French automation company Schneider Electric is looking to scale up its logistics hub in the province of Cavite, about 30 kilometers south of the Philippine capital. Accordingly, the €1.4 million expansion already had the approval of Schneider Electric’s top management, a statement said.

The company has been operating in the Philippines for 26 years now and currently employs 3,375 Filipino workers. Presently, the company’s operations in the country cater to nine countries with an annual throughput value of €1 billion.

Bats for Net Zero Emission

The Philippines’ Board of Investments (BOI) and Schneider Electric executives in Manila met to iron out the expansion plan of its Cavite facility. Moreover, a company executive said their business was constantly evolving to ensure growth and resilience.

“An integral part of our growth strategy includes continued strengthening of the organization’s global services based in the Philippines,” said Ejie-Tauto-An, logistics director of APC, Schneider Electric’s flagship brand. In addition, Tauto-An said, “This expansion underpins the company’s goal of further boosting our global presence and capabilities.”

The Philippines is one of four countries where the French firm operates global hubs. All of which provide technical, analytics, finance planning and accounting, and sales support to 154 countries in 23 different languages. Aside from this planned expansion in Cavite, the group has also expanded its analytics section.

The group also discussed with BOI executives their road map to achieve net zero emission in its local operations within the current decade.

Particularly, part of the company’s sustainability journey in the Philippines is to reach 50 percent conversion of inter-site trucks to electric vehicles (EV). In addition, 20 percent of last mile to utilize EV trucks as part of their Net-Zero Roadmap, which the company plans to achieve by 2030.

The global leader in digital automation and energy management, Schneider Electric nabbed the top spot on the best supply chains of 2023 list by Gartner. Moreover, the company placed 7th on Corporate Knight’s 2023 Global 100 list of Most Sustainable Corporations and operates in the areas of energy management, industrial automation, central functions, and digital costs.

Automation Milestones in the Philippines

The French conglomerate started its venture in the Philippines in 1995 by manufacturing UPS, power surge, backup UPS, and smart UPS. In 2019, the company converted its existing manufacturing factory in Rosario, Cavite into a smart factory. With the transition, the smart factory ensures operational excellence is attained with the help of the Ecostruxure Platform which optimizes end-to-end efficiency and promotes agile management. Particularly, to ensure effective asset management, data security monitoring, and insights tracking.

Moreover, Schneider Electric also established APC Philippines— their flagship brand. APC provides clean battery backup power, surge protection, and IT physical infrastructure inside and outside the traditional IT environment. Its facility in Cavite Economic Zone produces UPS, power surge, backup UPS, and smart UPS.