ABB aims to maintain $120m annual investment in China

Swiss-Swedish engineering group ABB will maintain its annual investment scale of $120 million in China as it sees huge potential from the nation's strong demand for industry upgrades.

"As a global leader in automation and power, ABB has a strong commitment to China. Our innovative technologies can help industrial customers improve productivity and reduce costs, in line with government plans for industry upgrading," said Greg Scheu, ABB Group's head of marketing and customer solutions.

"Our comprehensive offerings for China's needs are made possible by fast-growing local research and development efforts. Thus, we are committed to continued investment in local research and development, sales, service and manufacturing, which will raise customer satisfaction to an unprecedented level," said Scheu.

ABB China President Claudio Facchin said that although the domestic infrastructure sector has suffered tough times since last year, ABB still reported 20 percent year-on-year growth in revenue in China in the first quarter.

"So we need to keep pace with annual investment of about $120 million, the figure ABB has maintained for years, to support our future development," said Facchin.

Moreover, investment in China will also help ABB serve markets outside the nation, as ABB increases exports of its products to neighboring countries, said Facchin.

"Opportunities come from demand for innovative solutions, which can help emerging markets lower energy consumption and increase productivity."

As ABB's second-largest market in the world, China is one of the first markets to which the company brings its latest technologies and solutions.

It is showcasing a full range of automation technologies and solutions, including electrical vehicle charging solutions, high-efficiency motors, smart home solutions, robotic products and solutions, at its two-day annual event, ABB Automation World in Beijing.

Earlier this year, ABB launched Emax 2, the world's first low-voltage circuit breaker with integrated energy management functions. Replacing existing traditional breakers with Emax 2 offers the potential to achieve annual savings of 5.8 million megawatt-hours.

"This is the equivalent electricity consumption of 2.1 million Chinese families per year. This innovative product can also efficiently avoid blackouts at peak consumption," said Facchin.

In addition, ABB also applies its direct current technology to medium- and low-voltage applications in electric vehicle charging, power distribution systems on ships, in buildings and in data centers.

In data centers, ABB is able to provide a full range of direct current technology to ensure a reduction in energy consumption of up to 20 percent, space savings of 10 to 25 percent, installation and maintenance cost savings of up to 30 percent and significant improvements to power reliability.

"ABB sees innovation as a key for its sustained competitiveness in the market. In 2012, ABB invested $1.5 billion in research and development, which means it has increased 68 percent since 2007, and the R&D spend of total revenue will be continuously lifted to 4 percent by 2015," said Scheu.