Schneider Electric opens advanced smart factory in Hungary
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Schneider Electric as announced the opening of its smart factory in Dunavecse, Hungary. The site spans 28,000 m2 and will be the workplace of up to 500 employees.
The Dunavecse plant will increase production capacity for engineering-to-order (ETO) solutions made according to customers’ specifications across European markets, with 90% of the site’s manufactured products to be exported across Europe. This latest investment in capacity helps meet the increased demand for electrification and digitalisation solutions across Europe. This demand is driven by the energy transition as electricity distribution utilities seek solutions that provide resilience and flexibility across their networks, and the data centre and cloud and service provider segments boom driven by digitisation and the upsurge of emerging technologies.
The new plant is Schneider Electric’s 36th smart factory and largest ETO factory in Europe, bringing the total number of ETO factories in Europe to 22. It will serve as Europe’s core factory for Schneider Electric’s latest SF6-free medium voltage switchgear, RM AirSeT. This innovation increases the sustainability of medium voltage switchgear, a central technology for the decarbonised power systems on which energy transition relies. This technology complies with the strict new F-gas regulations in Europe, affecting all medium voltage switchgear users from grids to infrastructure.
“Europe is accelerating through the energy transition and strengthening its energy independence,” said Yann Reynaud, the senior vice president of global engineering to order operations. “Dunavecse is our new flagship factory in Europe for smart medium and low voltage SF6 free technologies to support the increasing demand across the region, bringing even more innovation, sustainability and digital solutions to customers.”
The factory features several sustainability technologies embedded throughout the plant:
- Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IOT solutions (building and energy management system) improve energy efficiency with anticipated energy savings of up to 25%
- Energy needs are met by rooftop solar panels supplemented by renewable sources from the grid
- Geothermal heat pumps are used for heating and cooling
- Schneider Electric charging stations for up to 30 electric cars and 25 electric bicycles
- Rainwater is collected for bathrooms and irrigation
- Airlocks prevent heat loss at truck-docking stations and the factory entrances
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