Eric Barnes kicked off his WEFTEC booth presentation celebrating the 100th anniversary of Schneider Electric’s TeSys motor control device by starting at the beginning.
“So, around 1836 Schneider Electric was founded, and coincidentally in 1837 the electric motor was invented. And that was a good partnership. The motor has been so transformative in our industry. It allowed us to move water uphill, which before was not possible. It always had to go downhill, right? It has allowed us to increase our productivity. It allowed us to do more with less, accomplish way more work. That had the effect of helping us to decrease our cost, to be more efficient,” said Barnes, a strategy leader at Schneider.
But it was 1924 when Schneider introduced the first bar contactor. And since then, the company has installed 40 million TeSys controllers in 50 industry sectors throughout the world.
Throughout all that time, the company has continued to innovate, making the devices smaller, more durable and more efficient, Barnes said. In 2004, for example, the company introduced short circuit protection for its contactor motor starters.
But the movement to digital has truly accelerated the types of innovations Schneider can offer to its customers, Barnes said.
“In 2019, we offered a new digital solution called TeSys Island that really opened a whole other world, a digital world to our customers. Digitalization is still shaping our future and solving problems today,” he said.
Barnes explained the innovations from the company through the lens of the three major players in the water industry: operators, maintenance technicians and facility managers.
The operators want to make sure everything is working, Barnes said, but like so many other fields, the experienced operators are retiring and taking that knowledge with them.
But Schneider’s digital solutions help keep track of equipment performance and maintenance needs that a seasoned operator might only know through instincts.
For maintenance technicians, digital solutions allow them to gain more insight into why equipment fails. For example, it could tell a technician if a breaker tripped because of low power, an equipment jam or an overload, giving the worker valuable insight that will save labor costs.
Finally, Barnes said, there’s the facility manager, who must worry about the whole picture, from staying on budget to meeting government regulations.
Digital solutions allow managers to see energy consumption at a granular level, identifying specific components that might be aging and in need of repair or replacement.
Barnes said one major concern for companies looking to make the move to digital solutions is the cost.
“You know, unfortunately, we don't have infinite budgets to go rip out all the controls and all the machines and upgrade everything at once. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just retrofit, right? So, we have a product which enables you to retrofit into existing solutions. You can now bring your existing equipment forward, and over time upgrade the entire facility,” he said.
In conclusion, Barnes told his audience to look for Schneider to continue innovating over the next 100 years.
