APC 2005 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Low voltage and ultra terminal: electrical distribu-
tion products up to 1 kV. This category includes wiring
products and low voltage and ultra terminal equipment
used in industrial and commercial buildings and
homes.
We offer new solutions for the residential market that
meet increasingly sophisticated requirements for com-
fort, ergonomics, safety and ease of use and that opti-
mize communication networks. The lineup includes
traditional items such as switches and sockets; protec-
tion devices like circuit breakers and contactors; and
home automation applications like control systems for
lighting, heating, doors, gates and shutters, and secu-
rity systems to protect people and their belongings.
Home networks for Voice-Data-Image (VDI), IT, televi-
sion, music and other applications are also expanding
rapidly.
These aesthetic, functional products are particularly
popular with electricians and contractors. New prod-
ucts are highly targeted and adapted to each country’s
specific standards. They are sold through flagship
brands Merlin Gerin and Square D, as well as local
brands such as Clipsal in Asia, Feller in Switzerland,
Eljo in Sweden and Alombard in France.With the addi-
tion to Square D’s portfolio of Juno Lighting, America’s
leading manufacturer of track and recessed lighting,
we will be able to enhance our presence in residential
and commercial buildings in the United States.
Number 2 worldwide in automation
& control, number 1 in industrial control
and number 3 in PLCs
Our Automation & Control products are designed to
control production processes and protect electrical
equipment, machines and people. This business
accounted for 25% of consolidated revenue in 2005.
Our industrial control lineup ranges from contac-
tors, overload relays and motor circuit breakers to
speed drives, sensors, control units and operator ter-
minals.
We also supply programmable logic controllers
and automation platforms, as well as specialized con-
figuration, programming, operating assistance and
supervision software. Positioning control solutions are
another of our competencies.
In both Electrical Distribution and Automation & Con-
trol, our Transparent Ready™ web-enabled solutions
facilitate site and installation management and opti-
mize performance. Thanks to this technology, users
can easily access their installations through a web
browser from any location and obtain a better return
on investment.
In the Industry and Infrastructure markets, Trans-
parent Ready™ solutions are integrated into automa-
tion systems and enhance the communication capa-
bilities of industrial system components. Preventive
maintenance can be carried out remotely, making for
less downtime. In addition, virtually real-time harvest-
ing of data on energy consumption in one or several
sites allows users to manage their energy costs even
more effectively.
In building management, Transparent Building™
makes it possible to monitor buildings and all the func-
tionalities of existing systems via a local area network
(LAN), from electricity, lighting, heating and air condi-
tioning to elevators, access control, intruder alert and
fire detection and alarms.
Growth Platforms
Our Growth Platform activities–building automation
and security, secured power, sensors and actuators for
repetitive machines–offer a perfect fit with Schneider
Electric’s skills and business model, notably in terms
of market access.
They enjoy higher growth potential and more even
business cycles than our traditional activities and stim-
ulate growth in our core businesses.
Building Automation and Security
Our ambition is to satisfy strong customer demand for
comfort, security, flexibility, optimized investment and
reduced operating costs in commercial and industrial
buildings. We leverage our systems integrator part-
ners’ expertise and open systems technology to offer
comprehensive, consistent solutions for control,
supervision, monitoring and security. With TAC and
Abacus Engineered Systems, we offer highly effective
solutions for optimizing energy consumption.
Secured Power
Schneider Electric serves growing demand for reli-
able, high quality electricity and for controlled energy
costs.
MGE UPS Systems ranks second worldwide, putting
Schneider Electric squarely in the center of the unin-
terruptible power supply market with completely
secure solutions. The 2005 acquisition of Power Mea-
surement Inc. (PMI) has strengthened our position in
this area. The world’s leading provider of measure-
ment devices, software and services, PMI helps elec-
tricity suppliers and consumers track, monitor, fore-
cast and manage all aspects of energy production and
consumption.
Sensors for Repetitive Machines
With Crouzet Automatismes, Kavlico and BEI Tech-
nologies, a manufacturer of customized sensors for
application positioning and monitoring systems
acquired in 2005, we offer the most complete lineup in
the market. Schneider Electric enjoys leadership posi-
tions in angular speed sensors (we rank first world-
wide in leading-edge quartz gyro technology), and in
position and pressure sensors for the automobile,
aeronautic and manufacturing industries.