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ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...
multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's
Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' ( English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås ...
(ASEA) and Switzerland's
Brown, Boveri & Cie Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 19 ...
merged to create ASEA Brown Boveri, later simplified to the initials ABB. Both companies were established in the late 1800s and were major
electrical equipment Electric(al) devices are devices that functionally rely on electric energy ( AC or DC) to drive their core parts (electric motors, transformers, lighting, rechargeable batteries, control electronics). They can be contrasted with traditional m ...
manufacturers, a business that ABB remains active in today. The company has also since expanded to
robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
and
automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
technology. It is ranked 341st in the
Fortune Global 500 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed onl ...
list of 2018 and has been a global
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
company for 24 years. Until the sale of its Power Grids division in 2020, ABB was Switzerland's largest industrial employer. ABB is traded on the
SIX Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other securities such as Swiss government bonds and derivatives suc ...
in
Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...
, Nasdaq Stockholm in Sweden, and the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...
in the United States. An ABB entity plead guilty for bid rigging in 2001, and the company has had 3 US
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applicable worl ...
bribing resolutions against it - in 2004, 2010, and 2022.


History


Predecessor companies

Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' ( English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås ...
(ASEA, English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company) was founded in 1883 in Västerås, Sweden by Ludvig Fredholm as manufacturer of electrical light and generators.
Brown, Boveri & Cie Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 19 ...
(BBC) was formed in 1891 in Zurich, Switzerland by
Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown Brown c. 1900 Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown (17 June 1863 – 2 May 1924) was a Swiss businessman and engineer who co-founded Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC), which later became ASEA Brown Boveri. Biography Brown was born on 17 June 1863 in Winterth ...
and
Walter Boveri Walter Boveri (born 21 February 1865 in Bamberg, Bavaria, died 28 October 1924 in Baden, Switzerland) was a Swiss-German industrialist and co-founder of the global electrical engineering group Brown, Boveri & Cie. (BBC). Biography Boveri's anc ...
as a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies producing AC and
DC motor A DC motor is any of a class of rotary electrical motors that converts direct current (DC) electrical energy into mechanical energy. The most common types rely on the forces produced by induced magnetic fields due to flowing current in the coil ...
s, generators, steam turbines and transformers.


Formation and early years

On 10 August 1987, ASEA and BBC announced they would merge to form ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB). The new corporation would remain headquartered in both Zurich, Switzerland and Västerås, Sweden, with each parent company holding 50 percent. The merger created a global industrial group with revenue of approximately $15 billion and 160,000 employees. When ABB began operations on 5 January 1988, its core operations included power generation, transmission and distribution; electric transportation; and industrial automation and robotics. In its first year, ABB made some 15 acquisitions, including the environmental control group Fläkt AB of Sweden, the contracting group Sadelmi/Cogepi of Italy, and the railway manufacturer Scandia-Randers A/S of Denmark. In 1989, ABB purchased an additional 40 companies, including Westinghouse Electric's transmission and distribution assets, and announced an agreement to purchase the Stamford, Connecticut-based Combustion Engineering (C-E). The following year, ABB bought the robotics business of Cincinnati Milacron in the US. The acquisition expanded ABB's presence in automated spot-welding and positioned the company to better serve the American automotive industry. ABB's 1991 introduction of the IRB 6000 robot, demonstrated its increased capacity in this field. The first modular robot, the IRB 6000, can be reconfigured to perform a variety of specific tasks. At the time of its launch, the IRB 6000 was the fastest and most accurate spot-welding robot on the market. In the early 1990s, ABB started expanding in
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
. By the end of 1991, the company employed 10,000 people in the region. The following year, that number doubled. A similar pattern played out in Asia, where economic reforms in China and the lifting of some Western sanctions, helped open the region to a new wave of outside investment and industrial growth. By 1994, ABB had 30,000 employees and 100 plants, engineering, service and marketing centers across Asia - numbers that would continue to grow. Through the 1990s, ABB continued its strategy of targeted expansion in Eastern Europe, the
Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Paci ...
region and the Americas. In 1995, ABB agreed to merge its rail engineering unit with that of
Daimler-Benz AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactur ...
of Germany. The goal was to create the world's largest maker of locomotives and railway cars. The new company, ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation ( Adtranz), had an initial global market share of nearly 12 percent. The merge took effect on 1 January 1996. A few months after the July
1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998– ...
, ABB announced plans to accelerate its expansion in Asia. The company also acted to improve the productivity and profitability of its Western operations, taking an $850 million restructuring charge as it shifted more resources to emerging markets and scaled back some facilities in higher-cost countries. In 1998, ABB acquired Sweden-based Alfa Laval's automation unit, which at the time was one of Europe's top suppliers of process control systems and automation equipment. As a final step in the integration of the companies formerly known as ASEA and BBC, in 1999 the directors unanimously approved a plan to create a unified, single class of shares in the group. That same year, ABB completed its purchase of Elsag Bailey Process Automation, a Netherlands-based maker of industrial control systems, for $2.1 billion. The acquisition increased ABB's presence in the high-tech industrial robotics and factory control system sectors, which reducing its reliance on traditional heavy engineering sectors such as power generation and transmission.


Shift in business focus

In 1999, the company sold its stake in the Adtranz train-building business to
DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
. Instead of building complete locomotives, ABB's transportation activities shifted increasingly toward traction motors and electric components. That same year, ABB and France-based
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...
, announced the merger of their power generation businesses in a 50-50 joint company, ABB Alstom Power. Separately, ABB agreed to sell its nuclear power business to British Nuclear Fuels of the United Kingdom. In 2000, ABB divested its interests in ABB Alstom Power and sold its boiler and fossil-fuel operations (including Gas turbines) to Alstom. Thereafter, ABB's power business was focused on renewable energy and transmission and distribution. In 2002, ABB announced its first-ever annual loss, a $691 million net loss for 2001. The loss was caused by ABB's decision to nearly double its provisions for settlement costs in asbestos-related litigation against Combustion Engineering in the US from $470 million to $940 million. The claims were linked to asbestos products sold by Combustion Engineering prior to its acquisition by ABB. At the same time, ABB's board announced it would seek the return of money "paid in excess of obligations to Goran Lindahl and to Percy Barnevik," two former chief executive officers of the group. Barnevik received some $89 million in pension benefits when he left ABB in 2001; Lindahl, who succeeded Barnevik as CEO, had received $50 million in pension benefits. In 2005, ABB delisted its shares from the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and
Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Loca ...
. In 2006, ABB put an end to its financial uncertainties by finalizing a $1.43 billion plan to settle asbestos liabilities against its US subsidiaries, Combustion Engineering and ABB Lummus Global, Inc. In August 2007, ABB Lummus Global, ABB's downstream oil and gas business, was sold to CB&I. In 2004, ABB had sold its upstream oil and gas business, ABB Vetco Gray. ABB's plan going forward was to support the oil and gas industry with its core automation and power technology businesses. In 2008, ABB agreed to acquire Kuhlman Electric Corporation, a US-based maker of transformers for the industrial and electric utility sectors. In December 2008, ABB acquired Ber-Mac Electrical and Instrumentation to expand its presence in Western Canada's oil and gas industries. In 2010 K-TEK, a manufacturer of level measurement instruments, became part of ABB's Measurement Products business unit within ABB's Process Automation division. In July 2010, ABB in Cary, North Carolina received a $4.2 million grant from the federal government to develop energy storing magnets. On 10 January 2011, ABB invested $10 million in ECOtality, a
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
-based developed of charging stations and power storage technologies, to enter North America's
electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes ch ...
charging market. On 1 July ABB announced the acquisition of Epyon B.V. of the Netherlands, an early leader in the European EV-charging infrastructure and maintenance markets. In 2011, ABB acquired Baldor Electric for $4.2 billion in an all-cash transaction. The move aligned with ABB's strategy to increase its market share in the North American industrial motors business. On 30 January 2012, ABB acquired Thomas & Betts, a North American leader in low voltage products for industrial, construction and utility applications, in a $3.9 billion cash transaction. On 15 June 2012 it completed the acquisition of commercial and industrial wireless technology specialists Tropos. In July 2013, ABB acquired Power-One in a $1 billion all-cash transaction, to become the leading global manufacturer of solar inverters. Also in 2013,
Fastned Fastned is a Dutch company that owns and operates a network of over 200 EV charging stations in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Switzerland. A large majority of its stations are located at Dutch highway rest areas. Fa ...
selected ABB to supply more than 200 Terra fast-charging stations along highways in the Netherlands. Ulrich Spiesshofer was named ABB's CEO, succeeding Joe Hogan. In 2016, ABB won the contract of TANAP Project in Turkiye, ABB will deliver the telecommunications, security and control infrastructure to contribute to safe, secure and reliable operation of the pipeline throughout its lifetime. The TANAP pipeline is the largest diameter, and with 1,850 km length the longest pipeline ever built in Turkey crossing 20 districts and will bring Azerbaijan's natural gas through Georgia, Turkey and Greece directly to Europe. The $11 billion TANAP pipeline will interconnect with the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCPx) at Turkey's border with Georgia and the Trans Adriatic (TAP) at its border with Greece. On 6 July 2017, ABB announced it had completed its acquisition of Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik (B&R), the largest independent provider of product and software-based, open-architecture for machine and factory automation. In 2018, ABB became the title partner of the ABB FIA
Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, wh ...
Championship, the world's first fully electric international FIA motorsport series. On 30 June 2018, ABB completed its acquisition of GE Industrial Solutions,
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
's global electrification business. On 17 December 2018, ABB announced it had agreed to sell 80.1% of its Power Grids business to
Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...
. The former Power Grids division is now a part of the Hitachi Group and has been rebranded to Hitachi Energy. In March 2020, ABB announced that it had agreed to sell its solar inverter business to Italian solar inverter manufacturer Fimer. The transaction includes all of ABB's manufacturing and R&D sites in Finland, Italy and India, along with 800 employees across 26 countries. In December 2022, ABB opened a robotics mega factory in Shanghai. The new 67,000 square meter facility represents $150 million investment.


Products and services


Major product launches and innovations

In 1990, ABB launched Azipod, a family of electric propulsion systems that extends below the hulls of large ships, providing both thrust and steering functions. Developed in cooperation with the Finnish shipbuilder Masa-Yards, Azipod has demonstrated the viability of hybrid-electric power in seagoing vessels, while also increasing maneuverability, fuel efficiency and space efficiency. In 1998, ABB launched the FlexPicker, a robot using a three-armed delta design uniquely suited to the picking and packing industry. In 2000, ABB brought to market the world's first commercial, high-voltage, shore-to-ship electric power, at the Swedish port of
Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
. Supplying electricity to berthed ships from the shore enables vessels to shut down their engines while in port, significantly reducing noise, vibrations and carbon emissions. In 2004, ABB launched its Extended Automation System 800xA, an industrial system for the process industries. Today, the company is the global market leader in distributed control systems. In 2014, ABB unveiled YuMi, a collaborative industrial robot. The innovative, dual-arm assembly robot permits people and machines to work side by side, unlocking new potential for automation in a range of industries. In 2018, ABB unveiled the Terra High Power charger for electric vehicles, capable of delivering enough to charge in eight minutes to enable an electric car to travel 200 kilometers.


Electrification

ABB's Electrification business area offers products and services from substation to socket. Customers include a wide range of industry and utility operations, plus commercial and residential buildings. The business has strong exposure to a range of rapidly growing segments, including renewables, e-mobility, data centers and smart buildings. Its offerings include
electric vehicle infrastructure An electric vehicle charging network is an infrastructure system of charging stations to recharge electric vehicles. Many government, car manufacturers, and charging infrastructure providers sought to create networks. the largest fast-charging ...
,
solar inverter A solar inverter or photovoltaic (PV) inverter is a type of power inverter which converts the variable direct current (DC) output of a photovoltaic solar panel into a utility frequency alternating current (AC) that can be fed into a commercial ...
s, modular substations, distribution automation; products to protect people, installations and electronic equipment from electrical overload such as enclosures,
cable systems Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...
and low-voltage circuit breakers; measuring and sensing devices, control products,
switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
es and wiring accessories. The business also offers KNX systems that integrate and automate a building's electrical installations, ventilation systems, and security and data communication networks. Electrification incorporates an "Electrification Solutions" unit manufacturing low voltage
switchgear In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be ...
and motor control centers. The acquisition of GE Industrial Solutions, which closed in June 2018, further strengthened ABB's #2 global position in electrification.


Motion

ABB's Motion business area provides a range of electrical motors, generators, drives and services, as well as integrated digital powertrain solutions. Motion is the #1 player in the market globally.


Robotics and Discrete Automation

ABB's Robotics & Discrete Automation business area combines machine and factory automation systems, mainly from B&R, which ABB acquired in 2017, with a comprehensive robotics concepts and applications suite. ABB has installed over 300,000 robots globally. The Robotics & Discrete Automation business has been positioned to capture the opportunities associated with the “factory of the future” by providing services for flexible manufacturing and smart machinery. The business is #2 globally, with a #1 position in robotics in the high-growth Chinese market, where ABB is expanding its innovation and production capacity by investing in a new robotics factory in Shanghai.


Process Automation

The Process Automation business area provides a range of services for process and hybrid industries, including its industry-specific integrated automation, electrification and digital services, control technologies, software and advanced services, as well as measurement & analytics, marine and turbocharging offerings.


Power Grids

The Power Grids business area offered components for the
transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...
and
distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics * Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
of electricity, and incorporated ABB's manufacturing network for
transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s,
switchgear In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be ...
,
circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow to protect equipment and to prevent the ris ...
s, and associated high voltage equipment such as digital protective relays. It also offered maintenance services. A key part of Power Grids' offering were turnkey systems and service for power transmission and distribution grids and for power plants; this included
electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and ...
s and substation automation systems, flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems, and network management systems. The division was subdivided into the four business units High Voltage Products, Transformers, Grid Automation and Grid Integration. In 2010, ABB's North American headquarters in
Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest mun ...
, announced a new partnership with Sensus of
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...
, to develop technologies to work together on smart grids. In 2014, ABB formed with
Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...
a joint venture for HVDC system solutions in Japan. In December 2018, ABB and
Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...
announced that the latter would take over ABB's entire Power Grids division for about $6.4 billion. Hitachi officially acquired 80.1% of the business in July 2020. Initially known as Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the new Hitachi subsidiary was rebranded as Hitachi Energy in October 2021. The transaction was one of Hitachi's biggest-ever deals, as it shifted focus to a higher-growth market for electricity networks.


Transportation


Rail transport

ABB Group entered the
heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerat ...
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...
manufacturing market in 1989 through a 40% shareholding in a consortium headed with Trafalgar House and some former
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
employees purchased
British Rail Engineering Limited British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was ...
(BREL), the state-owned manufacturing arm of
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
. BREL was the first division of British Rail to be privatised as part of a phased plan initiated by the third Thatcher ministry. ABB took over two rolling stock manufacturing facilities from BREL; the Derby Litchurch Lane Works and
York Carriage Works The Holgate Road carriage works was a railway carriage manufacturing factory in the Holgate area of York, England. The factory began production in 1884 as a planned expansion and replacement of the North Eastern Railway's Queen Street site; ...
. Additionally ABB took over Crewe Works in a purely maintenance capacity. In September 1992, ABB Group purchased the stakes of the other members of the consortium to become the sole owner with the business rebranded ABB Transportation. The first trains to roll off the production line at either facility under ABB ownership were an order for 22 three-carriage Class 320
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...
s, built at ABB York for suburban railways in and around
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
in 1990. The same year, ABB York completed an order for five similar four-car Class 322 units, built for the new Stansted Express service. Between 1990 and 1991, ABB York manufactured 24 two-car Class 456
third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
trains for
Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...
services out of
London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station o ...
. A further order for 97 four-car Class 465 trains was completed at ABB York for
Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...
services in and around
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
between 1991 and 1994. A number of
diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s were also built at ABB York: firstly the 76 Class 165 suburban units for
Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of ...
and
Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...
commuter services between 1990 and 1992, followed by 21 Class 166 three-car express units for longer-distance services out of
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
. After initially continuing to focus on rolling stock refurbishment, the first new trains to roll off the production line at ABB Derby were the ten two-car Class 482 trains, built for the Waterloo & City line while it was still under the control of Network SouthEast (since transferred to the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...
). In 1995, ABB Derby built 16 four-car Class 325 electric freight multiple units for the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
to replace their ageing fleet of parcels carriages. During the mid-1990s, in a bid to expand their international portfolio, both the Derby and York plants completed a number of ABB Eurotram light rail vehicles for the Strasbourg tramway in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Around the same time, in a further diversification, ABB partnered with
Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since ...
to construct the fleet of 46 Class 92 electric locomotives for hauling freight trains through the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...
; ABB were involved in the design and construction of many components including the traction motors, while final assembly took place at Brush Works in
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...
. The last trains to roll off the production line at ABB York were an order for 41 four-carriage Class 365 electric multiple units for Connex South Eastern and
West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...
services between 1994 and 1995. Increased competition from other manufacturers following the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...
let to a decline in orders for trains manufactured by ABB, as they no longer held a monopoly on rolling stock manufacturing for the British market. As part of a rationalisation of the business, ABB York was closed in 1996, although it would later be reopened as a rail wagon manufacturing centre by the Thrall Car Manufacturing Company. Following the closure of the York plant, all manufacturing activity was relocated to ABB Derby, operation of which was transferred to the Adtranz joint venture between ABB and Daimler in 1996. Adtranz unveiled the Class 168 train for
Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...
in 1997. The Class 168 would subsequently evolve into the
Turbostar The Bombardier Turbostar (sold as the ADtranz Turbostar until 2001) is a family of diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains that was built by ADtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in the United Kingdom be ...
and Electrostar families of related train designs, which went on to become the most successful rolling stock design on post-privatisation British railways by number of units sold. ABB sold its 50% stake in Adtranz to Daimler in 1999, ending their role in railway rolling stock manufacturing. Daimler subsequently sold the entire Adtranz operation to
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
in 2000.


Trolleybuses

In May 2013, ABB Sécheron SA joined with several groups in Geneva TOSA (Trolleybus Optimisation Système Alimentation, or in English, Trolleybus Power System Optimization) in a one-year demonstration of a trolleybus route using a novel charging system. Rather than overhead wires, charging is accomplished by fixed overhead devices located at stops along the route and at the terminus. Jean-Luc Favre, head of Rail ISI, discussed the promising role of improved electric transport technology in ABB.


Electric roads

ABB announced in 2021 that it is involved in the construction of the first permanent electric road that powers private vehicles and commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.


Management

In August 2019, ABB announced industrial veteran
Björn Rosengren Björn Folke Rosengren (born 14 April 1942) is a Swedish politician and advisor to the Stenbeck family. Rosengren was born in Täby. He was active in the labour union and as a Social Democratic politician. He served as chairman of the Swedish ...
would take over as CEO starting March 2020. Rosengren was then serving as chief executive officer of Swedish mining-equipment giant Sandvik AB. In the meantime, ABB Chairman Peter Voser was appointed interim CEO on 17 April 2019, succeeding Ulrich Spiesshofer, who stepped down after five-and-a-half years. Voser was elected chairman of the board of directors in April 2015 and succeeded Hubertus von Grünberg, who had been chairman since May 2007. Jürgen Dormann was chairman from 2002 to 2007, and
Percy Barnevik Percy Nils Barnevik HonFREng (born 13 February 1941) is a Swedish business executive, best known as CEO and later Chairman of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) 1988–2002, and for being the centre of a giant pension dispute that shook Sweden in 2003. He ...
from 1999 to 2002.


Primary investors

The largest single stake in the firm is held by the Swedish
investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
company Investor AB, controlled by the
Wallenberg family The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family, Europe's most powerful business dynasty. Wallenbergs are noted as bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and military. The Wallenberg sphere's holdings employ about 60 ...
, which holds 12.9 %. Activist investor Cevian also holds a large stake in the company.


See also

* GREEN Cell Shipping * Legrand * Stromberg (company)


References


Further reading

* ABB (2005): ''The Dormann Letters'', Jürgen Dormann/ABB Group, Zurich * Bélanger, Jacques et al. (2001): ''Being local worldwide: ABB and the challenge of global management'',
Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in ...
, New York. * Kevin Barham, Claudia Heimer (1998): ''ABB: the dancing giant – creating the globally connected corporation.''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
, London.


External links

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