At present, open automation technology is constantly penetrating and landing in all walks of life, bringing new opportunities and strong momentum for the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of the industrial field. It takes time for a drop of water to wear away a stone. This development trend is not accidental, but has long been traceable.

With the rapid development of information technology, industrial enterprises are increasingly demanding to break the closed nature of traditional automation systems and liberate productivity, which provides a wide range of uses for open automation technology based on software and hardware decoupling. At the same time, with the support of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and digital twins, the application potential of industrial software and hardware collaboration and combination with scenarios can be further released, creating mature technical conditions for the implementation of software-defined open automation.

In the view of Ali Haj Fraj, global senior vice president of Schneider Electric and head of digital factories for industrial automation business, software-defined open automation is driving the transformation of traditional industrial automation models with an unstoppable momentum, bringing lasting and sustainable positive changes to the industry.

Ali Haj Fraj, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Digital Factory, Industrial Automation Business

Software-defined open automation is born to break the shackles of productivity

In recent years, problems such as skills shortage, supply chain challenges, and changing market demand have come one after another, bringing operational pressure to industrial enterprises that cannot be underestimated. On the other hand, with the development of business and the increase of production lines, enterprises have to manage and maintain hundreds of hardware devices, or even more, and ensure that these devices can work together seamlessly, which undoubtedly increases the operational complexity of enterprises.

Therefore, industrial enterprises must embrace digital transformation to improve productivity while enhancing their flexibility.

However, many companies today are still highly dependent on automation systems installed decades ago. Constrained by the traditional model of proprietary automation systems and deep bundling of software and hardware from a single manufacturer, users often cannot bypass the restrictions of suppliers and freely choose, match and apply the appropriate hardware equipment and innovative technologies. This reality that cannot be ignored has become one of the biggest challenges for enterprises to further promote digital transformation.

In this context, the industrial automation paradigm that decouples software and hardware and promotes the deep integration of enterprise information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) has become the need of the times. Based on software definition, enterprises will have greater freedom in the selection of automation technology. Not only can they choose independent hardware and software on demand, but they can also mix and match them to create a seamlessly integrated automation system. Even devices from different suppliers can be freely connected across architectures.

In other words, software-defined open automation fundamentally changes the rules of automation system design and gives automation systems an unprecedented degree of "openness", which will have a huge impact on innovation and operational optimization in the global industrial field.

From operational optimization to talent transformation, we help enterprises innovate and develop

Relying on software-defined open automation, industrial enterprises can significantly enhance their operational capabilities, including improvements in scalability, adaptability, and flexibility, while better coping with the challenge of skills shortages and adapting to the development of the times.

First of all, software-defined open automation technologies such as virtual controllers are more scalable than traditional hardware-based automation technologies and are easy for users to update on demand anytime, anywhere - thanks to the decoupling of software and hardware. With this feature, users do not need to shut down the system before updating like traditional hardware architecture - thus effectively reducing downtime and providing a strong guarantee for production continuity.

At the same time, software-defined open automation can enhance the adaptability and flexibility of production tools. It not only allows engineers to update or reprogram programs in a simpler way to respond to changing market demands, but also allows for easy addition of additional products without downtime. of automated workloads. For example, when a controller fails, the automation system can immediately switch to another containerized virtual controller to maintain normal operations.

In addition, with the development of the times and technology, automation engineers are increasingly inclined to use modern tools and work in a highly efficient IT environment, rather than using old and outdated technologies and systems. Therefore, by adopting software-defined open automation technology, enterprises can attract a large number of new talents who advocate cutting-edge technologies, and keep pace with the times while accelerating their own talent transformation.

Virtualization + Digital Twins Accelerate the Transition to "Virtual PLC"

On the basis of software and hardware decoupling, digital technologies such as virtualization and digital twins can be more widely used in the industrial field, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the traditional automation paradigm. The reason is that the software-defined open automation model supports automation (for example, programmable logic controller PLC) functions to run on various platforms without being bound to dedicated hardware, which provides unique conditions for the application of "virtual PLC", allowing it to use almost all available computing resources to perform the required automation functions.

On the one hand, through the practice of "virtualization", enterprises can further simplify many standard processes and optimize hardware costs to achieve sustainable development. For example, by integrating PLC, human-machine interface (HMI) and industrial PC (IPC) on the same hardware platform, enterprises can save more physical servers, significantly reduce hardware maintenance, operation and other operating costs, while helping employees focus on more economical work and achieve business value-added. By integrating computing and storage resources together, enterprises can also greatly reduce energy usage, reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the scope, and improve green benefits.

On the other hand, as an important part of software-defined open automation, digital twin models play a key role in reducing enterprise operating costs and improving operational efficiency. Its essence is to build a digital twin for real assets or processes in the virtual world to accurately reflect the physical model of the object. In the industrial field, by building a digital twin model, enterprises can test and verify new tools, machines and processes in a virtual environment, thereby effectively reducing the error rate and cost. According to statistics, compared with traditional methods, digital twin models can help enterprises save up to 50% of the time to market for new products and up to 60% of the debugging time.

Today, it is no longer a distant future for industrial users to transition from traditional physical PLCs to "virtual PLCs" through software-defined open automation technology. As a hardware-independent, software-based controller, the virtual PLC can run on any Windows or Linux server, IPC or microcomputer, and is no longer restricted by software and hardware coupling. It supports multiple instances to be installed, configured, deployed and maintained independently of each other at the same time and on the same hardware, while allowing the production process to be adjusted and optimized without stopping the production line, minimizing downtime and reducing costs, helping enterprises better respond to dynamic and changing consumer demand and market environment, and improving their flexibility and agility.
Embracing software-defined open automation and moving towards an industrial future

It is not difficult to foresee that software-defined open automation is becoming a "weapon" to break the shackles of productivity and deeply promote industrial digital transformation. So how can enterprises actively embrace this technological trend?

In this regard, Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure open automation platform based on software-defined automation decouples software and hardware based on the IEC 61499 standard, which can effectively promote "plug and play production" in the field of industrial automation and effectively solve the portability, configurability and interoperability issues of application software between manufacturers. After continuous updates, iterations and upgrades, Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure open automation platform is now widely used in many industries such as logistics, water treatment, food and beverage, and transportation, helping companies simplify a lot of programming work, optimize system adaptability and enhance innovation capabilities, and continue to enjoy the dividends of digital development.

For example, Beijing Jingkelun Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. modularized and standardized the automation program in its smart cold chain logistics park construction project with the help of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure open automation platform, which not only enhanced the reusability and interoperability of the program, but also significantly improved development efficiency, shortening the application development time by 60%, and saving about 80% of the development time in terms of IT interface workload. In the high-speed fully automatic silver riveting machine equipment transformation project of Schneider Electric's Shanghai factory, the EcoStruxure open automation platform interacted with I/O through the industrial cellular network, replaced the original hard wiring with wireless, and improved the flexibility of the production line. EAE Soft dPAC achieved software and hardware decoupling, improved the reusability of the software, and finally realized the innovative control method of "industrial cellular network + virtual PLC", effectively solving the upgrade problem of old equipment.

Today, software-defined open automation is depicting a vivid picture of the future industry with fresh strokes. As a global expert in digital transformation in energy management and automation, Schneider Electric will continue to bring more groundbreaking digital and automation solutions based on its software-defined open automation vision, empowering industrial users to create a more "open" new quality of productivity and work together towards an efficient and sustainable future industry.