21504-00-28-10-02″Industrial software is not just software, but the condensation and mapping of industrial knowledge essence and industrial attributes in the digital space.” As Zhao Min, executive director of the Intelligent Research Institute and member of the National Industrial Information Security Expert Advisory Committee, said, industrial software is a master of industrialization and a “super digital industrial mother machine” that enables industrial development.
As an indispensable key force in the process of digital transformation, the value of software has long gone far beyond the scope of traditional tools, and it is reshaping the entire future industrial ecology in an irresistible way. Liu Wen said that with the development of digitalization and IT technology, the types and functions of industrial software continue to expand, from initially meeting the needs of a single task to covering all aspects of the manufacturing process. Through software applications, enterprises not only greatly improve production efficiency, ensure the consistency and reliability of product quality, but more importantly, the original isolated equipment and systems are closely connected to achieve seamless data flow, enhance the transparency and response speed of the supply chain, and bring unprecedented collaboration and operational efficiency to enterprises.
Today, industrial software is no longer a single scattered product, but a platform architecture plus modular product portfolio, covering the whole process to meet industry differences. In Liu Wen’s view, the digital transformation of the industry should be “centered on the needs of the customer scene”, the software can not “fight alone”, the software needs to cooperate with the hardware, combined with the scene, and effectively cut into the customer’s application scenarios and actual pain points, in order to truly implement the value. Zhao Min also stressed that enterpris21504-00-28-10-02es should not look at software from a traditional perspective, only the integration of mechanical and electrical soft network coordination, in order to truly implement the value of advanced equipment.
Software development needs a standardized programming environment, hardware connection needs a standardized unified interface, how can software and hardware products from different manufacturers smoothly “communicate” with each other? Schneider Electric’s answer: the EcoStruxure™ Open Automation Platform. Based on the IEC 61499 standard, the platform integrates hardware manufacturers under a unified standard, by software defined automation, through the decoupling of software and hardware, promoting the “plug and production” in the field of industrial automation.
“Industrial intelligence can be summarized in two levels, for ‘hard’, is the need to adapt to any software chip, for ‘soft’, is the seamless connection and rapid response of industrial software and hardware.” Zhao Min said, “Today, companies like Schneider Electric are striving to maximize the intelligent value of industrial automation, and this has the impact of hardware, and the deeper and more critical is software.
Exceptional software development capabilities and a long history of software development play a central role in Schneider Electric’s digital transformation strategy. Liu Wen introduced that Schneider Electric not only has its own strong software products, but also integrates the world’s leading software brands, such as AVEVA, ETAP, IGE+XAO, RIB, etc., covering different stages from design, construction, operation to maintenance, providing users with a software portfolio of the whole life cycle.
In recent years, Schneider Electric has demonstrated its innovative strength in the field of software in21504-00-28-10-02 the practice of helping customers implement digital transformation. For example, Schneider Electric built a “digital factory” for Shanghai Huayi at its base in Qinzhou, Guangxi province. In this digital factory 3D model with the same ratio of 1:1 with reality, through the digital twin technology, the real time data is mapped to the virtual space, Shanghai Huayi realizes the collection and management of high-quality data such as production capacity, quality, equipment and energy, so that every link in the production process becomes observable and predictable
Schneider Electric understands that digital transformation is not only an upgrade of technology, but also an innovation in knowledge management and application. Through the advanced software platform, customers can more effectively collect and analyze data, form valuable knowledge assets, and share and transfer knowledge through various channels. This not only improves the operational efficiency of customers, but also enables the progress and development of the entire industry to jointly meet the challenges and opportunities of The Times.
Unleash new driving forces for AI
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has given industrial software unprecedented intelligence and power. The rapid advancement of large models and generative AI technologies has opened the door to a new world of industrial software and manufacturing. Today, large models can help the understanding of unstructured data and the precipitation of industrial knowledge, and generative AI can help engineers automatically generate code, reducing the amount of engineering and time cost, which provides a new idea of “overtaking curves” for industrial software.
Zhao Min predicted that the future of intelligent manufacturing will achieve precise control of each “atom”, which will be achieved through data given by software. The application of AI technology enables software to control physical entities more accurately and truly realize intelligent manufacturing.
Liu Wen pointed out that AI has significantly enhanced software performance and significantly reduced the reliance on traditional manpower, especially on past experience. Relying on the leading digital capabilities represented by software, Schneider Electric is also constantly applying AI technology to digital solutions. Whether it is in production scheduling prediction, automatic driving of chemical plants, optimization of process flow, or energy-saving management of HVAC equipment, Schneider Electric provides practical solutions for users through AI technology. These solutions not only help users achieve intelligent management in physical scenarios, but also significantly improve operational efficiency and energy use efficiency.
