In 2009, ABB started production at its new factory – ABB Automation EOOD in Rakovsky industrial zone near Plovdiv, producing components for low and medium voltage equipment.
ABB Automation EOOD represents a $ 20 million Greenfield investment of ABB in Bulgaria, being the third production unit of the ABB Group in the country.
The construction of the new factory started in July 2008 and the works were completed in 2009, while the production equipment was installed middle of 2009. Since then, the activity started and the factory already employs a significant number of some hundreds employees from the region, aiming to have more than 500 employees until the end of 2011.
ABB Automation EOOD is situated in the Rakovski Industrial Park very close to Plovdiv, the second largest city of Bulgaria. The factory is build on a total area of 35,000 m² having about 20,000 m² of production area and it is acting as an internal supplier of automation parts for ABB factories mainly in Italy, as well as for other factories within the ABB Group, in countries such as France, Germany and China, with prospects for afurther expansion of the business.
The production has already been certified ISO 9001 as a recognition for the company’s strong process management and organizational structure, which are capable to increase efficiency in the product development, as well as in the supply of services.
The factory successfully combines 4 different production types for low and medium voltage components, in order to sustain ABB’s automation products’ strong growth and support the expansion of the low voltage product range:
- ADB Production - kit system enclosure production: punching, bending, welding, painting, gasketing, assembling and packaging operations
- LPD Production - manual assembling of sub-parts / finished products (new RBCO product family and other components)
- LVB Production - production of thermosetting parts (injection, moulding and compression moulding, deburring etc);assembling of fix parts / sub-parts of MCCB and welding of sub-part
- ECS Production - injection moulding and assembling of sub-parts / finished products Products: Metallic enclosure , Plastic Enclosure, DIN Rail Components, LV BreakersThe presence of an in-company test laboratory ensures the possibility for all the incoming and process quality tests to be performed, for both localization projects and the production activities in place.
Awards received
ABB in Bulgaria has received so far two outstanding awards for its new production unit ABB Automation EOOD:
The first award, received in December 2009 was the ‘Investor of the Year 2009 award” - a high recognition granted to ABB by the InvestBulgaria Agency for its new factory in the Plovdiv area;
The second award has been received at the beginning of 2011 and it consists of “The 2010 Award for German Economy in Bulgaria”, a prize offered to ABB by the Bulgarian-GermanChamber of Commerce, as an acknowledgement of ABB Automation, as an outstanding investment of the ABB Group in Bulgaria, succeeding to employ over 300 employees in the region during the year 2010 alone.
Environmental and social involvement:
ABB Automation has also undertaken a path of collaboration with the Rakovski local council, operating in complete respect of environmental and safety rules, with active participation insome local initiatives, such as the development of a children’s playground in the area.