Control Panel Developers and Installers: Understanding what IIoT solutions manufactures are offering
Credit to Author: Zach Tinkler| Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2019 20:40:22 +0000
Blog co-authored by:
- Zach Tinkler, Business Development Manager, Panel Builders
- Thomas Eck, Team Lead, Marketing Communications
In our last blog, we discussed the value of connected products in the Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT. Developers and Installers have started embracing this trend and will continue as they increasingly recognize what connectivity means to the end users. To do this effectively, you need to understand what connected solutions manufactures are offering – both software and hardware – and which solutions can easily/effectively be integrated into their designs to meet the end user’s demands.
If you break it down, your customer’s operation can be segmented into three tiers: Connected Products, Edge Control and Apps and Analytics – each is critical for realizing an IIoT-based operation.
Schneider Electric provides a comprehensive offering based on these tiers, allowing you to integrate new solutions at any level. This includes the new designs you are developing and current systems you are modernizing within a customer’s existing architecture. This is the essence and value of EcoStruxure for your business.
Let’s explore this in practical terms:
- Modernization
Replacing older or outdated circuit breakers with new technology, such as our MTZ breakers allows you to connect those pieces into the building management systems gaining insight into the operation of power cycles and loads within the system without additional downstream meters. This means easily incorporating the benefits of IIoT with EcoStruxure connect product, while reducing the total space requirements to manage your power.
- Design
Many end users are already requesting a cloud-based solution allowing them to remotely analyze and control their applications (e.g.: Spec 25). At first glance, many may think this requires a redesign of an entire control system adding time and expense to the project. By incorporating EcoStruxure Machine Advisor, existing systems can provide communication without additional hardware.
Schneider Electric recognizes the challenges facing automation Developers and Installers. EcoStruxure offers a manufacture-agnostic approach to help you deliver on the expectation of IIoT for your customers:
- Connected products delivering operational data in real time
- Edge control managing the process, optimizing as needed
- Apps and analytics providing the agility to allow users to make decisions faster
By integrating easily connected components – without having to rip and replace – you can cost-effectively meet the customer’s expectation. By reducing both your bill of materials and the associated engineering and installation times, you can keep pricing competitive while maintaining your margin.
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