Solutions claim to live up to expectations

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 23, 2004

A new range of Industry-Ready Solutions are tailored to meet the real-world requirements of automation equipment users.

Although few would doubt that users of automation equipment want solutions, rather than simply a bundle of products, Schneider Electric believes that many automation suppliers who claim to have adopted a solution-led approach are falling well short of meeting their customers' expectations and requirements.

"The problem is that these suppliers shrink the concept of a solution so that it suits them, rather than their customers", said Schneider Electric's Keith Pugsley.

"For example, a sensor specialist will offer a sensing solution, while a motion expert will offer a motion solution.

What customers really want, however, is a solution which is truly based on their overall needs, rather than a partial solution, limited by what is easy for the supplier".

To address this situation, Schneider Electric has introduced Industry-Ready Solutions.

Based on the comprehensive range of products available from the brands of Schneider Electric, these are tailored to meet the real-world requirements of automation equipment users.

"This may sound like a trivial change in terminology", said Pugsley, "but it's actually a fundamentally different approach which begins with self-challenge, and often finishes by going the extra mile.

Essentially, we start by finding out what our customers would really like to have, and then we work backward to our product offer.

Only then do we formulate a practical, cost-effective and very tangible solution".

"This approach contrasts strongly with that usually adopted", continued Pugsley, "where the first thing to be considered is the products, and thinking about what the customer actually wants comes in somewhere toward the end of the process.

Of course, Schneider Electric, with its access to a vast range of products, is in a uniquely strong position to put the needs of customers first".

An illustration of the benefits available with Industry-Ready Solutions is given by the simple and common requirement for motor control centres (MCCs), which are normally controlled by a remote PLC, but which must also have facilities for local control.

Traditional solutions are to provide a relay panel for each MCC, or to fit each with its own PLC.

Both of these solutions are expensive, inconvenient and lacking in versatility.

With the Industry-Ready Solution, the remote PLC remains in place, and communicates with the MCCs via a standard fieldbus connection.

The MCCs are equipped with Telemecanique Advantys I/O modules which, in addition to fieldbus connectivity, offer local control logic.

User interface facilities at the MCCs are provided by low-cost Magelis HMI terminals.

The result is a solution which is elegant, flexible and cost-effective, and which is also easy to implement and maintain.

In fact, if the latest Telemecanique TeSys Model U starters are used in the MCCs, then the solution offers plug-and-play simplicity and convenience throughout.

"It's very easy to say that you offer solutions, rather than just products", said Pugsley, "but it's rather more difficult and demanding to translate this claim into actions.

At Schneider Electric, however, we are doing exactly that, by offering our customers solutions which are smart, simple, and precisely matched to their needs".