‘An Industrial Revolution Unlike Any Before.’ But Rigid Infrastructure Is Holding It Back

“We are standing at the edge of an industrial revolution, unlike any time before really, it’s a one of a kind revolution. A.I. is real, but automation too is absolutely essential.” That’s what Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Executive Vice President of Industrial Automation at the global energy technology company Schneider Electric declared in remarks to the ~2500 industry leaders attending the company’s recent U.S. Innovation Summit.

She added that “the North America grid is under huge pressure like never before, because we have rising demand, aging infrastructure and at the same time, a push for decarbonization.” Industry’s facilities “use over 30% of the region’s electricity. So it’s quite enormous.” These industry players are “key to grid stability and efficiency,” not just energy consumers. They include every aspect of the energy ecosystem, such as chemical companies, water systems, utilities, etc., each of whom “have a role to play in matching demand and consumption of energy,” she said.

Leading companies and industries “are the ones that combine altogether automation, electrification, and digital intelligence,” which is “why connecting power and process in a unified force for transformation is a huge differentiator,” Avice-Huet emphasized.

Integrated infrastructure systems are key to driving innovation and revenue, and reducing CO2

Inefficient, “closed” and “hardware-defined” systems are costing companies 7.5% of their annual revenue on average, according to a new report Schneider Electric released during this Summit. For example, it can cost larger companies as much as $45.18 million per year and smaller companies as much as 25% of their annual revenue.

In an exclusive interview at the Summit, Avice-Huet explained that they call their EcoStruxture automation system “’open software defined automation’ because it unlocks interoperability, acceleration of innovation and giving the industries the flexibility they need to evolve,…unlocking huge potential.” This automation upgrades the many “closed, rigid and pre-digital” industrial and manufacturing systems, especially in the U. S., which she said is a $3 trillion sector that supports 13 million jobs. Over the five years since they launched EcoStruxture, they have now deployed it in 550 sites globally, according to the company.

“If we want to accelerate all the efforts in order to decarbonize and to fight against climate change, we have to go three times faster, three times stronger. We have all the technologies, but how to speed it up, how to make sure that it’s deployed even faster,” she said previously on Electric Ladies Podcast.

Think global, act local

Avice-Huet brings a uniquely global, economy-wide and sustainability-focused perspective, because in addition to her current role leading Industrial Automation, she has also been Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, and Executive Vice President of Europe Operations at Schneider Electric, where she also serves on the Executive Committee. She’s a French national and has been based mostly in Paris, France.

Each country, each region, even each U.S. state has their own unique economy, culture, industries, trends, climate and infrastructure needs, and is even affected by tariffs in their own way in today’s political environment. Therefore, serving them requires maintaining that local focus and presence, Avice-Huet said. “It’s a multi-hub strategy, which means that in each big hub, each big region, we want to be local for local,” she emphasized. “Then we can build the strategy around it to be resilient, to be sustainable, to be competitive altogether.”

An example of this “digitalize-automate-electrify” system that leverages integration to increase resilience and reliability while also reducing emissions, is at the new Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which Schneider Electric “helped modernize.”

The company fared better than most during the pandemic because of their laser focus on local needs and local infrastructure to serve local clients. “That’s why we were so resilient during COVID, is that we were already quite local for local. So I was in charge of Europe, 80% of what we sell in Europe is manufactured in Europe.” Their research and development is local too, to respond to local market signals.

Each locale has its own sustainability profile of course, from climate risks to how resilient the infrastructure is, to its policies and reporting requirements. “I think sustainability is super core, as we discussed last time, about how it fits with the whole organization, because it’s all about the culture of the company and how we drive transformation, for us but for our clients too.”

A call for bolder transformational leadership – “to lead by example”

Because nearly every aspect of society and business is evolving very rapidly – from technologies including artificial intelligence, to changing competitive landscapes, and increasingly frequent and ferocious extreme weather across the globe – Avice-Huet called for bolder leadership.

“But transformation doesn’t happen on its own,” she told the massive plenary audience assembled in the huge theatre at their Innovation Summit in Las Vegas last week. “We need leaders for that. We need leaders to think modern solutions. We need vision, we need leadership on that for vision and courage to go in that direction. We need leaders who aren’t just ready for the future but are ready to be bold enough to build it,” which includes meeting net zero goals. Schneider Electric has built the first net-zero data center, for example, she said.

Opportunity on this scale requires exceptionally bold leadership. “We are at a moment of immense opportunity,” Avice-Huet stressed, “but it is at the same time a call to action. A call to action to double down on digital, to prepare the workforce for all that is coming, but to embrace open software defined automation, to rethink energy, to lead by example.”