Automation & IIoT

Schneider Electric Brings Software-Centric Industrial Automation System to New Markets

July 14, 2023

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert portfolio is an open platform that connects everything in the enterprise. It now serves the water desalination market.

Rehana Begg

Schneider Electric has extended its EcoStruxure Automation Expert portfolio to the water desalination market.

EcoStruxure Automation Expert V23.0, the latest addition to the platform, provides end-to-end digital continuity and enables factories, water and wastewater treatment facilities and manufacturing plants to be more efficient and effective.

The solution represents a new approach to designing, building, operating and maintaining industrial automation systems by enabling automation software to be separated from the hardware, according to a Schneider Electric press release.

EcoStruxure Automation Expert connects everything in an enterprise. It collects data from sensors to the cloud, analyzes data and provides insights that enable plants to act on real-time data and business logic. The platform bridges the division between IT and OT systems in a way that drives higher levels of operational effectiveness.

Schneider Electric also noted that the platform is cyber-secure, vendor agnostic and has been developed following the IEC 61499 standard for portability and interoperability. These distinctions enable the control system to be modeled as a single integrated system, but implemented as a distributed system.

Next-generation enhancements in EcoStruxure Automation Expert V23.0 include:

Enhanced integration with AVEVA System Platform to reuse graphics from existing applications for faster system design. EcoStruxure Automation Expert can connect to AVEVA Engineering and import plant design data for automated bulk engineering. It also enables scalable visualization for the enterprise control room by integrating with AVEVA System Platform.
A new graphical editor for procedural automation, which improves operational effectiveness.
Multi-OS compatibility with the EcoStruxure Automation Expert HMI and archive, now available on Linux and Windows, which allows users to develop similar objects across all compatible operating systems.
Enables internal or external collaboration, allowing users to optimize solutions and solve specific market challenges.

Schneider Electric’s ongoing updates and enhancements of its control system software is a response to a critical demand in the Industry 4.0 ecosphere and is also emblematic of the company’s wholesale support for a universal automation layer that is common across vendors.

About the Author

Rehana Begg | Editor-in-Chief, Machine Design

As Machine Design’s content lead, Rehana Begg is tasked with elevating the voice of the design and multi-disciplinary engineer in the face of digital transformation and engineering innovation. Begg has more than 24 years of editorial experience and has spent the past decade in the trenches of industrial manufacturing, focusing on new technologies, manufacturing innovation and business. Her B2B career has taken her from corporate boardrooms to plant floors and underground mining stopes, covering everything from automation & IIoT, robotics, mechanical design and additive manufacturing to plant operations, maintenance, reliability and continuous improvement. Begg holds an MBA, a Master of Journalism degree, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science. She is committed to lifelong learning and feeds her passion for innovation in publishing, transparent science and clear communication by attending relevant conferences and seminars/workshops.

Follow Rehana Begg via the following social media handles:

X: @rehanabegg

LinkedIn: @rehanabegg and @MachineDesign