Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies

ABB

The Zurich-based electrification and automation group formed in 1988 when Sweden's ASEA (1883) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie (1891) merged under Percy Barnevik — a company that nearly failed in 2002 under the weight of US asbestos claims, rebuilt itself partly by buying American electrical manufacturers (Baldor of Fort Smith, Arkansas, at $63.50 a share in Jan 2011; Thomas & Betts of Memphis at $72 a share in May 2012, ~$3.9bn), sold the high-voltage grid business its founders had built to Hitachi (agreed 17 Dec 2018, closed 1 Jul 2020), spun off turbochargers as Accelleron (2022, from memory, verify) and, on 8 Oct 2025, agreed to sell its robot business to SoftBank Group for $5.375bn rather than list it. What is left is a decentralised electrical-equipment company riding the data-centre and grid boom: 2025 orders of $36.8bn (+17%), revenue of $33.2bn and an operational EBITA margin of 19.0% (company); in Q3 2026 orders rose 40% on a comparable basis to a record ~$12.1bn, led by data centres (company, reported). ABB's story is about portfolio focus — choosing which products are worth making inside one group — and about what it means for a European industrial to let go of its robots just as "physical AI" became fashionable.

At a glance

Founded: ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd, formed by the merger of ASEA AB (Västerås, Sweden, founded 1883) and BBC Brown Boveri (Baden, Switzerland, founded 1891), announced Aug 1987 and effective Jan 1988 (dates from memory, verify; founding years per the Energy KB)
Headquarters: Zurich (Oerlikon), Switzerland; large US operations including Fort Smith, Arkansas (ex-Baldor motors), Memphis, Tennessee (ex-Thomas & Betts electrical products), Auburn Hills, Michigan (robotics, until the sale) and Cary/Raleigh, North Carolina (US headquarters, from memory, verify)
Ownership / structure: Public (SIX Swiss Exchange; Nasdaq Stockholm; US ADR listing ended 2023, from memory, verify). Large holders include Investor AB and Cevian Capital (from memory, verify stakes)
Leadership (2026): Morten Wierod, CEO since Aug 2024 (from memory, verify); Peter Voser, chair (from memory, verify); CFO Timo Ihamuotila leaving after the Q4 2025 results cycle (reported; successor verify)
Business areas: Electrification (low- and medium-voltage switchgear and breakers, installation products, building and data-centre electrical systems, EV charging — part sold, verify); Motion (motors, drives, a newly formed High Power division); Automation (process automation, DCS, analytics, marine, and Machine Automation/B&R — combined after the robotics sale, verify naming); Robotics (held for sale to SoftBank; reported as discontinued operations from Q4 2025, per the Oct 2025 announcement as reported)
Scale: 2025 (29 Jan 2026 release): orders $36.8bn (+17%, comparable +15%), revenue $33.2bn (+9%, comparable +7%), operational EBITA margin 19.0%, income from operations margin 18.2%, book-to-bill 1.11, record backlog $25.3bn; dividend CHF 0.94 proposed; buyback up to $2bn; long-term margin target raised to 18–22%; 2026 guide comparable revenue +6–9%. Q3 2026 (20 Oct 2026): orders $12.06bn (+40% comparable; analysts ~$11.4bn), revenue $9.70bn (+14%), operational EBITA $2.03bn (+24%), margin 20.8% (+160 bp), book-to-bill 1.24, basic EPS $0.65 (−2%); 2026
Signature moves (incl. failures): ASEA–Brown Boveri merger (1988); the Combustion Engineering asbestos crisis (1990–2006); Baldor and Thomas & Betts, the US build-out (2011–12); the Power-One solar-inverter bet and exit (2013–20); B&R machine automation (2017); power grids to Hitachi (2018–20); Rosengren's decentralised "ABB Way" and Accelleron (2020–24); robotics spin plan replaced by the SoftBank sale (2025–26)

8 strategic moves analysed

Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.

1988
ASEA Brown Boveri Merger
Acquisition or merger — cross-border 50/50 merger of two national electrical champions
2002
Asbestos Crisis and Combustion Engineering
Environmental or product-liability case and restructuring (failure) — pre-packaged Chapter 11 of a US subsidiary and an asbestos trust
2011
Baldor and Thomas and Betts US Build Out
Acquisition — two US electrical manufacturers bought for cash
2013
Power One Solar Inverter Bet and Exit
Acquisition (2013) and divestment (2020) — a failure
2017
B and R Machine Automation
Acquisition — privately owned Austrian maker of PLCs, industrial PCs and motion control
2018
Power Grids Sale to Hitachi
Divestment — sale of 80.1% of Power Grids to Hitachi, with an option for the rest
2020
Rosengren ABB Way and Accelleron
Strategy pivot (decentralised operating model) and spin-off (Turbocharging as Accelleron), plus disposals
2025
Robotics Sale to SoftBank
Divestment — sale of the Robotics division to SoftBank Group, replacing a planned spin-off and separate listing

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