Investment in expansion of local manufacturing in line with company’s strategy and PIE growth initiatives
ABB, a leader in power and automation technologies, opened a new production facility in Cibitung, West Java, to double ABB’s miniature circuit breaker (MCB) production capacity within the region, to meet growing market demands driven by rapid urbanization and the growing industrial sector. The move is in line with the company’s PIE growth strategy (market penetration, innovation, expansion). The new facility will employ more than 200 people.
Tarak Mehta, head of ABB’s Low Voltage Products division globally, said: “We see substantial growth opportunities for the low voltage business in Indonesia. The country’s strong economic growth prospects, coupled with a young population, is expected to increase demand in the residential, industrial and commercial construction sectors. Electricity demand grew by ten percent last year.”
“We are proud to expand our manufacturing presence in Indonesia. ABB is well positioned to support the economic success of the country and our customers, by delivering world class quality products manufactured locally. We have a broad range of leading solutions to protect, connect and control electricity as well as deliver energy efficiency.”
ABB said the new facility would double MCB production capacity at the company’s existing plant, also located in Cibitung, and that more MCB products were sold domestically. Some parts of MCB production are exported to ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. “The exports are mostly to address shortages of MCB supplies in other countries, while we have a production surplus.”
ABB is also building another plant in Tangerang, Banten. The Tangerang facility was expected to start manufacturing medium voltage products early next year.
According to ABB Indonesia, the Cibitung and Tangerang facilities will complement the company’s portfolios as the former serves the downstream market with low voltage products, while the latter will be more upstream with medium voltage products, such as power equipment.
anyway, Miniature circuit breakers are an electro-mechanical device that protect circuits from over voltage. This year, ABB is celebrating 90 years since it patented the technology in Germany. The company has manufactured almost one billion MCBs globally to date.
by Power Electronics Korea magazine, news@powerelectronics.co.kr
