About ABB

ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, and Zürich, Switzerland.[5] It is traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zürich, the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Sweden and the OTC Markets Group's pink sheets in United States. It was ranked 341st in the Fortune Global 500 list of 2018 and has been a global Fortune 500 company for 24 years.

ABB was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (Asea) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create Asea Brown Boveri, later simplified to the initials ABB. Both companies were established in the late 1800s and grew into major electrical equipment manufacturers, a business in which ABB remains active. Its traditional core activities include power generation, transmission and distribution; industrial automation, and robotics. Between 1989 and 1999, the company was also active in the rolling stock manufacturing sector. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, ABB acquired hundreds of other companies, often in central and eastern Europe, as well as in Asia and North America.

On occasion, the company's operations have encountered controversy. During 2001, an ABB entity pleaded guilty for bid rigging; the firm has also had three US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bribing resolutions against it; in 2004, 2010, and 2022. In early 2002, ABB announced its first-ever annual loss, which was attributed to asbestos-related litigation. Within three years, the company had successfully restructured its operations. During the 2010s, ABB has largely focused its growth strategy on the robotics and industrial automation sectors. Prior to the sale of its Power Grids division to Hitachi in 2020, ABB was Switzerland's largest industrial employer.

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. 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,[when?] the company is the global market leader in distributed control systems.

ABB SAE J3105 overhead pantograph charging Spokane Transit Authority City Line bus

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.

In 2014, ABB unveiled YuMi, a collaborative industrial dual-arm assembly robot that 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.