uses see abb disambiguation . abb ltd. type publicly traded limited company traded as six abbn nyse abb nasdaq stockholm abb industry electrical equipment founded 1988 through merger of asea 1883 of sweden and brown boveri & cie 1891 of switzerland headquarters z rich switzerland area served worldwide key people ulrich spiesshofer ceo peter voser chairman products power automation revenue us 35.481 billion 2015 1 operating income us 3.049 billion 2015 1 profit us 1.933 billion 2015 1 total assets us 41.356 billion 2015 1 total equity us 14.481 billion 2015 1 number of employees 140 400 2015 1 website www.abb.com abb asea brown boveri is a swedish swiss multinational corporation headquartered in z rich switzerland operating mainly in robotics and the power and automation technology areas . it ranked 158th in the forbes ranking 2013 . abb is one of the largest engineering companies as well as one of the largest conglomerates in the world . abb has operations in around 100 countries with approximately 135 000 employees in december 2015 2 and reported global revenue of 35.5 billion for 2015 . 2 abb is traded on the six swiss exchange in z rich nasdaq stockholm and the new york stock exchange in the united states . 3 contents 1 history 2 organizational structure 2.1 electrification products 2.2 discrete automation and motion 2.3 process automation 2.4 power grids 2.5 corporate and other 2.6 education 3 corporate affairs 4 other 5 management 5.1 primary investors 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit see also allm nna svenska elektriska aktiebolaget and brown boveri & cie abb resulted from the 1988 merger of the swedish corporation allm nna svenska elektriska aktiebolaget asea and the swiss company brown boveri & cie bbc ; the latter had absorbed the maschinenfabrik oerlikon in 1967 . ceo at the time of the merger was the former ceo of asea percy barnevik who ran the company until 1996 . abb transformer in iowa being transported by the iowa interstate railroad . abb s history goes back to the late 19th century . the company was incorporated by ludwig fredholm in 1883 and brown boveri & cie bbc was formed in 1891 in baden switzerland by charles eugene lancelot brown and walter boveri as a swiss group of electrical companies producing ac and dc motors generators steam turbines and transformers . abb around the world . vague organizational structure edit abb is the world s largest builder of electricity grids 4 and is active in many sectors its core businesses being in power and automation technologies . the company has one corporate division and four production divisions since reorganisation in january 2016 . abb is one of the few large companies that have successfully implemented the matrix structure in their organization . electrification products edit the electrification products division manufactures low and medium voltage low voltage circuit breakers switches control products wiring accessories enclosures and cable systems to protect people installations and electronic equipment from electrical overload . the division further makes knx systems that integrate and automate a building s electrical installations ventilation systems and security and data communication networks . electrification products also incorporates an electrification solutions unit manufacturing low voltage switchgear and motor control centres . customers include a wide range of industry and utility operations plus commercial and residential buildings . discrete automation and motion edit the discrete automation and motion division provides products and services for industrial production . it includes electric motors generators drives power electronics and industrial robots . abb has installed over 300 000 robots . 5 in 2006 abb opened a manufacturing centre in shanghai china . also wind generators solar power inverters and ups products belong to this division . process automation edit the main focus of this abb business is to provide customers with systems for control plant optimization and industry specific automation applications . the industries served include oil and gas power chemicals and pharmaceuticals pulp and paper metals and minerals marine and turbocharging . the division consists of seven business units control technologies the world s no 1 dcs supplier marine & ports measurement & analytics oil gas & chemicals power generation process industries and turbocharging . power grids edit the power grids division offers key components for the transmission and distribution of electricity . the division incorporates abb s manufacturing network for transformers switchgear circuit breakers cables and associated high voltage equipment such as digital protective relays . it also offers maintenance services . the division also offers turnkey systems and service for power transmission and distribution grids and for power plants . electrical substations and substation automation systems are key areas . additional highlights include flexible ac transmission systems facts high voltage direct current hvdc systems and network management systems . the division is subdivided into five business units high voltage products transformers grid systems grid automation and grid integration . also supplies power line communication equipment such as etl600 . corporate and other edit the corporate and other department of abb deals with the overall management and functioning of the company as well as asset management and investment . it supports mncs . education edit abb industrigymnasium is a chain of schools founded by abb focusing on engineering information technology and enterprising . corporate affairs edit in 1990 abb purchased westinghouse s metering and control division the load control division was spun off to cannon technologies in the late 1990s and the meter division was spun off to elster electricity in the early 2000s . also in the early 1990s abb purchased combustion engineering c e headquartered in stamford and norwalk connecticut a leading u.s. firm in the development of conventional fossil fuel power and nuclear power supply systems to break into the north american market . klaus agthe was ceo of the us operation at the time . continuing with its expansion plans abb purchased elsag bailey a process automation group in 1997 which included bailey controls hartmann & braun and fischer & porter . this was the largest acquisition to date in abb s history . abb bought international combustion ltd 6 from rolls royce 7 in 1997 . abb s boiler and fossil fuel businesses were purchased by alstom in 2000 and its nuclear business was purchased by westinghouse electric company in 2000 . in 2000 abb also signed a contract for the delivery of equipment and services for two north korean nuclear powerplants to be supplied under an agreement with the korean peninsula energy development organization kedo 8 a consortium formed in 1995 by the governments of the united states japan south korea and the european union . 9 abb formally divested from a joint venture named abb alstom power in 2000 and sold its interest in conventional power generation systems to alstom power . abb s nuclear business was sold 10 to bnfl and merged into westinghouse electric company . in 2001 abb was ranked as number one on the dow jones corporate sustainability index 11 for the third year in a row . in 2002 abb asked lindahl the company s former chief executive to return some of his 50 million retirement pay which its board called excessive . abb also asked its former chairman percy barnevik to pay back part of his 87 million pension package . the size of the pensions was disclosed at the same time as abb s 691 million net loss for 2001 made headlines and drew sharp criticism in switzerland and sweden . 12 abb s building systems business unit was sold off in 2004 to capvis 13 a swiss private equity company as part of abb s strategy to focus on power and automation technologies . abb s building systems businesses in australia and hong kong were sold off the year before in may 2003 to downer edi limited . building systems provided services for building facilities encompassing indoor air quality building automation as well as power distribution and management . financial debt and lingering asbestos liability brought abb to the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s . in 2006 abb returned to financial health by settling its asbestos liability regarding claims that were filed against abb s u.s. subsidiaries combustion engineering and lummus global . 14 in august 2007 lummus global was sold to cb & i. 15 in december 2008 abb acquired ber mac electrical and instrumentation to expand its presence in western canada s oil and gas industries . ber mac electrical and instrumentation has been in the business of supplying electrical power and instrumentation equipment and services both domestically and to international markets since 1980 . ber mac provides its clients with expertise in industrial automation electrical and instrumentation design process optimization panel fabrication and field services . it is particularly strong in the oil & gas industry . ber mac s value proposition in engineering expertise and service capabilities is highly respected throughout western canada this was a key factor in abb s decision to acquire the firm . this acquisition significantly expanded abb s presence in western canada to more than 760 employees in over 20 locations . in 2009 abb realigned its automation divisions to enhance growth opportunities . as of january 1 2010 the business units in the automation products and robotics divisions were regrouped into two new divisions discrete automation and motion and low voltage products . the process automation division remained unchanged except for the addition of the instrumentation business from the automation products division . in may 2010 abb acquired software company ventyx for more than 1 billion from vista equity partners . 16 in 2011 on may 9 abb announced acquisition of australian based mincom limited from private equity firm francisco partners to expand their enterprise software business for undisclosed sum . 17 on july 29 2011 acquisition has been finalised . 18 mincom and ventyx were subsequently integrated under the ventyx name and have now been integrated into abb as the enterprise software product group . in 2011 abb acquired baldor electric usa for 4.2 billion in an all cash transaction on january 30 2012 abb group acquired thomas & betts in a 3.9 billion cash transaction . 19 on june 15 2012 abb completed acquisition of commercial and industrial wireless technology specialists tropos . in july 2013 abb acquired power one in a 1 billion all cash transaction to become the leading global manufacturer of solar inverters 1 . other edit in may 2013 abb s cheron sa joined with several groups in geneva tosa trolleybus optimisation syst me alimentation or in english trolleybus power system optimization in a one year demonstration of a trolleybus route using a novel charging system . rather than overhead wires charging is accomplished by fixed overhead devices located at stops along the route and at the terminus . 20 21 22 jean luc favre head of rail isi discussed the promising role of improved electric transport technology in abb . 23 management edit ulrich spiesshofer has been chief executive officer since september 2013 . former ceos september 2008 september 2013 joe hogan february 2008 september 2008 michel demar ad interim january 2005 february 2008 fred kindle september 2002 december 2004 j rgen dormann january 2001 september 2002 j rgen centerman january 1997 december 2000 g ran lindahl 1987 1996 percy barnevik chairman of the board the board of directors 24 is chaired by peter voser . he was elected in april 2015 and succeeded hubertus von gr nberg who had been chairman since may 2007 . j rgen dormann was chairman from 2002 to 2007 and percy barnevik from 1999 to 2002 . former board members include peter sutherland donald rumsfeld 1990 2001 primary investors edit the largest single stake in the firm is held by the swedish investment company investor ab controlled by the wallenberg family which holds 10.48 % . 25 see also edit allm nna svenska elektriska aktiebolaget eaton