Schneider Electric and Saint-Gobain have partnered to deploy a first-of-its-kind software-defined automation system for glass manufacturing.
The project, announced at Glasstec 2024, the world’s leading glass industry trade fair, addresses the urgent need to improve the reliability of the critical cooling process. These furnaces are essential for annealing and cooling flat glass and typically last for 15 to 20 years. However, as industry studies have shown, process downtime can lead to a complete halt in production, and a power outage of just one minute can lead to up to six months of production loss, often necessitating equipment replacement, costing up to 200,000 euros per day.
Saint-Gobain has collaborated with Schneider Electric to develop the first open automation solution for the cooling process. The proof of concept (POC) leverages Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert (EAE) open automation technology, which decouples hardware and software, allowing devices and equipment to freely connect across architecture layers, regardless of manufacturer.
The project also improves safety and efficiency in glass production by enabling autonomous driving capabilities with EAE, a major advancement in distributed intelligence. A “smart” drive controls two glass traction motors, enabling autonomous driving and critical process decisions at the equipment level, such as deciding which motor to tow the glass, performing quality checks and preparing for predictive maintenance.
“Our understanding of the float glass process has led to a breakthrough solution that ensures reliability, safety and productivity. Autonomous driving technology enables intelligent decision-making, and the solution, with its built-in modularity and standardization, provides immediate scalability, increased flexibility and reliability. “This demonstrates our commitment to innovation and is a testament to the potential of scaling this technology across industries,” said Alex Richards, Schneider Electric’s vice president of Mining, Minerals and Metals.
Importantly, the solution’s modular design allows for easy deployment around the world, while plug-and-play interoperability reduces development, testing and commissioning time by up to 50%. This inherent scalability enables construction companies to add value on construction sites and achieve exponential value around the world.