ABB has achieved another significant milestone by becoming the first manufacturer to obtain product-level certification for variable frequency drives (VFDs) under the NEMA Make It American® domestic content certification program. This achievement for ABB Drives, manufactured at the company's New Berlin, Wisconsin facility, reinforces ABB's commitment to domestic manufacturing excellence and American supply chain resilience, extending the product certification into a new category that is heavily utilized in federally funded critical infrastructure.
The NEMA Make It American Program helps manufacturers confidently offer Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act-compliant products to the market. The certification validates that companies meet stringent domestic content requirements for products destined for federally funded infrastructure projects. For ABB Drives, this certification demonstrates ABB's commitment to American-made components, advanced technology, and supply chain transparency.
“Being the first manufacturer to achieve product-level certification under NEMA’s Make It American Program for variable frequency drives is an important milestone for ABB and for the industry,” said Petri Sullstrom, ABB Local Division Manager, Drive Products Division, US. “This certification reflects the strength of our manufacturing operations in New Berlin, Wisconsin, and underscores our commitment to delivering high-quality, BABA-compliant solutions that help customers move critical infrastructure projects forward with confidence.”
Advancing American Industrial Capability with VFD Technology
Variable frequency drives are critical components in modern industrial and infrastructure applications, optimizing energy efficiency and motor performance across diverse sectors including water treatment, HVACR systems, data centers and industrial manufacturing. By maintaining robust domestic VFD manufacturing capabilities at the New Berlin facility, ABB not only supports American jobs and strengthens the domestic industrial base but also ensures that critical U.S. infrastructure systems have reliable access to American-made components.
ABB’s VFD certification is an important step forward for the Make It American program and the broader goal of strengthening America’s manufacturing base,” said NEMA SVP of Strategic Growth and Membership, Alexa Burr. This milestone certification for VFDs manufactured in New Berlin, Wisconsin shows ABB is raising the bar, giving customers, channel partners, and procurement officials added confidence that these drives meet rigorous domestic content standards through an independent third-party audit process. It is a strong example of how manufacturers can demonstrate compliance, strengthen supply chain transparency and help ensure critical infrastructure is powered by products that are not only made in America, but independently certified to verify it.”
Understanding BABA and NEMA Certification
The Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act was included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with the intent of ensuring American tax dollars support America's workers, communities and businesses. BABA sets stringent domestic content requirements for manufactured products in all infrastructure projects receiving federal funding.
The NEMA Make It American Program provides a third-party audit and certification process that helps manufacturers demonstrate compliance with BABA requirements. Participating organizations undergo expert-led audits of their manufacturing facilities and products to assess conformance with the supply chain evaluation process standard (NEMA 70901-2024) and verify application of specific criteria to designated products. If manufacturing facilities and products pass audits, they are added to the NEMA Make It American® BABA registry.
New Berlin Facility: A Hub of American Manufacturing Excellence
ABB's New Berlin, Wisconsin facility has been a cornerstone of American drives and motion control technology development and manufacturing since the 1980s. The facility employees hundreds of skilled workers and producing drives for critical infrastructure applications across North America.
Commitment to American Infrastructure
ABB's VFDs achieving the NEMA Make It American® product-level certification gives customers, contractors and procurement officials confidence that these products meet the most rigorous domestic content standards. Whether powering water treatment facilities, enabling more efficient industrial manufacturing, or supporting critical infrastructure, customers can trust that ABBs VFDs are not only built in America – but certified to prove it. By becoming the first VFD manufacturer to earn product-level certification under the NEMA Make It American® Program, ABB reaffirms its position as a trusted partner for infrastructure and industrial customers, delivering sophisticated, efficiency-driven solutions that American communities depend on.
ABB Motion, a global leader in motors and drives, is at the core of accelerating a more productive and sustainable future. We innovate and push the boundaries of technology to contribute to energy efficient, decarbonizing and circular solutions for customers, industries and societies. With our digitally enabled drives, motors and services we support our customers and partners to achieve better performance, safety and reliability. To help the world's industries outrun – leaner and cleaner, we deliver motor-driven solutions for a wide range of applications in all industrial segments. Building on over 140 years of domain expertise in electric powertrains, our more than 23,000 employees across 100 countries learn and improve every day. go.abb/motion.
ABB is a global technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. By connecting its engineering and digitalization expertise, ABB helps industries run at high performance, while becoming more efficient, productive and sustainable so they outperform. At ABB, we call this ‘Engineered to Outrun.’ The company has over 140 years of history and around 110,000 employees worldwide. ABB’s shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ABBN) and Nasdaq Stockholm (ABB). www.abb.com.
