Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced that its Hyderabad, India, factory has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Sustainability Lighthouse.

This is the third such recognition for Schneider Electric, whose factories in Lexington, Kentucky, and Le Vaudreuil factory, France, received Sustainability Lighthouse status in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The World Economic Forum began the Global Lighthouse Network initiative in 2018 to recognize manufacturers leading growth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The network now consists of more than 150 Advanced Lighthouses worldwide. Just 17 of these are also Sustainability Lighthouses which are recognized by the Forum for their technology-enabled improvements on environmental footprint. Together, these serve to showcase best practices of how companies can leverage 4IR solutions to unlock new levels of sustainability and efficiency in their operations.

Schneider Electric’s Hyderabad factory manufactures mission-critical electrical equipment and operates with an advanced, cloud-based manufacturing system powered by IoT-enabled devices, leveraging real-time data and predictive analytics for smart decision-making processes. Over four years, the plant reduced its energy consumption by 59%, improved waste optimization by 64%, decreased CO2 emissions by 61%, and reduced water consumption by 57%.

To improve energy efficiency and thereby reduce CO2 emissions, the Hyderabad team focused on the highest energy consumers in the plant: air compressors and chillers. An IoT-enabled device, Equalizer 4.0, was installed to regulate the compressors thereby improving their efficiency. To the chillers, a data-driven energy management system with closed-loop control was fitted to constantly monitor and adjust energy consumption in real-time, optimizing energy efficiency.