More than 100 employees and 145,000 sq ft added at ABB's Auburn Hills, facility

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (August 3, 2012) - ABB is seeing significant growth in orders for industrial robots, robot systems, parts and service, leading ABB to expand its workforce by more than 100 people in the last 18 months and expand its Oakland County plant by 145,000 square feet.

More than 100 employees have been added to the payroll and 20 more positions will be added by year's end, according to Michael Mahfet, vice president and general manager, ABB Robotics, North America. The additional space at the Brown Road headquarters was secured in May, allowing ABB to better serve its expanding customer base of key automotive original equipment manufacturers, suppliers and general industrial accounts.

The recent hiring is in many areas of the business, including engineering, manufacturing, project management and customer service.

North American robotics companies sold more industrial robots in the second quarter of 2012 than any previous quarter in history, according to new statistics released by Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade group. For ABB, the resurgent automotive market was a major factor, as was growth in several general industrial markets such as life sciences, pharmaceuticals and electronics. The material handling and industrial welding markets also continue to represent a significant volume of robotic activity.

"As a robotics innovator, ABB's growth is outpacing the industry-wide growth. We attribute that to the introduction of an array of new robots, robot controllers and simplified programming software since 2009," said Mahfet.

"The robust automotive sector and the continuing adoption of robotic automation in general industrial applications have created the need," said Mahfet. "More and more customers are finding that robots improve production, reliability and quality particularly in areas where work is dirty, dull and sometimes dangerous. We have been fortunate to have a good mix of experienced professionals and talent from our local universities."


About ABB
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.


About ABB Robotics
ABB Robotics (www.abb.com/robotics) is a leading supplier of industrial robots - also providing

robot software, peripheral equipment, modular manufacturing cells and service for tasks such as welding, handling, assembly, painting and finishing, picking, packing, palletizing and machine tending. Key markets include automotive, plastics, metal fabrication, foundry, electronics, machine tools, pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries. A strong solutions focus helps manufacturers improve productivity, product quality and worker safety. ABB has installed more than 200,000 robots worldwide.