The trend of The Times is rolling forward, and digitalization is changing human society in an irreversible trend. In the industrial sector, digitalization has become a key driver for the transformation and upgrading of today’s enterprises. Industrial software, as a programmed package of industrial technology and knowledge, is known as the soul of industrial digital transformation, and the future industry will be built on a variety of industrial software.

In the global landscape of industrial software, a purple patch is getting bigger and bigger from end to end. This is an industrial software company called AVEVA, which has a loud Chinese name in China – Sword Software. Recently, AVEVA held the 2023 Jianwei Software China User Conference, and we felt the strong industry influence and industry-leading product technology strength of this industrial software giant up close, and also had a clearer understanding of the future development of industrial software.
In 1967, AVEVA was born in a 3D Design project of the CAD Center of Cambridge University, which developed the world’s first 3D Plant design System PDMS (Plant Design Management System) in 1976. And in the subsequent decades of innovation, the product line and features continue to mature.

In 1996, AVEVA established an immersive virtual reality center for factory design, and in 2004, it acquired Tribon, a renowned ship design solution. In 2012, AVEVA launched its next generation 3D design tool, AVEVA Everything 3D.

The more important change came after 2017. In September 2017, Schneider Electric took control of AVEVA through a reverse merger, and transferred its industrial software business, Including Invensys’ Wonderware (human-machine interface), SimSci (process simulation and optimization), Avantis (asset management) and other industry leading brands that enjoy wide reputation in the industry, which it acquired in 2014, were all merged into AVEVA.

After the merger with Schneider Electric Software business, AVEVA can be described as a unique industrial software platform, which can help enterprises reduce the cost, time and risk of infrastructure projects from the asset life cycle dimensions such as plant design and construction, and maximize profitability through efficient planning and scheduling and monitoring control during plant operation.

In 2020, AVEVA spent $5 billion to acquire OSIsoft, a global real-time data software company, to complete the integration of industrial software applications and industrial data platforms. At this point, AVEVA has become one of the few leading digital solution providers in the world covering two dimensions of asset life cycle and operation life cycle. Its purple LOGO includes three industrial ecological chains of engineering design, operation and optimization, and can provide industrial customers with a complete, end-to-end product portfolio covering the whole industrial chain and the whole life cycle.

In January 2023, Schneider Electric completed its 100% acquisition of AVEVA, making AVEVA a leading global industrial software company valued at more than $10 billion.

Digital enterprise with full life cycle digital twin

Although digital transformation has been proposed for nearly a decade, enterprises still face many challenges in digital transformation. According to statistics, 70% of the world’s industrial enterprises have failed in digital transformation, and successful digital transformation can bring 10% profit improvement, 300% return on investment, 20% energy efficiency improvement. So how do you ensure a successful digital transformation?