Schneider Electric is highlighting new milestones from its partnership with Microsoft and its Azure AI solution at Hannover Messe, April 20-24. Through the collaboration, the companies will demonstrate how their combined technologies enable manufacturers to modernize operations, strengthen resilience and efficiency throughout the lifecycle, and accelerate engineering by up to 50 percent.
In partnership with Microsoft, Schneider Electric provides an industrial backbone through EcoStruxure Automation Expert, an open, software-defined automation platform that works seamlessly across on-premises, edge and hybrid environments.
Microsoft is building on this foundation with the Azure cloud and AI services that orchestrate, analyze, and optimize industrial processes, resulting in a unified approach to agent-based manufacturing, open automation, and sustainability across the value chain.
Today’s manufacturers face increasing product variability, supply chain instability and a growing need to modernize safely. Schneider Electric is meeting these challenges by connecting engineering design with real-time operational operations. The common platform enables teams to standardize reusable logic, validate automation through simulation, ensure lifecycle traceability and scale interoperable solutions across different facilities and hardware.
By connecting engineering design with daily operations, we help operators reduce complexity, make faster and better decisions, and scale their production with increased flexibility and resilience,” says Susanne Dahl, VP Industrial Automation Nordic Baltic.
Schneider Electric is partnering with Microsoft to develop the next generation of agent-based, software-defined manufacturing – an integrated workflow that encompasses design, engineering, construction, commissioning and operations. At its core is EcoStruxure Automation Expert, which enables you to create, simulate, validate and deploy automation logic once and run it anywhere without reconfiguration. Schneider Electric’s strong expertise in security, compliance and industrial integration ensures reliability in highly regulated environments.
With agent-based design to software-defined operation, Microsoft and Schneider Electric demonstrate a unified, interoperable workflow that consistently validates, simulates, and deploys automation logic across cloud and edge, says Gwenaelle Huet, EVP Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric.
Where traditional automation programs require separate tools and handoffs at each phase – from engineering, design, simulation to commissioning and operation – the common platform brings everything together in a single, traceable workflow.
Specialized and coordinated AI agents automate routine design decisions and validate logic before implementation, reducing design-to-production lead times and improving first-time quality. Schneider Electric’s Industrial Copilot for Manufacturers, powered by Azure AI, is already delivering results in the field: engineering teams are reporting time savings of up to 50 percent when configuring and documenting control systems, and changes to production lines that previously took weeks are now being implemented in hours.
In an ongoing autonomous project for green hydrogen together with H2E Power, an Indian pioneer in the field, the platform has maintained over 6,000 hours of stable autonomous operation in one of the most demanding industrial environments: high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis for the production of green hydrogen. This has reduced the average cost of hydrogen by up to 10 percent, which corresponds to approximately €500,000 per year for a typical 10 MW plant.
With agent-based design, we close the loop from engineering intent to operational reality, automating decisions, validating early, and delivering reusable automation packages that Schneider Electric can simulate and deploy consistently across both cloud and edge,” says Dayan Rodriguez, Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing and Mobility at Microsoft.
More about Hannover Messe April 20-24:
Schneider Electric – Hall 13, stand C34
Microsoft – Hall 17, Stand G06
The companies will offer hands-on demonstrations of early innovation solutions developed together, including live demonstrations, AI for engineers, and an ecosystem based on open standards, as part of developing the next generation of manufacturing.
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