ABB sets up new industrial robotic company in Zhuhai

Better supporting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing in southern China

Zhuhai, China, August 22, 2015 -- The world's leading power and automation technology group ABB today announced that ABB Robotics (Zhuhai) Ltd. was officially established in the Zhuhai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone. Participants at the opening ceremony are ABB China management and government officials including Li Jia, the Guangdong provincial party committee member and municipal party secretary of Zhuhai; Liu Xiaolong, the municipal party committee member and first deputy mayor of Zhuhai; Guo Caiwu, the secretary-general of Zhuhai municipal party committee; and Zhang Yisheng, the party secretary of Zhuhai National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone.

The establishment of the new company is one of many important initiatives ABB will take to implement the strategic cooperation MOU that ABB and the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission signed in 2013. The new company will focus on application development, system integration and customer services for ABB robots in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces to meet the fast-growing need for industrial robots in the white goods, electronics, automotive, food & beverage and other industries in the southern China region.

Dr. Chunyuan Gu, Chairman and President of ABB (China) Limited, said: "The southern China region is one of the most important markets for ABB robot business. The establishment of this new company will bring ABB closer to the market with faster and better customer services, and enhance the business of ABB Robotics in the region. Smart technology like industrial robots is an important way to realize the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. ABB is willing to develop and provide smarter technologies to help customers create more value in the context of the Internet of Things, Services and People."

Zhang Yisheng, party secretary of the Zhuhai National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, said: "Today's opening of ABB Robotics (Zhuhai) Ltd. marks a new start to the robot industry's development in the Zhuhai National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, and will bring renewed vitality to Zhuhai's equipment manufacturing industry."

The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, located in the southern China region, is one of the world's major manufacturing centers. The Zone has global influence and the densest light industry clusters in China. However, the difficulty of recruiting workers and the rapid rise of costs for land, raw materials and labor in recent years have created a new urgency for upgrading and transformation of the manufacturing industry in the Pearl River Delta to enhance its market competitiveness. Industrial robots have become a breakthrough to solving this series of challenges.

In the Made in China 2025 plan that was officially released by Chinese government in May this year, robotics was listed as one of the key areas in the development of China's manufacturing industry. As the core city on the West Bank of the Pearl River, Zhuhai is building on the momentum of Guangdong's transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry by gathering a group of robot enterprises like ABB. Zhuhai plans to create unique advantages in information technology and automation production and build the city into South China's industrial base for smart manufacturing. At the first Advanced Equipment Manufacturing Investment and Trade Symposium -West of the Pearl River kicked off in Zhuhai today, the smart manufacturing equipment represented by industrial robots attracted many visitors.

Through industrial robots, manufacturing enterprises can greatly improve their productivity and product quality. At the Zhuhai factory of Gree Electric Appliances Inc., ABB robots have been applied to moving, palletizing, material handling and metal sheet pressing production lines, helping the lines improve productivity by 30% while improving the operation environment for workers. In Guangzhou Honda's automobile production lines, painting robots, atomizers and a complete set of automatic control systems for painting provided by ABB have been applied to bumper painting with water-based paints and solvent-based paints. These products have saved paint and energy consumption, and improved the efficiency of the customer's painting process.

ABB is the world's leading robot manufacturer, providing customers with a comprehensive portfolio of robotic products, systems, and services. Now, there are more than 300,000 ABB robots installed all over the world. ABB Robotics entered China in 1994 and set up an ABB robot R&D center and production base in Shanghai in 2005. After more than 20 years of rapid development, ABB has become the only multinational company that builds industrial robots in China along the entire value chain, including R&D, production, sales, engineering, system integration and services. Currently, the ABB Robotics Shanghai production base has manufactured over 40,000 robots.

ABB is a Global 500 company and a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility, industry, and transport and infrastructure customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 140,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including R&D, manufacturing, sales and services, with 19,000 employees, 39 local companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 126 cities.

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