APC 2011 Annual Report Download - page 28

26 2011 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
DESCRIPTION OFTHEGROUP, ANDITSSTRATEGY, MARKETS ANDBUSINESSES
1R&D STRATEGY
This organisation is based on short lines of communication and
decision-making, rapid mobilisation of Group resources throughout
the world, and dedicated teams in which management is
directlyinvolved.
Some 87global customers benefi t from this organisation, including
Air Liquide, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Lafarge, Marriott, Nestlé, Procter
& Gamble, Total, Toyota, Veolia Environnement and Walmart.
2.5 Competitors and participants with varied profiles
One can classify Schneider Electric’s traditional competitors into
two categories:
•large non-specialist manufacturers with diversified
businesses: ABB, Eaton, Emerson, General Electric, Johnson
Controls, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic (formerly
Matsushita), Siemens;
•multinational specialist manufacturers: Cooper, Hager,
Legrand, Omron, Rockwell Automation .
Other competitors are appearing:
•low-price products, manufacturers notably in low voltage
and for indirect markets: Chint, Legend, Larsen&Toubro .
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3. R&D Strategy
Among the R&D investments of the last three years, such as the EcoStuxure programme, and the structural
acquisitions, such as Areva T&D distribution or Telvent, Schneider Electric has built an exceptional R&D capacity
portfolio, combining its acquired knowledge with new expertise, notably in terms of software and engineering systems.
Schneider Electric’s R&D strategy aims to fully exploit this capacity for generating growth and profi tability by continuing
to give priority to innovation, both in terms of technology and solutions.
3.1 Finalisation of EcoStruxure
The EcoStruxure programme moved from the research to the
development phase in 2010 and was completed at the end of
2011 with the launch of StruxureWare, an integrated software
suite covering all the energy management, process optimisation
and environmental reporting needs of companies (shop fl oor to
topfl oor).
StruxureWare combines Schneider Electric’s traditional control
solutions with complementary solutions coming from recent
acquisitions for energy optimisation and resources and new
developments management. The relevance of the main choices
for EcoStruxure, such as convergence towards IP networks and
web services integration is shown by the fl exibility of the whole
programme, which Schneider Electric can easily adapt to specifi c
needs of different target market segments.
This fl exibility is a strategic advantage for integrating acquisitions.
So, just nine months after acquiring Summit Energy, its Dashboard
View solution was expanded into a resource management solution
that is perfectly integrated into the StruxureWare suite. The original
Telvent components have also been integrated into StruxureWare,
six months after the acquisition was fi nalised.
All the StruxureWare components have likewise been designed
for many platforms to allow their use to be extended to meet new
needs. For example, the Remote Services Platform made it possible
to develop monitoring services and remote control of equipment in
a few weeks, allowing the service strategy for the installed base to
be accelerated.
With StruxureWare, Schneider Electric is in a position to fully
profi t from the market maturity and from the anticipated market
consolidation in energy management to thus reinforce its leadership.