Recently, Industrial Control Network interviewed Cui Zhida, Vice President and Head of Industrial Automation OEM Business at Schneider Electric, to share Schneider Electric's in-depth thinking and practical path regarding market observations, localization strategies, AI applications, and future plans.

Deep Localization, Forging Agile Market Response

To answer the above questions, we first need to understand the changes occurring in the Chinese OEM market. From an industry perspective, the overall performance of the Chinese OEM market in 2025 is stable. The lithium battery industry is leading the recovery, driven by both the increase in power battery installations and the explosive growth in energy storage demand. The consumer packaging sector is achieving steady growth based on the upgrading of residents' consumption structure, the iteration of environmentally friendly materials, and innovation in beverage categories. Logistics equipment is experiencing strong demand driven by high investment in e-commerce express delivery and the popularization of manufacturing logistics. 3C electronics is ushering in new growth momentum due to product iteration cycles.

Intensified competition within the industry has been an unavoidable topic in the OEM sector in recent years. Cui Zhida observes that domestic companies are no longer passively caught in price wars, but have proactively embarked on a comprehensive transformation, exhibiting three clear directions: First, upgrading equipment to high-end specifications, with companies increasing R&D investment to enhance core competitiveness through technological innovation; second, transforming business models, extending from single-machine equipment suppliers to system solution providers and EPC general contracting service providers, expanding the entire lifecycle value; and third, establishing a global market presence, actively expanding overseas while deepening their presence in the domestic market, and rapidly entering emerging sectors such as data centers, robotics, and the low-altitude economy.

Faced with the high demands of domestic companies for responsiveness and customization capabilities, Schneider Electric has already implemented its localization strategy to its fullest extent. The Industrial Automation China Hub (IA China Hub) is the core carrier of Schneider Electric's industrial automation business localization strategy. Since its establishment in 2022, the IA China Hub has strengthened its research, production, and sales integration, enabling it to provide customers with flexible support, response, and iterative services tailored to their specific needs.

In Cui Zhida's view, the significance of the IA China Hub goes far beyond physical localization. Previously, Schneider Electric's product development relied heavily on global products, requiring them to explain the application needs of the Chinese market to overseas colleagues—a time-consuming process. Now, R&D, sales, and application teams are all rooted in the local market. R&D engineers work alongside sales and application engineers to delve into customer sites, capturing the most realistic application scenarios firsthand, minimizing information transmission errors, and significantly accelerating the implementation of customized solutions.

For example, in the data center sector, after discovering specific functional requirements from customers, Schneider Electric, through the rapid response mechanism of its Industrial Automation China Center, enabled its R&D and application teams to successfully launch a prototype within a month and a half. "This model will be replicated in more fields in the future. Whether it's traditional textile machinery and packaging machinery, or emerging fields like robotics and the low-altitude economy, we hope to intervene in the development of new customer models more quickly, providing comprehensive support from hardware to algorithms. In addition to internal agility, Schneider Electric is also strengthening its ecosystem, uniting various parties to address the needs of emerging application scenarios," said Cui Zhida.