Schneider Electric recently participated in the annual Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) Africa Year End International Summit, hosted in Poortview, Johannesburg. As the main sponsor and an exhibitor at the event, Victor Lough, Cybersecurity & Solution Services Business Lead at Schneider Electric UK, also presented at the event.
Attended by manufacturing industry heavyweights, the event gave way to robust and insightful panel discussions which included the topic: Sustainable Manufacturing: Planet/People/Partnerships. Quintin McCutcheon, Global Marketing Director, Anglophone Africa at Schneider Electric, formed part of the panel which not only discussed technology but also individuals’ roles in creating a sustainable manufacturing industry that will thrive well into the future.
Commenting on the establishment of smart factories, McCutcheon emphasised the importance of fast-tracking the deployment of advanced technologies. “We need to make the invisible, visible. This will enable operations to make informed decision and integrate these into enterprise management, which in turn will allow corporate decision makers to benchmark their decisions, establishing best practices that can applied within their own business and across industry.
“At Schneider Electric, we encourage partnership and the resultant sharing of information within sectors. It is the only way we are going to advance both as a specie and industry. We need more digitisation and visibility within the sector and across industries evolve manufacturing facilities,” he noted.
McCutcheon also spoke about the importance of tightly integrating energy and automation. “One of the manufacturing industry’s key strategies should be to digitise and make energy visible to automate and optimise the way it consumes energy.”
Schneider Electric’s exhibition focussed on the company’s Electricity 4.0 and Industry 4.0 products, solutions, and services. Importantly, the stand showcased some of the company’s integrated manufacturing execution software solutions developed for the FPMG market.
Also, the company presented some of its newest products such as the energy efficient ATS480 Soft Starter, Harmony P6 iPC, Tesys Deca and Tesys Giga new generation motor starters.