Anhui, China, March 25, 2009 –ABB, the global leading power and automation technology group, signed here today a contract with Tiankang Group to acquire its instrumentation business - Tianchang instrumentation factory, so as to expand its product portfolio and production base to better satisfy customer demand.
At the contract signing ceremony, ABB China Senior Vice President Robert Larsson said “both sides will be able to benefit from this cooperation, as ABB’s advanced R&D and global market experience combined with Tianchang’s successful operations will enable our China instrumentation business to develop further.”
Mr. Larsson said that despite the global economic recession, ABB is confident with China, and is maintaining a steady pace of investment in this country.
Being one of the major temperature sensor suppliers in the China domestic market, Tianchang Instrumentation Factory offers products, such as thermocouples and resistance thermometers to the power, chemical, petrochemical, mining and metal industries, which will complement ABB’s offering, benefiting customers in China and overseas.
“What is important for us is that we need to keep enhancing our competitive strength, also during the present period with lower economic activity, in order to be prepared when market demand accelerates again.” Larsson stressed.
Mr. Chen Shuhua, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Tianchang City and member of the Standing Committee of Chuzhou City, said on the signing ceremony, “ABB is the first Fortune 500 starting business in Tianchang city. The cooperation between ABB and Tiankang Group marks our new achievement in the opening up and utilizing foreign investment. We firmly believe that the cooperation will not only enable the local enterprise to boost its business through management innovations and operational mechanism upgrading, but also help the city integrate local resources, develop instrumentation industry, optimize instrumentation product lineups, therefore, further broadening and deepening our cooperation with the outside world.”
ABB has been focusing its investment effort on expanding and refining its 27 facilities in China in the recent years. In 2008, ABB’s total investment in China exceeds one billion USD, increasing by 190 million USD compared with the previous year.
China has been facing a booming temperature instrumentation market which grows at 15% annually.
With more than 150 years’ experience in the instrumentation field, ABB has been one of the leading instrumentation suppliers in the world. In China, ABB offers top line products, including flow, pressure, temperature and analytical measurement devices, actuators and positioners, recorders and controllers, as well as spare parts. ABB’s instruments have been widely used in industries including power, oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, pulp and paper, metal and mining, water and waste water, food and beverage and pharmaceutical.
ABB has maintained strong growth in China. In 2006, ABB built an advanced pressure transducer production line at its manufacturing facility in Shanghai, which is now ABB’s third largest production base for pressure transducers in the world. Tianchang Instrumentation facility will be operated in parallel with the Shanghai base.
ABB 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 120,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including R&D, manufacturing, sales and services, with 15,000 employees, 27 joint ventures and wholly owned companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 60 cities.
Founded in 1974, Tiankang Group is a privately owned company that specializes in instrumentation, cable, medicine, medical treatment equipment, steel tubing, and timber.
For help with any of the technical terms in this release, please go to: www.abb.com/glossary.