ABB announced $60 million of new investment in the U.S. power distribution and protection and residential circuit protection markets, expanding on the portfolio of installation products it acquired with Thomas & Betts in 2012.
The move builds on $10 million the Zurich, Switzerland-based power equipment manufacturer has already invested to localize production in a new plant in Senatobia, MS, for a range of electrical components and systems previously manufactured overseas. That new 85,000-sq ft-manufacturing plant, which opened in Oct. 2016, currently employs over 100 local employees with plans to increase to 300 in the next five years.
In total, with additional investments in the sales team, logistics and other product development, ABB said it has invested more than $100 million in the U.S. market alone since its $3.9 billion purchase of Thomas & Betts.
Three main ranges of products are now being launched: low-voltage power distribution; residential load protection; and UPS and switching. The expansion gives ABB a complete portfolio of medium- and low-voltage solutions branded as ReliaGear for standard equipment and SafeGear for arc-resistant equipment. Specifically, ABB has added ReliaGear switchgear, motor control centers, SafeT switchboards, SafeT panelboards and busway. In a press release, the company said the new lines will enable “a safer and greener flow of electricity in data centers, advanced medical facilities, large hotel resorts, office towers or a sports stadium.”
The company’s new Sentricity load centers and circuit breakers, a new residential solution, have been developed specifically for the North American market. The solution includes miniature circuit breakers, arc fault circuit interrupters/ground fault circuit interrupters (AFCI/GFCI), and surge protection devices.
“With the expansion of our portfolio, we continue to show our strong commitment to our US customers. ABB now has a complete offering of electrical solutions from a simple installation product such as a Ty-Rap through full electrical systems up to the medium-voltage substation,” said Tarak Mehta, president of ABB’s Electrification Products division.
Greg Scheu, president of ABB in the Americas, said this expansion is just the beginning. “We will continue to work to expand our portfolio here in the U.S. in line with the increasing market demand. Investing in R&D and manufacturing strengthens our competitive position and enables us to improve the value we offer our customers. This latest investment makes ABB an even stronger force in the electrical industry.”
In other ABB news, the company also announced the North American market availability of its ABB Ability line of cloud-based intelligent electrical distribution control systems. The technology connects a facility’s electrical equipment with the Internet of Things and leverages ABB circuit breakers’ built-in sensing and connectivity capabilities to provide the information and control functions for cloud-based energy management, remote supervision and diagnostics.
The system launched last year in Europe and has demonstrated benefits for customers in a range of applications across Europe and the Middle East, ABB said in a release. A water treatment facility in Italy, Consorzio di Bonifica Veronese, saw a reduction in maintenance time of 40% and total operating costs down by a third. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), a major utility customer in the United Arab Emirates, is using ABB Ability Electrical Distribution Control System to manage one of the largest rooftop solar installation of the region. Other installations include a paper mill, several factories and office buildings.
“We launched the first ever circuit breaker with intelligent energy management, the ABB Emax 2, four years ago and we continue to innovate to ensure our customers benefit from cutting-edge technology,” said Giampiero Frisio, managing director of ABB’s Protection and Connection business. “We have now certified the system for the U.S. market and know that our customers here will benefit from gaining intelligence about their electrical system so that they can maximize energy savings, productivity and safety.”
“The solution is also scalable, to date we have linked to the cloud via our intelligent circuit breakers, but this could also be done in smaller buildings, including homes, by linking to the cloud from a miniature circuit breaker, for instance,” he added. “This system can support remote monitoring and energy management in any electrical system.”