On August 30, Schneider Electric and Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “Liugang Group”) jointly held a digital solutions exchange meeting – “Lighthouse Factory” into Liugang. At the meeting, Schneider Electric focused on the topics of low-carbon development and technological innovation in the steel industry, bringing the concept and practice of “lighthouse factory”, green innovation digital technology, and dual-carbon consulting and landing solutions to empower the green and low-carbon transformation of the steel manufacturing industry.

As a pillar industry of the national economy and a key industry in carbon emissions, the steel industry should play a leading role in high-quality development, accelerate digital transformation combined with innovative green and low-carbon technologies, and lead more industrial industries to high-end, intelligent and green, and achieve sustainable development. “Schneider Electric is the perfect partner for companies to realize this vision.” Hongfeng Shen, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Schneider Electric Industrial Automation China, said, “With deep experience in digital transformation in the field of energy management and automation, Schneider Electric relies on EcoStruxureTM architecture and platform to integrate digital and intelligent technologies, advanced automation systems, full life cycle services, and more. Create a full-scene solution for the steel industry, and promote the safe, reliable, efficient operation, energy saving and carbon reduction capabilities of enterprises.”
Digitalization enables “One body, two wings and multiple bases”
As one of the 18 local steel enterprises in the national iron and steel industry layout and China’s super large steel complex, Liugang Group has actively responded to the dual-carbon goal and grown its business with technological innovation and

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intelligent manufacturing. In Liuzhou main production base as the center, Fangchenggang steel base and Yulin Zhongjin stainless steel base as the two wings of the “one body, two wings of the multi-base” pattern, raw material plant, sintering, pelletizing, coking and other projects and process segments, Liugang Group and Schneider Electric cooperate fully. By deploying solutions such as Schneider Electric’s AVEVA system platform, AVEVA Intouch HMI, Modicon series PLCS and drives, you can standardize and visualize your operations and improve your operational efficiency. Shi Peirun, deputy general manager of Liugang Group, said: “The deep integration of the new generation of information technology and manufacturing is triggering far-reaching industrial changes and forming new production methods and economic growth points.

Selected as the “World’s most Advanced Factory” by the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Lighthouse Factory represents the highest level of intelligent manufacturing and digitalization in today’s global manufacturing sector. Schneider Electric has five lighthouse factories around the world, of which the Wuxi plant was named “end-to-end Lighthouse Factory” in 2021.
In this exchange meeting, Schneider Electric shared the concept and implementation path of “Lighthouse Factory” and “dual carbon consulting”, combined with its own practical experience to comb out how to start from the top-level planning, tailor the most suitable for its current situation of the transformation roadmap, starting from the two foundations of management and technology. On the basis of lean and standardization, promote the automation, digitalization and intelligence of equipment and production, and gradually iterate and upgrade to intelligent manufacturing. Mr. Shi of Liugang Group said, “The exchange between Schneider Electric and Liugang’s ‘Lighthouse Factory’ will allow us to have a further understanding of Schneider Electric’s overall solution, especially the full life cycle service of ‘two-carbon consulting’. We look forward to our future cooperation.”
Unmanned vehicles promote the reform of heavy duty logistics system in steel industry

As one of the core lifting equipment in the steel industry, “crane” helps to improve the efficiency of material handling, reduce the labor intensity and production costs of workers, and ensure the safe production, efficient operation and stable growth of enterprises. However, in the face of industry trends such as overcapacity, steel companies have put forward higher innovation demands on the performance, flexibility, traceability, digitalization and other aspects of workshop production. At the same time, with the continuous innovation and integration of IT, automation and mechanical technology, as well as the wide application and development trend of AI technology, the demand for unmanned and intelligent cranes is growing rapidly.

At this exchange, the IACS unmanned vehicle system shared by Schneider Electric is the industry’s leading automatic crane and intelligent reservoir management solution. Based on Schneider Electric’s more than 70 years of practical experience in the lifting industry and more than 10 years of technology accumulation in intelligent driving research and development, IACS unmanned vehicle system integrates the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, 5G, cloud computing and industrial Internet of Things to achieve six values from three dimensions of safety, intelligence and efficiency: Information flow is consistent with physical flow, improve production safety, improve product quality, improve operational logistics efficiency, improve labor productivity and intelligent operation and maintenance.