Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric SE (Societas Europaea) is a multinational company providing energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability. It addresses homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation, software and services. The company has operations in over 100 countries and employs 135,000+ people.
Schneider Electric is a Fortune Global 500 company, publicly traded on the Euronext Exchange, and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In FY2019, the company posted revenues of €27.2 billion.
Schneider Electric is the parent company of Square D, APC and others. It is also a research company, investing EUR10 billion in innovation and R&D for sustainable development between 2015 and 2025. The company holds 20,000 patents either active or in application worldwide and invests 5% of its annual revenue in Research and Development.
The company began in 1836 as Schneider & Cie. It was ultimately renamed Schneider Electric in May 1999.
Head office.
Schneider Electric head office is in Rueil-Malmaison, France.
Schneider Electric has had its head office in the Trianon site in Rueil-Malmaison, France since 2000. The current headquarters, also located in Rueil-Malmaison, previously housed Schneider subsidiary Télémécanique while the parent company occupied a site in Boulogne-Billancourt.
In June 2011, Schneider Electric corporate headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison was certified as complying with the new ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems. It was the first building in the world to earn such designation.
History.
Beginnings.
The roots of this company are in the iron, steel and armaments factories of Schneider-Creusot and other industrial concerns.
20th Century.
From 1981–1997, the company divested from steel and shipbuilding and focused mainly on electricity through strategic acquisitions.
New Focus.
Schneider Electric refocused in 2010 to include software, critical power and smart grid applications through strategic acquisitions. In 2015, the company launched a brand strategy called “Life Is On” which aims to showcase the business and societal value of sustainability and efficiency.
The emergence of the digital economy created opportunities for IoT-enabled platforms, which Schneider Electric identified as a growth opportunity. In 2016, the company launched EcoStruxure, its IoT-enabled architecture, and in 2019, an open digital ecosystem "Schneider Electric Exchange."
Timeline.
1836: Brothers Adolphe and Joseph-Eugene Schneider take over an abandoned foundry in Le Creusot, France and, two years later, create Schneider & Cie, focusing primarily on the steel industry. Schneider & Cie grows rapidly, specializing in the production of heavy machinery and transportation equipment, and eventually becomes the Schneider Group, a diversified conglomerate.
1975: The Schneider Group acquires an interest in Merlin Gerin, one of the top manufacturers of electrical distribution equipment in France.
1981-1997: Schneider Group re-focuses on the electrical industry by divesting its nonstrategic assets and undertakes a series of strategic acquisitions: Télémécanique in 1988, Square D in 1991 and Merlin Gerin in 1992.
1999: Schneider Group acquires Lexel, one of Europe's largest suppliers of installation systems and control solutions. In May 1999, the Schneider Group is renamed Schneider Electric to clearly identify its expertise in the electrical field.
2010: Schneider Electric launches a €70 million venture capital fund with Alstom to create Aster and to support innovative start-ups in the fields of energy and the environment.
The company is an ITER supplier.
2014: Schneider Electric advertises a cooperation with German power supplier RWE.
2015 – 2016: Schneider Electric refocuses on IoT, sustainability and efficiency, and introduces its IoT-enabled architecture and platform, EcoStruxure.
2016: Schneider acquires the century-old British retail brand Tower Electric.
2017: Schneider Electric takes control of AVEVA Group PLC, a provider of engineering and industrial software based in the UK, folding industrial software assets into AVEVA's operations.
2018 : Schneider's L&T Acquisition to Power ‘Make In India’ Mission
2019: Schneider launches its cross-industry digital ecosystem, Schneider Electric Exchange.
2020 : Schneider acquires ProLeiT AG, supplier of specialized industrial control and MES software for the brewery (Brewmaxx), dairy, pharmaceutical, beverage and food industry headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany. In September 2020, Schneider Electric launched a new smart equipment that will help electricity distribution companies in Nigeria to fix grid faults, restoring power after disruption within minutes.
Organizational structure and offer.
As of 2019, Schneider Electric operates business units: Energy Management, Industrial Automation, and Services.
Energy Management
The energy management business provides installation components, software and integrated solutions for the management of energy in medium voltage and grid automation, low voltage and building automation, secure power and cooling applications. The energy management business includes five divisions: Power Systems, Power Products, Secure Power, Home and Distribution, and Digital Energy. Connected technologies, software and solutions for energy management developed by the company use advancements in the Internet of Things(IoT), mobility, sensing, cloud, analytics, and cybersecurity to reveal insights from energy data.
Industrial Automation
The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, represents along-term growth field for Schneider Electric. The company develops discrete industrial and machine automation as well as process automation products and solutions for the industrial sector, including programmable relays, motion controllers and interface modules for simple machines to complex process systems for smart manufacturing. The company is also a provider of software for industrial automation and control. See AVEVA.
Services
The Services business includes three divisions: Global Field Services, Energy and Sustainability Services, and Smart Grid Services.
Industries served
Schneider Electric's portfolio of offerings is aimed at a wide range of industries and end-markets, including:
Notable offers
EcoStruxure.
In 2016 Schneider Electric launched the next generation of EcoStruxure – an IoT-enabled architecture, which delivers solutions in six domains: Power, IT, Building, Machine, Plant and Grid; for four end markets: Building, Data Center, Industry and Infrastructure. The EcoStruxure platform uses Microsoft Azure.
In April 2019, the company launched Schneider Electric Exchange, an open business platform where users can participate in virtual communities; develop, share, and sell digital and IoT innovations; and access resources such as APIs and data sets.
Corporate affairs.
Management
Schneider Electric is a multinational company with a board of directors. The functions of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer are carried out by Jean-Pascal Tricoire, who was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on April 25, 2013.
Corporate social responsibility.
The Schneider Electric brand has evolved over 180 years of operations, a result of acquisitions, divestments, and evolution of its business model to include corporate social responsibility as a core of its brand. In 2018 and 2019, Schneider Electric was named one of the World's Most Admired Companies (Fortune).
Schneider Electric's diversity and inclusion initiatives, and programs for empowering women in the workplace, have received recognitions such as the Robert W. Campbell Award in 2011 and the Green Cross for Safety Medal (2011) the highest honors of the U.S. National Safety Council.  In 2015, Schneider Electric joined the UN Women HeForShe, a solidarity movement to promote gender equality. Most recently, Schneider Electric received the 2019 Catalyst Award for advancing inclusive and empowering workplaces for women and was named to the 2018 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, the second year the company has received this distinction.
Environmental record.
Schneider Electric ranks high in sustainability among global corporations, and since 2005, the company has measured its sustainable development progress with the launch of its Planet & Society barometer, and today, with its Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI)report. The SSI report was developed to align with United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Every quarter, the company provides an update on their progress in a report audited by a third party. For example, the company has generated 12% circular revenues through its circular business models and environmental policies, which included the goal of recovering 100% of their industrial waste at 200 manufacturing sites. In another example, Schneider has achieved 80% renewable electricity.
Schneider Electric launched the Schneider Electric Foundation to focus on reducing the energy gap and investing in education in emerging economies, as well as increasing sustainability awareness. The group operates under the aegis of Fondation de France. As of 2017, more than 140,000 people participated in the Foundation's training programs since 2009.
Schneider Electric's programs focused on fighting climate change and promoting sustainability has received recognitions such as the “A” rating from CDP Climate for eight consecutive years. In 2019, Schneider Electric was named the winner of The Circulars Award 2019 in the Multinational category by the World Economic Forum. The Circulars Award is the premier circular economy awards program in the world. Schneider Electric has made the Corporate Knights’ “Global 100” list of the world's most sustainable corporations for seven straight years.
Schneider Electric is recognized as Global Compact LEAD for sustainable development. In 2018, Schneider Electric Chairman and CEO, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, was appointed to the UN Compact Global Board. Schneider Electric is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, a sustainability initiative. In 2017, Schneider Electric joined RE100 and EP100, global collaboratives of businesses committed to 100% renewable energy.
In September 2019, Schneider Electric was included on Fortune's Change the World list which celebrates companies with daring ideas which are driven from the desire to make the world better. Schneider was included for its commitment to driving a circular economy, making energy-management and automation equipment that is crucial to sustainability with equipment designed to last longer and be easily recyclable.
Paris Marathon sponsorship.
Since 2013 Schneider Electric has been the official partner and the first title sponsor of the Paris Marathon, one of the most popular long-distance annual running events in Europe.  In 2013, 37,000 runners generated electricity with their footsteps as they ran over energy-harvesting tiles.
The Paris Marathon is known for its famed scenic landmarks along its route, including the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées and the Bois de Vincennes. The Paris Marathon, one of the major marathons in the world, achieved a record number of participants (60,000) in 2019.  The Paris Marathon also achieved 100% carbon neutrality in 2019, the first time in its history. Gelete Burka (women's event) and Abrha Milaw (men's event) were the winners of the 2019 Paris Marathon; both runners are from Ethiopia.