Tag: Schneider Electric

Enough cannot be said about both the historical and current importance of distributed control systems and their role in industrial automation. It is therefore only fitting that we talk about their continuous evolution and future too. For years, plants have relied on a mismatch of small Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and proprietary black boxes to manage localised tasks. These systems were extremely effective in their time.

Imagine walking into a factory where machines can think ahead, predict problems before it happens, and automatically make adjustments to realise peak performance. This isn’t science fiction; it’s happening right now as AI continues transforms how we run industrial operations.

Industrial operations are, like the rest of the world, facing a fundamental generational workforce change. Today, most baby boomers, those experienced operators aged between 61 and 79, are projected to retire by 2035. As a younger, more mobile generation steps in, the traditional model of long apprenticeships and gradual knowledge transfer is no longer sustainable.

Today’s mineral processing companies face almost-universal challenges, including efficiently managing resources and high energy consumption, environmental compliance, barriers to technological adoption and perpetual shortage of skilled labour.

Modernising Africa’s power grid to manage bi-directional flows is essential for enabling renewable-powered economic growth, following the crippling effects of prolonged periods of load shedding. Even though South Africa has experienced a protracted spell without load shedding, electricity outages persist due to network overloading.

The expansion of the current data centre landscape is certainly making history. Its growth is almost reminiscent of time-lapse photography. In this scenario, we - the subjects - stand still while the data centre builds move around us at remarkable speed. Statistics support this observation. Database Trends and Applications cites that the global data centre market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.30% from 2024 to 2032.

There is no doubt that today’s healthcare organisations face unique challenges. This is due to the essential and often critical nature of the services they provide. Whilst each country has its own, often distinctive, set of challenges, some are universal.

Despite the rapid growth of cloud computing, industrial edge remains a core component of industrial IT environments. The hype around key factors like skills, budget, and security continues to drive cloud adoption. However, unique industrial requirements ensure edge computing remains integral by supporting real-time, mission-critical demands that the cloud often cannot match.

Modernising power networks through digitisation and innovative technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), is essential. Utilities and municipalities must improve efficiency and manage the growing complexities of energy distribution.

Worldwide, there has been a concerted effort to phase out older network technologies like 2G and 3G. The radio spectrum is finite, and whilst difficult to imagine, these older mobile technologies are literally taking up valuable space.