ABB business hits record high amid upgrading

ABB Group's business reached a new high in China last year, as the global power and engineering technologies supplier underwent its biggest expansion amid China's industrial upgrading boom.

Both orders and revenue of ABB China, the Chinese unit of the Swiss-Swedishgroup, reached $5.6 billion in 2013. Its revenue growth rose 7.7 percent from the previous year. ABB invested $136 million in the country last year. Its cumulative China investment has reached $1.8 billion.

Gu Chunyuan, senior vice-president of ABB Group, said China's national development strategy now emphasizes quality economic growth as well as "green", low-carbon and sustainable development. ABB is willing to participate in China's ultra-high voltage power transmission and new energy vehicle projects, as well as providing more industrial robots to optimize the nation's manufacturing structure.

China's surging wealth accumulation and fast ongoing urbanization pace have caused labor-intensive industries to struggle as they face a myriad of difficulties, such as recruitment problems and high employee turnover rates, especially in the country's computer, communication and consumer electronics product manufacturing sectors.

The nation's rapid economic growth has driven up labor costs and wages. The average labor cost in China has risen fast in the past five years, to more than 49,000 yuan ($8,485) a year in 2013 from less than 28,000 yuan a year in 2008, according to a report by Beijing-based institute of industrial economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in January.

"By combining customer demand, we have gradually shifted our focus on industrial robot research and development in China, from large robots oriented for automating to small robots for computer, communication and the industrial upgrading of consumer electronics products," Gu said.

ABB introduced a new type of robot IRB 120 to be developed in China last year. It is the company's fastest and most accurate six-axis robot. The robot is very small and as light as 25 kilograms, so it can be placed at any location or even hung upside down or mounted on the wall.

Gu said the robot has obvious operating advantages in limited spaces, especially in small-work-piece processing, material movement and assembly. This high-end product has become the preferred product for industrial upgrading of smaller-sized electronic products in China, while also selling well in overseas markets.

The industrial robot market is seeing explosive growth in China. This market will have a demand of 35,000 robots in 2015, accounting for 16.9 percent of the world's total sales. It will become the largest robot market on the planet, according to the latest data from the Frankfurt-based International Federation of Robotics.

Because the wide application of industrial robots is essential to realizing smart manufacturing and production, ABB has managed to be the only multinational corporation that is incorporating industrial robot localization across the whole value chain in China, including research and development, production, sales, engineering and services.

In 2013, ABB provided robotic products and automotive manufacturing solutions to BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd's Tiexi production base in Shenyang. On the BMW assembly line, ABB robots are mainly engaged in handling, gluing and welding work. Meanwhile, ABB also provided robotic automation solutions to Volvo Car Group's Chengdu automobile production base, becoming the first robot supplier to provide a water-based adhesive system method in China.

"This solution reduces noise and vibration throughout the whole car while in operation, creating a quiet and comfortable driving environment for owners. It also greatly reduces the amount of volatile and organic compounds needed during manufacturing, thereby minimizing environmental pollution and damage to human health by improving the air quality in the car," said Jiang Haibo, vice-president and head of service, ABB North Asia and China.

In 2013, ABB China's service business maintained a strong upward trend. In the past 12 months, ABB added six service centers in China, including Hangzhou, Chongqing, Jinan, Xi'an, Wuhan and Shenyang, bringing the total number of service centers to nine. It also has more than 90 professional service stations and more than 200 authorized service providers throughout the country.