry executives, experts, ecosystem partners, and renowned economists—virtually convening—to share insights and engage in discussions on topics such as the challenges and opportunities of carbon neutrality, digital transformation case studies, trends in open automation, and the practical implementation of innovative technologies.

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

　　Challenges and Opportunities for Industrial Enterprises in the Context of Carbon Neutrality

　　In March this year, the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Outline for Long-Term Goals for 2035 were officially released, outlining a clear roadmap for carbon neutrality and identifying the digital economy, new energy, and innovation as key pillars for achieving this goal. In response, Mao Tao, Director and Researcher at the Institute of Energy, Resources, and Environment of the International Economic and Technological Cooperation Center under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, emphasized that decarbonizing critical sectors such as industry is essential to realizing the carbon‑neutrality target. With the carbon‑neutrality goal now firmly set, implementation policies in the industrial sector are also being actively advanced. For instance, the industrial structure is shifting from high‑carbon to low‑carbon, moving up the value chain from the mid‑to‑low end to the mid‑to‑high end; on the corporate side, an increasing number of companies are transitioning from passive responses to proactive strategic planning, with many medium‑ and large‑sized enterprises leveraging their technological capabilities and supply‑chain advantages to help small and medium‑sized firms reduce their carbon footprints.

　　For example, Schneider Electric leverages its industry influence to empower small and medium-sized enterprises—particularly along the value chain—by providing training, technical assistance, and other forms of support, thereby enhancing the ability of upstream suppliers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and fostering collaborative carbon‑reduction efforts. As one of the world’s earliest companies to prioritize sustainable development, Schneider Electric launched the “Schneider Electric Sustainability Impact Index” as early as 2005 and has consistently refined and updated it, amassing extensive expertise. For the industrial sector, “carbon neutrality” may appear to impose constraints, but in reality, it also presents a historic opportunity.

　　Embracing the Industry 4.0 Era with Open Automation

　　Currently, with the widespread adoption of innovative technologies, the benefits of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things for the industrial sector have been thoroughly validated. However, as IT capabilities—particularly computing power, storage, and communication—continue to grow exponentially, proprietary automation systems that fail to keep pace are increasingly called into question, placing the deep integration of IT and OT technologies in a challenging position. In this context, Associate Professor Dai Wenbin of the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University argues that, with the continuous emergence of new demands, advancing open automation is “long overdue.”

　　“The primary reason for the strong response to open automation lies in the pressing needs of end users,” said Peng Yu, Honorary Chairman of PLCopen China. Compared with the traditional automation project lifecycle, which often spans several years of sequential implementation, digital technologies such as simulation and digital twins have dramatically shortened the time from design to production. Peng Yu emphasized that the key to realizing this vision of open automation is the support of the open IEC 61499 standard, coupled with automated orchestration technologies. Open automation has become an irreversible trend; while the specific technical approaches may vary, it is a path that enterprises must take.

　　As one of the companies actively embracing open automation, Schneider Electric is leveraging its deep expertise in automation technologies and extensive industrial‑site experience to drive this transformation. The company has launched the new EcoStruxure Open Automation platform (EcoStruxure Automation Expert), ushering in an era of “software‑driven automation.” According to Qiao Zeng, Director of Industrial Automation Market for China at Schneider Electric, the company will engage closely with customers across various sectors to foster greater awareness, develop tailored solutions, and deploy innovative applications. Furthermore, Schneider Electric will continue to integrate its product portfolio seamlessly with open automation technologies throughout project development and product iterations.

　　Practical Implementation of Innovative Technologies in Industry

　　From digitalization and intelligence to the industrial internet, the industrial sector has seen a steady stream of innovative technologies that evolve at a rapid pace. Yet, no matter how advanced these technologies may be, their ultimate value lies in addressing real‑world challenges—enhancing industrial safety, improving quality, reducing costs, and boosting efficiency. In this regard, Cao Jiguang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Technology and Standards at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and Co‑Chair of the Edge Computing Group of the Industrial Internet Consortium, emphasizes that networking and intelligence are the key pathways for industrial enterprises’ digital transformation, with networking serving as the foundational enabler: “The convergence of 5G and industry holds the promise of reshaping existing industrial network infrastructures, optimizing operations, management, and business processes, while also giving rise to a wealth of new use cases.”

　　In particular, these challenges—such as the limited reusability of industrial AI, the lack of pronounced returns from industrial AI investments, and the shortage of talent capable of integrating AI across industries—are common to many sectors. In response, Gu Weixi, Director of the Intelligentization Research Institute at the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, notes that, owing to the unique characteristics of the industrial domain, AI has thus far been deployed predominantly in computer vision. Looking ahead, as data‑acquisition capabilities continue to improve, the pace of AI’s advancement in industry will accelerate further. Breakthroughs in causal‑relationship analysis, knowledge graphs, and related areas will facilitate the seamless integration of data‑driven approaches with expert knowledge, thereby better empowering small, medium, and micro enterprises.

　　As an enabling technology, industrial big data yields limited analytical efficiency when processed using traditional, data‑centric approaches. In response, Dr. Lu Wei, Founder and CEO of Kunlun Data, advises: “To fully unlock the value of this data, enterprises must integrate it with domain‑specific physical principles, empirical expertise, and in‑depth process knowledge.” Addressing both technological opportunities and real‑world operational challenges, Schneider Electric leverages its ecosystem to provide support—such as the “Innovation Win” initiative co‑hosted with ecosystem partners—to help small and medium‑sized enterprises, particularly those making cutting‑edge advances in innovative technologies, reduce trial-and‑error costs and jointly deliver standardized solutions for industrial clients.

　　Xpeng Motors, a new player in the automotive industry, discusses its “smart factory.”

　　As a domestic designer and manufacturer of smart electric vehicles, and a technology company that integrates cutting-edge internet and artificial intelligence innovations, XPeng Motors has a deep understanding of the intelligent R&D trajectory of automobiles in the digital age. Regarding how to build smart factories to achieve intelligent management, efficient production, and rapid responsiveness, Wu Xiaolong, Deputy General Manager of XPeng’s Zhaoqing plant, stated: “The key difference between smart cars and traditional vehicles is that smart cars have a ‘brain’—capable of transmitting data in real time over the network and leveraging cloud computing for analysis and processing. They also feature an onboard, localized processor—a ‘small brain’—to analyze and synthesize the collected data, along with an array of sensing devices serving as ‘senses’ to perceive the driving environment.”

　　The importance placed on data is reflected throughout XPeng’s production process. In response to the rapid iteration of both hardware and software in its vehicles, as well as evolving requirements across design, development, and manufacturing, XPeng has partnered with Schneider Electric to develop an intelligent information‑based production management system for the stamping workshop at its Zhaoqing plant. By leveraging Schneider Electric’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Energy Management System (EMS), this solution has advanced the level of automation and intelligence in vehicle production across multiple dimensions, delivering significant improvements in quality, cost efficiency, operational productivity, management practices, and environmental and safety performance.

　　In the digital age of automotive manufacturing, every stage—from raw material input to final part scheduling, production, warehousing, receipt into inventory, and logistics—requires meticulous design and hands-on experimentation, with data-driven approaches being absolutely essential. Wu Xiaolong believes that both XPeng Motors and Schneider Electric share an inherent “smart” DNA: “We often say we should use smart factories to build smart cars. The intelligent information‑based production management system co‑developed with Schneider Electric has truly achieved automated information flows, transparent data management, and the ability to predict data‑trend changes, delivering meaningful, valuable, and quantifiable benefits to XPeng.”

　　Data show that 32% of carbon dioxide emissions stem directly or indirectly from industry. To fulfill the nation’s commitments and requirements for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, industrial enterprises have a responsibility to make production greener and more sustainable through measures such as optimizing process flows. In this regard, Pang Xingjian stated that, from the Modicon 084 PLC—a pioneer of Industry 3.0—to the next-generation open automation platform, Schneider Electric has consistently led industry development, exploring how technology and collaborative innovation can drive digital transformation: “Schneider Electric is committed to turning industry challenges into opportunities to enhance efficiency, promote sustainability, and strengthen business resilience, thereby closing the loop from data to intelligence. We look forward to more companies joining us to co‑create green, intelligent manufacturing and jointly shape a sustainable future for industry.” (Guo Yu, Jing Xiaocui)