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Combining smart software with wireless technology,
Operate IT Pocket Portal puts vital information and control in the palm of a plant supervisor’s hand, saving time and increasing productivity.
ABB’s technology competence, broad application know-how and global presence offer customers easy access to leading electrical engineering and industry automation solutions and systems.
Innovation and quality are key characteristics of our service and product offering.
ABB is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
ABB Ltd shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Zurich, Stockholm and New York.
The ABB Group was formed in 1988, when the
Swedish Asea and the Swiss BBC Brown Boveri merged under the name ABB. Asea’s history dates back to 1883. BBC Brown Boveri was founded in 1891.
ABB is a world leader in power transmission and distribution, providing products, systems and services which increase grid reliability and energy efficiency.
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These industries include:
■ electric, gas and water utilities
■ automotive
■ chemical and pharmaceutical
■ metals
■ minerals and mining
■ power generation
■ cement
■ commercial and industrial buildings
■ food and beverages
■ pulp and paper
■ oil and gas
■ refining
■ railways
■ petrochemicals
■ marine and turbocharging
■ telecommunications and data communication
We also deliver our products and expertise through channel partners such as original equipment manufacturers, engineering, procurement and construction firms, wholesalers and distributors.
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Fred Kindle
President and CEO, ABB Ltd
ABB engineers and scientists work hard to develop breakthrough technologies that help improve our world and the way industries and utilities operate.
Every day, ABB manufactures and ships more than a million products, from tiny low-voltage switches to huge transformers weighing more than 1,000 tons.
ABB’s business has a very clear focus: our products, systems, solutions and services are designed to strengthen power grid reliability and improve industrial productivity.
Our aim is to drive profitable growth – both for ourselves and our customers. We help customers to improve their competitiveness and productivity, as well as save energy and lower environmental impact.
By becoming more efficient, we can increase customers’ competitiveness. We are improving business execution and taking a broad approach to value creation. As a company, we can look forward to sustainable and profitable growth.
Every day, ABB produces and ships more than a million products, ranging from tiny low-voltage switches and drives to huge transformers weighing over 1,000 tons.
We provide our utility and industry customers with highefficiency, energy-saving products and systems which allow them to get the most from their grids and factories.
Together, we contribute to economic growth, environmental stewardship and societal development.
Our history of innovation goes back to the late 19th century, and we remain firmly committed to this pioneering approach to industrial technology. We recognize that innovation, supported by strong investment in research and development, is key to maintaining our cutting-edge technologies and strengthening our market leadership positions today, and in the future.
As a global company present in about 100 countries, our manufacturing and research activities are carried out in all the regions of the world.
Wherever our facilities are based, customers know the
ABB brand stands for top quality power and automation technologies, a pioneering spirit that ensures we fulfill their business needs, and a company that is at home wherever it operates.
We are committed to helping our customers to use power effectively and increase productivity in order to create a better world. These are important challenges and opportunities for ABB.
We have a mission to pursue, and are committed to ensuring our plans become reality: Power and productivity for a better world.
Fred Kindle
President and CEO, ABB Ltd
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Experience, innovation and dedication
Modern power systems rely on sophisticated power equipment, control and monitoring systems all working in harmony. ABB’s dedicated scientists, innovative engineers and experienced business leaders ensure our power generation, transmission, distribution and automated systems operate flawlessly, delivering reliable, quality power.
Breakthrough technology
ABB’s reputation is built on a century of pioneering invention, innovation and quality. Recent breakthroughs include our HVDC Light technology, for transmitting highvoltage power underground and underwater and improving the stability of power grids, and the Industrial IT
Extended Automation System 800xA, which can upgrade and expand a power plant control system to meet present and future needs, without sacrificing parts of the system that are still useable.
Transmission and distribution leader
Utility and industrial customers around the world rely on proven power and automation technologies like these – researched, developed and made by ABB. As a result, we are the recognized global leader in power transmission and distribution, with a world market share of about
20 percent.
Blackout challenges
Blackouts in recent years decisively demonstrate that 21st century power grids are vulnerable. In many countries, deregulation of power markets has all too often hampered necessary investment in high-end power technology. But modern T&D equipment lets operators upgrade existing power systems in an economical way, improving reliability, extending equipment lifetimes and ensuring even older grids operate dependably and efficiently.
Faster and faster
ABB offers superior power products, systems and services, and most of all, speed. We are committed to short delivery times, and determined to be fastest in everything we do. Power consumers should not have to wait one moment longer for a reliable power supply.
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1 ABB power products like the transformers pictured here are helping to transmit electricity efficiently and create power connections between countries.
2 ABB high-voltage gas insulated switchgear (GIS) combines compact size with high reliability.
3 ABB’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology ensures efficient, long-distance energy transmission.
4 Network management solutions help our customers optimize energy flow along the entire power grid.
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Solutions made simple
ABB supplies a vast range of advanced power and automation technologies to enhance industrial productivity, including electrical motors and machines, power transformers and switchgear, drives and power electronics, SCADA systems, low-voltage products, instrumentation, control systems and robotics. Our global installed base of automation solutions alone is valued at more than $100 billion. Our pioneering static var compensator (SVC) and SVC Light installations enhance productivity by regulating voltage fluctuations.
Quality and reliability
ABB customers operate diverse and sophisticated businesses – from discrete manufacturers like automakers, to process producers making pulp and paper, and utilities generating or delivering electrical power. Whatever they do, our customers need the most reliable power and automation systems and solutions available. Quality is their competitive edge, and our goal is to deliver the products, services and systems that help them keep that edge.
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1,2 ABB motors, drives, instruments and control systems team up to help complex plants run more efficiently.
3,4 ABB robots assemble and finish automobiles, appliances and mobile phones with speed and precision.
5 ABB low-voltage products improve building and plant efficiency with reliable power distribution, equipment protection and control.
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Lower investment and lifecycle costs
In addition to improving quality and productivity,
ABB products and solutions also help customers to optimize the return on their power and automation investment. Our state-of-the-art control systems support easy upgrades and expansions while allowing operators to retain parts that can still be used. Our power systems increase power quality, reliability and boost production output. And our advanced lifecycle services help customers squeeze extra value from installed assets by keeping them in top working order.
Looking ahead
Our research and development anticipates the changing demands of industrial productivity, and our solutions-based approach is designed to link installed products and systems together with the information needed to operate and maintain them. Remote access to information about the performance of installed devices, combined with wireless networking and open communication standards, offer ever-improving asset visibility to enterprise managers.
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Efficient consumption
Without reliable power, our developed and developing world would grind to a halt. But there is another dimension to the question of reliable energy supply, and that is energy consumption: are we using the energy we have as efficiently as possible?
DTC saves energy
ABB’s direct torque control (DTC) AC drives ensure electric motors use no more electricity than they require, saving energy in a huge range of industrial applications, as well as water utilities, in buildings and on board ships.
Several million AC drives
There is a great deal ABB can do to help customers avoid wasting energy and reduce energy consumption.
For example, we have delivered several million energy-efficient AC drives in the past dozen years, mostof them still in active service and controlling the speed and torque of AC or DC motors in pumps, fans, compressors, conveyors, mixers etc.
Energy savings, emissions reductions
ABB’s total installed base of AC drives alone is estimated to save 130 million megawatt hours of energy per year (the equivalent of 16 nuclear power plants) while increasing productivity and reducing CO
2 emissions by more than 100 million tons annually.
Efficient power transmission
In China, ABB has built three efficient, low-loss, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power lines, each about 1,000 kilometers long and each one saving enough energy to power 156,000 households.
ABB optimizing technologies
The rapid growth of basic infrastructure services in regions such as the Middle East means power and water utilities are looking for ways to reduce production costs. ABB technologies have a vital role to play in optimizing existing facilities and helping to build efficient new plants.
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1 ABB Azipod modular propulsion systems help cruise and cargo ships reduce fuels costs up to
15 percent while improving maneuverability and efficiency.
2 ABB’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technology features low power losses compared to AC systems of the same capacity.
3 Electric motors consume about 65 percent of the electricity used by industry, and several million ABB variable speed drives are in use to keep them energy efficient.
4 Innovative R&D helps ABB create pioneering products that add economic and environmental value for our customers.
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Main picture (below):
ABB is the world leader in turbocharging technology for diesel and gas engines in the
500 kW plus power range.
1 ABB has developed unique process visualization and management systems that operate via large-screen display terminals and mouse-controlled interactive communication.
2 ABB’s Shimada Technical
Center in Japan is where paint application technology is created for global markets.
3 At each stage of their development ABB products undergo rigorous tests (here, an ACS converter).
4 ABB has created advanced rolling mill technology to measure flatness, tension, position and dimension accurately, reliably and repeatedly under the most demanding conditions.
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5 ABB continues to develop a vast range of robotic products, including software, controllers, application equipment, industry-specific solutions and service packages.
6 ABB has developed self-extinguishing HEC generator circuit breakers that can shut down fault currents that are high enough to bend steel generator shafts.
7 Research and production of
ABB’s advanced technology is often conducted in special clean rooms to ensure our products work perfectly in the real world.
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At the heart of technology leadership
Research and Development is the foundation of ABB’s technology leadership. At its heart are ABB research engineers and scientists, as well as customers, suppliers and leading technology institutions around the world. Our product and process innovations enhance power reliability and industrial productivity, improve competitiveness and reduce environmental impact.
Groundwork of the future
ABB’s researchers are laying the groundwork of future product development in the areas of power device technology, power transmission and distribution applications, power electronics, mechatronics and robotics applications, control systems and optimization, automation networks and devices, software architecture and processes, advanced materials and manufacturing technologies.
The ABB research presence
Through our R&D centers around the world we maintain close ties to our customers and technology partners. In recent years, we have increased our research presence in growing markets like India and China and strengthened our presence in the U.S. We work closely with more than 50 of the world’s leading universities and research institutes, including renowned institutions like Carnegie Mellon
University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Cambridge University.
As strong as our people
Our customers want innovations that give them operational flexibility, and also assurance that ABB products and systems will operate reliably for years without unexpected refits or overhauls. Given ABB’s massive installed base of power and automation technologies, reconciling innovation and continuity is a high priority for our more than 6,000 research scientists and engineers.
Economic and environmental value
Since we deliver more than one million products each day, we are ideally positioned to pioneer innovations that add economic and environmental value. Energy efficient ABB drives and motors, for example, reduce energy costs, increase productivity and prevent millions of tons of CO
2 emissions every year.
Our priorities
At ABB, our R&D priorities – based on sustained customer partnerships – never change: creating environmentally sound products, systems and services that increase industrial productivity and ensure reliable energy.
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Main picture (right)
ABB helps children from underprivileged backgrounds
(as seen here in India), in many countries, from Brazil to
South Africa and Poland, with devoted programs and extensive volunteer work.
1 Ships in Gothenburg,
Sweden, use ABB technology to plug into power onshore and cut their emissions while in port.
2 ABB has launched a number of initiatives supporting the professional development of women in the United
Arab Emirates.
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3 ABB’s Access to Electricity program is strengthening economic, environmental and social development in rural Tanzania.
4 People in Argentina learn new farming methods on
ABB land, which helps them to improve their living standards.
5 Wind parks around the world use ABB products like generators, motors and transformers to create power, as well as technology to link them to local power grids.
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Corporate responsibility
A core element of ABB’s approach to business is the need to act with responsibility to stakeholders, ranging from shareholders and customers to employees and the communities in which we operate. Corporate responsibility, underpinned by key values and beliefs, is ongoing work, requiring careful monitoring, and openness to help us determine risks and opportunities.
A key element of our business
Sustainability for ABB means seeking a balance between economic development, environmental stewardship and social progress. Sustainability is built into different aspects of our business, including the manufacturing of energysaving products, systems and solutions, the sharing of technology throughout our group, particularly with developing countries, and joining multilateral efforts to raise living standards around the world.
Our contribution
One of our main contributions to sustainability lies in the strong environmental performance of our products over their complete life cycles. Using life cycle assessments, we supply products and systems that require less material, have greater efficiency and consume less energy, which means less harmful emissions – particularly during long operating lifetimes.
The triple bottom line approach
ABB follows the guidelines of the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) – an international, multi-stakeholder undertaking supported by the United Nations. The GRI guidelines are based on a measurable “triple bottom line” reporting approach – covering environmental, economic and social performance. We report accordingly in our annual Sustainability review.
Common efforts
ABB is involved in a wide range of common efforts, partnering other companies and non-governmental organizations in projects around the world. These include joint sustainable development projects in rural parts of
Africa, where ABB provides electrification expertise, and an initiative among leading international companies to embed the protection and promotion of human rights in business activities.
Visit us on the web: www.abb.com/sustainability
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6 In China, ABB helps financially disadvantaged students to complete their engineering studies.
7 ABB has delivered several million energy-saving AC drives in the past decade, used in hundreds of applications to cut costs and reduce emissions.
8 A health and education program sponsored by ABB in Brazil gives poor children access to schooling, food, medical checkups and a chance for a better future.
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ABB controls and energizes power plants with automation systems and all instrumentation and electrical equipment. ABB holds the world record for current switching with SF6 generator circuit breakers.
Transmission substations are used to raise voltages for long distance power transmission.
ABB has built more transmission and distribution substations than any other company – well over 5,000.
ABB’s unique HVDC Light system is designed for underground or underwater power transmission.
Its environmental benefits include no overhead power lines and a neutral electromagnetic field.
High-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is an efficient means for long-distance bulk power transmission and for connecting asynchronous power grids.
ABB pioneered this technology.
Flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) enhance the capacity of existing networks and increase power quality.
ABB has more than 700 FACTS installations, or about 50 percent of the world market.
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Our offering
Our power technology offerings serve industrial and commercial customers, as well as electric, gas and water utilities, with a broad range of products, services and solutions for power transmission and distribution.
The portfolio includes transformers, switchgear, breakers, capacitors and cables, as well as high- and medium-voltage applications, many of which are also sold through external channel partners like distributors, system integrators, contractors and original equipment manufacturers.
High-voltage products switch power on and off and interrupt current. Gas insulated switchgear is very compact and particularly useful in indoor substations when space is scarce.
Our network management solutions keep power flowing around the world. The latest innovation is the satellite-based
Wide Area Monitoring System.
ABB’s software also facilitates power trading.
Medium-voltage breakers and switchgear turn electricity on and off to protect installations and electrical equipment. High-speed transfer switches protect critical power flow in hospitals and industries.
Transformers raise and lower voltage – an essential part of the transmission and distribution process. ABB produces about
2,000 power transformers and
500,000 distribution transformers a year.
ABB is a major supplier to railway networks and trains. High quality, medium-voltage distribution systems and special products like traction transformers ensure reliable power supply for rail transport.
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ABB power solutions deliver electricity from the grid to systems throughout the mill, and manage on-site generation of primary or backup power.
Our instruments, control systems and software ensure precision blending of process chemicals and raw materials. They can detect impurities as small as one part in 50 million.
ABB motors and drives provide correct motion and torque for rotating machinery while improving energy efficiency.
Our products help to reduce harmful emissions by millions of tons annually.
Our analyzers and quality control systems monitor and adjust product characteristics to meet customer specifications, performing online measurements at up to hundreds of meters per minute.
ABB force measurement systems manage machine tension and balance for smooth operation at varying line speeds.
Our first precision force measurement patents date back 50 years.
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Our offering
Our automation technology offerings serve the automotive, building, chemicals, consumer, electronics, life sciences, manufacturing, marine, metals, minerals, paper, petroleum, transportation, turbocharging and utility industries. Key technologies include control, drives, enterprise software, instrumentation, low-voltage products, motors, robots and turbochargers. These offerings are supported by field maintenance and asset management services, and are sold both directly and through channel partners.
ABB robots lift heavy loads with precision for material handling, finishing and assembly applications. We have more than 150,000 industrial robots installed worldwide.
Our asset management software constantly monitors plant devices for real-time efficiency and is in high demand across an automation technologies installed base worth more than
$100 billion globally.
ABB logistics services and software help to minimize inventory and track the movement of products and services across the value chain – from the supplier through to end use.
ABB low-voltage devices and energy management systems ensure a comfortable, energy-efficient building environment. We ship more than one million products daily to facility contractors and installers.
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ABB Ltd
Corporate Communications
P.O. Box 8131
CH-8050 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)43 317 7111
Fax: +41 (0)43 317 7958 www.abb.com