$100 million greenfield campus to become U.S. headquarters for ABB drives and motion services

ABB is investing approximately $170 million in U.S. manufacturing, innovation and distribution operations. “The United States is critical to ABB’s success as a market that will continue to grow and benefit from our product portfolio that enables the transition to a more energy-efficient future,” said Björn Rosengren, CEO of ABB. “Currently, 85% of ABB’s sales in the United States are from products produced locally, which provides customers with a more secure supply chain and keeps good-paying manufacturing jobs in America.”

ABB technology touches many sectors of the economy, from transportation and utilities to industry and buildings. The company expressed its confidence to invest in manufacturing capacity, distribution systems and technology innovation to bring products and services closer to customers because of legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Figure 1: The production facility will be complemented by ABB’s digital Customer Experience Center and its Innovation Lab.

The pour of the concrete foundation at ABB’s U.S. campus in New Berlin, Wisconsin, which accounts for the bulk of the investment, is completed at the greenfield location, which will be the U.S. headquarters, manufacturing facility and distribution center for its drives and motion services businesses. The United States is ABB’s largest market, comprising 24% of the company’s annual revenue.

The company expects the facility to open in late 2024 and will accommodate 720 employees. Approximately $100 million is being invested in the project. The production facility will be complemented by ABB’s digital Customer Experience Center and its Innovation Lab (Figure 1).

“The United States is a significant and crucial market for our drives and the services that support them,” said Tuomo Hoysniemi, president of ABB’s US Motion Business Area and Global Drives Products Division. “We are committed to local engineering, product design and manufacturing, as well as increased capacity and innovative production and warehousing processes. Our new campus will help us better serve our local customers by increasing the availability of market-specific solutions and decreasing the time it takes to serve our customers.”

The business manufactures a wide range of ac variable-frequency drives and controls designed to reduce energy consumption in buildings and industrial applications in the U.S. market. As of April 2023, the business is divided between two smaller, separate campuses in New Berlin and Wauwatosa. The new campus will include 220,000 sq ft of manufacturing space and support offices in addition to a connected 315,000-sq-ft distribution center. The consolidation of all operations to one campus is designed to add efficiencies and reduce overall time to deliver.

The building design includes features, such as solar power, geothermal heat pump, HVAC systems and building controls that the company expects will help meet its 2030 sustainability goals.

“While we make products that help our customers improve their energy efficiency, we are pleased to incorporate features into our campus that will help us reduce our own carbon footprint,” said Kelly Kling, site leader and vice president of finance for the US ABB Drives and Motion Services businesses. “Geothermal heat pumps and modern HVAC systems will allow us to recycle wasted heat and reduce our energy usage by more than 45%. Improved insulation, rooftop solar panels and ABB advanced building controls will also ensure that our campus operates efficiently and sustainably over the long term.”

ABB has more than 20,000 employees across more than 40 sites in the United States and cites its investment of more than $14 billion in the country since 2010.

Besides the facility in New Berlin, other ABB investment projects underway across the United States include:

• Memphis, Tennessee: Investing $3 million in the opening of the Installation Products Research & Development Lab and Innovation Center to accelerate development of new products. ABB claims the seventh spot among largest private employers in Memphis.

• Atlanta: Opening of packaging and logistics facility for end-to-end robotic automation solutions in warehouse and distribution, retail and logistics industries. This $2 million investment will open in 2023.

Figure 2: ABB’s previously announced $40 million investment in a new facility to manufacture Elastimold, a brand for underground cable accessories, is designed to support strengthening a more sustainable U.S. electrical grid.

• Albuquerque, New Mexico: Previously announced $40 million investment in a new facility to manufacture Elastimold, a brand for underground cable accessories, to support strengthening a more sustainable U.S. electrical grid (Figure 2). ABB asserted its commitment to improve reliability and resilience of the U.S. infrastructure and assure greater safety for the American consumers, businesses and communities. The investment will be completed by 2024.

• Auburn Hills, Michigan: Previously announced expansion of North American robotics headquarters and manufacturing facility as more customers turn to automation to build resilience while improving efficiency and flexibility as part of the nearshoring and reshoring of production. The $20 million investment could create 72 jobs and be completed by the end of 2023.

• Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania: Previously announced opening of Installation Products Division Northeast Distribution Center in 2023. This more than $4 million investment will create more than 100 jobs and is designed to further regionalize ABB’s global supply chain to help reduce delivery times of high-demand electrification products to contractors by up to 50%.

Figure 3: ABB is opening an electric vehicle charger manufacturing facility in Columbia, South Carolina, to build up to 10,000 chargers per year, ranging from 20 kW to 180 kW in power.

• Columbia, South Carolina: Previously announced opening of electric vehicle charger manufacturing facility to build up to 10,000 chargers per year, ranging from 20 kW to 180 kW in power, to support operators building the national charging infrastructure (Figure 3). ABB E-mobility’s investment is predicted to create more than 100 jobs.

“The Inflation Reduction Act is triggering investment in clean energy and supporting businesses that can produce technology locally,” said Michael Gray, U.S. country holding officer of ABB. “More than ever before, ABB is designing and producing products domestically to serve our U.S. customers, as they move toward more sustainable electric power generation, clean energy manufacturing, electric transportation and industrial efficiency including carbon capture and storage, as well as methane reduction.”