“We see a world where can all achieve more, using less of our common planet. It’s a question of survival of our business in a very competitive market, and also environmental”, said Finidori last week at the opening of Citect CONNECTS, the User Conference of their SCADA/MES company.
Finidori says Schneider recognises four megatrends in their strategy:
-Energy as a key challenge for our planet —energy needs will increase but we need to reduce our carbon emissions and increase efficiency. This point is increasingly important as the price of energy goes through the roof, and the introduction of ETS should increase it even more
-The emergence of new countries as an opportunity for our generation: China, India, Eastern Europe and South America.
-Everything connected everywhere at anytime.
-People in this global planet wanting only the simplest and the best
“There are traditional needs: safety, reliability, performance… But there are also new, such as offering integrated solutions for optimised capex and opex; automation and connectivity everywhere; energy efficiency; ultra secure power for critical applications; and, end-to-end services, among others,” he said.
The Automation division earns Schneider 5 billion Euros and represents 29% of their global sales, with 11% annual growth and 14.2% profitability.
“We are bloody serious about automation. Citect is our key asset for automation solutions, an integral part of our strategy for technology leadership. They can expand globally, and they’ve experienced fast growth: Citect is now present and active in 80 countries. We make a substantial investment on people and technology; it’s our
commitment to accelerate the growth,” Finidori explained, and added that everybody at Citect has embraced the change —two years after the acquisition- and seen the opportunities of being part of Schneider.
The MD also acknowledged Citect’s limitations. “We need to focus and not to spread across the board. There is also a scarcity of resources and difficulty acquiring talent,” he said.