News

Schneider Electric and AVEVA Partner with a Saudi Arabian Company to Advance Industry 4.0

May 25, 2021 by Nancy Chenyizhi Liu

Schneider Electric, AVEVA, and Obeikan Digital Solutions (ODS) plan to collaborate to support the digital transformation of Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector.

The three companies have signed an alliance partner agreement to help Saudi Arabia's factories to advance Industry 4.0

 

Obeikan Investment Group Offers Digital Solutions

Obeikan Investment Group (OIG) was founded in 1982. The company offers industrial solutions in manufacturing, packaging, healthcare, and education across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, with a growing focus on digital transformation.

 

The three companies are hoping their partnership will revolutionize Industry 4.0. Image used courtesy of AVEVA

 

Obeikan has decades of experience designing and manufacturing packages from plastic, paper to MDF and helping customers streamline packing and improve logistics.

Obeikan Digital Solutions (ODS), part of the OIG, recently partnered with GE and Siemens to deploy digital technology to the manufacturers across Saudi Arabia. They did this by offering business automation, smart manufacturing, industrial apps for logistics, spare part management, organizational optimization, and case-tailored consultancy services.

 

Aiming to Transform Saudi Arabia's Manufacturing

The partnership of ODS, Schneider Electric, and AVEVA is designed to roll out proof-of-concept projects. This may accelerate Saudi Arabia's manufacturing advancement through technology and digitalization. 

Complemented by ODS' local expertise, Schneider Electric and AVEVA plan to share technologies, including IoT hardware and cloud computing software, to bring smarter, more efficient, and sustainable plants.

 

Schneider Electric and AVEVA have long partnered to bring IIoT solutions to the industrial sector. Image used courtesy of Schneider Electric

 

According to the partnership announcement, smart manufacturing technologies such as 5G, IIoT, and AI, can potentially reshape the factory operation by decreasing up to 50% equipment downtime and double-digit percentage increase in overall equipment effectiveness.

Industry 4.0 is defined as the digital transformation of manufacturing or production which creates "smart factories." The three companies plan to collaborate to help Saudi Arabia's factories on the journey to Industry 4.0. 

 

Expanding Digital Transformation

The longstanding partnership of Schneider Electric and AVEVA aims to offer digital transformation solutions, smart manufacturing tools, and energy management to the engineering, operations, and maintenance performance of the entire organization. The EcoStruxure Plant created by the two companies hopes to help customers improve sustainability and efficiency.

According to Tariq Aslam from AVEVA, the policies from the second phase of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and the UAE's Operation 300bn have recognized that over the next decade, digital technologies will play an important role in economic value creation.

For the industrial sector, technologies including AI, IIoT, and cloud computing are already elevating productivity and financial dividends. Aslam also mentioned how the collaboration of AVEVA and ODS hopes to expand the sustainable and equitable growth in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East with AVEVA's digital solutions and ODS' skills of implementation.

Obeikan integrates digital technologies to connect machines on the plant floor, collect, and analyze the related data. They can then reduce energy and water usage, and efficiency, and safety. Oseid Faqih, Industrial Automation VP, Schneider Electric, also alluded that as a "global specialist" in energy management and digital automation solutions, Schneider Electric hopes to partner with ODS to hasten Saudi Arabia's growth into a manufacturing hub for the whole region.