French energy management and automation specialist Schneider Electric has opened its sixth smart distribution centre globally and first in the Middle East in Dubai in a bid to digitally transform supply chains for efficiency and sustainability.
The other smart distribution centres are in Australia, China, Brazil, France, and India.
Mourad Tamoud, Executive Vice-President for Global Supply Chain at Schneider Electric, said the centre features its IoT-enabled, open, interoperable architecture EcoStruxure platform that makes operations efficient and lean.
Moreover, he said the new centre will showcase technologies that deliver greater efficiencies to customers and partners as well as providing a platform to develop local talent.
“We intend to reduce our carbon footprint and go green, inside its factories, by 2030 by using renewable energies and extend it our suppliers by 2050,” he said.
Dubai has become one of four international hubs for the French company after Paris, Boston and Hong Kong and Schneider Electric has been present in the region for 30 years.
Tamoud said that the smart centre not only shortens its delivery time to customers but also optimises supply chain operations to provide delivery excellence.
Optimising CapEx and OpEx investments
The smart distribution centre, spanning across an area of 30,000 square meters and located at Jebel Ali Free Zone, is now open for inbound, outbound and local adaptation entities.
“In the short- to mid-term, our smart distribution centre is already increasing the end-to-end efficiency of our operations up to 5% by cutting delivery time to customers, optimising supply chain operations by reducing equipment downtime and reducing overall power consumption saving approximately 10-12%,” said Ahmed Khashan, President of Gulf Countries and Pakistan at Schneider Electric.
He said that the EcoStruxure platform enables real-time performance monitoring, analysis and predictive analytics to reduce downtime and create more efficient operations.
“Our technologies enable our customers to take a holistic view of their operations to optimise CapEx and OpEx investments,” he added.
