Schneider Electric highlighted new milestones from its partnership with Microsoft and the Azure AI solution at Hannover Messe, April 20–24. Together, the companies demonstrated how their combined technologies enable manufacturers to modernize operations, increase resilience and efficiency across the lifecycle, and accelerate engineering work by up to 50 percent.
In collaboration with Microsoft, Schneider Electric provides the industrial backbone through EcoStruxure Automation Expert, an open, software-defined automation platform that runs consistently on-premises, at the edge and in hybrid environments.
Microsoft builds on that foundation with Azure cloud and AI services that orchestrate, analyze and optimize industrial processes. The result is a unified approach to agent-based manufacturing, open automation and sustainability across the value chain.
Manufacturers today face rising product variety, supply chain instability and an urgent need to modernize securely. Schneider Electric addresses these challenges by connecting engineering design with operational execution in real time. The joint platform enables teams to standardize reusable logic, validate automation through simulation, ensure lifecycle traceability and scale interoperable solutions across sites and hardware.
“By connecting engineering design with daily operations, we help organizations reduce complexity, make faster and better decisions, and scale production with greater flexibility and resilience,” says Susanne Dahl, VP Industrial Automation Nordic Baltic.
Schneider Electric is working with Microsoft to develop the next generation of agent-based, software-defined manufacturing—an integrated workflow spanning design, engineering, construction, commissioning and operations. At its core, EcoStruxure Automation Expert lets teams create, simulate, validate and deploy automation logic once and run it anywhere without reconfiguration. Schneider Electric’s expertise in security, compliance and industrial integration ensures reliability in highly regulated environments.
“From agent-based design to software-defined operations, Microsoft and Schneider Electric demonstrate a unified, interoperable workflow that consistently validates, simulates and deploys automation logic across cloud and edge,” says Gwenaelle Huet, EVP Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric.
Where traditional automation workflows require separate tools and handovers at each phase—from engineering, design and simulation to commissioning and operations—the joint platform consolidates everything into a single, traceable workflow.
Specialized, coordinated AI agents automate routine design decisions and validate logic before deployment, shortening lead times from design to production and improving first-time quality. Schneider Electric’s industrial copilot for manufacturers, powered by Azure AI, is already delivering results: engineering teams report up to 50 percent time savings when configuring and documenting control systems, and production-line changes that once took weeks can now be completed in hours.
In an ongoing autonomous project for green hydrogen with H2E Power, an Indian industry pioneer, the platform has sustained more than 6,000 hours of stable autonomous operation in a demanding industrial environment—high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis for green hydrogen production. This has reduced average hydrogen costs by up to 10 percent, equivalent to roughly €500,000 per year for a typical 10 MW facility.
“With agent-based design, we close the loop from engineering intent to operational reality, automate decisions, validate early and hand over reusable automation packages that Schneider Electric can simulate and deploy consistently across cloud and edge,” says Dayan Rodriguez, Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing and Mobility at Microsoft.
More from Hannover Messe, April 20–24:
Schneider Electric – Hall 13, Stand C34
Microsoft – Hall 17, Stand G06
Both companies will offer hands-on demonstrations of early innovation solutions developed together, including live demos, AI tools for engineers and an ecosystem built on open standards as they advance the next generation of manufacturing.