Dialogue: Driving AI at Scale at Schneider Electric
Without AI, the manufacturing industry will never be able to achieve the levels of efficiency, insights, and sustainability it needs for the future, believes Schneider Electric’s Chief AI Officer, Philippe Rambach.
“AI is going to be pervasive. It will be everywhere. It’s transforming our company and it’s transforming the way our customers operate. I believe AI will have an impact on everything over the next few years.”
Philippe Rambach Chief AI Officer, Schneider Electric
In 1836, brothers Adolphe and Joseph-Eugene Schneider took over an iron foundry in Le Creusot, in the Bourgogne region of France. Two years later, they founded Schneider-Creusot, the company that would eventually become Schneider Electric.
Now a $37 billion global enterprise, today Schneider Electric focuses on digital automation and electrification systems, supported by a network of over 160 manufacturing sites, and more than 135,000 employees worldwide.
In 2021, Schneider appointed its first ever Chief AI Officer, Phlippe Rambach, who now runs a dedicated AI team of 250 AI experts and data scientists focused on global hubs in Paris and Grenoble, France, Bangalore in India, and Boston in the U.S.
In our latest interview with an industry thought-leader, Schneider’s CAIO Philippe Rambach talks to the MLC’s Executive Editor Paul Tate about the company’s strategic goal of developing AI at Scale, how the power of AI can unleash massive operational improvements in industrial efficiency, and why he believes the world will never be able to manage the energy transition it needs to meet global climate goals without AI to help make it happen.
Q: What’s your role at Schneider Electric?
A: I’m the first ever Chief AI Officer of Schneider Electric, and I’m sure I won’t be the last one. My role is to make sure that we leverage AI as much as we can, first for everything related with internal efficiency, customer satisfaction, and all our internal goals. But also, that we leverage AI to help our customers reach their goals to be more sustainable and more efficient by helping them to digitize and electrify. In every aspect, AI is a key component to making that happen.
EXECUTIVE PROFILE: Philippe Rambach
Title: Senior Vice President, Chief AI Officer, Schneider Electric
Nationality: French
Education: Graduate, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, Paris, France; industrial engineering, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, France
Languages: French, English, German
Previous Roles Include:
– Senior Vice President, Industrial Automation, Commercial Business, Schneider Electric
– Senior Vice President, Industrial Controls and Drives, Schneider Electric
– Vice President, Australia Industry Business Unit, Schneider Electric
– Vice President, Drives Business Line, Schneider Electric
– President, Schneider Electric-Toshiba Inverter Joint Venture
– Director, Customer Care and Services, Areva T&D
– Vice President, Project Division, Niscayah
– Director, Industrial Partnerships, Sagem
– Lead Program Manager, Johnson Controls International
– R&D Manager, Sagem
– Production Manager, Sagem
Other Industry Roles/Awards/Board Memberships
– Chairman of the Board, Vamp Oy, Finland (2010-2012)
About the author:
Paul Tate is Co-founding Executive Editor and Senior Content Director of the NAM’s Manufacturing Leadership Council.
