ABB is a publicly listed company that operates in approximately 100 countries. We are headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and our shares are traded on the stock exchanges of Zurich, Stockholm and New York.
We manage our business based on a divisional structure. Our business comprises five divisions: Power Products, Power Systems, Discrete Automation and Motion, Low Voltage Products, and Process Automation.
R&D fuels innovation at ABB
Investment in R&D was $1.3 billion in 2009, 4.1 percent of revenues: product launches include a new solar inverter, drives for water industry, rail converters, HVDC systems with higher capacity, a compact robot, moulded-case circuit breakers XT series, SACE Formula circuit breakers, a new generation of first-class specialized control and protection devices and the remote switch unit S800-RSU for solar applications (which has won the Intersolar AWARD 2010 at the world’s largest exhibition for the solar industry in Munich).
We have seven research centers, 6,000 researchers and developers, and 70 university collaborations across the world.
The ABB group currently manages around 4,780 active patent families and about 19,890 active patent applications.
Key figures for year ended Dec. 31
(US dollar amounts in millions except per-share and % data).
 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|
| Orders received | 32,681 | 30,969 |
| Revenue | 31,589 | 31,795 |
| Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) | 3,818 | 4,126 |
| EBIT margin | 12.1% | 13.0% |
| Net income | 2,561 | 2,901 |
| Stockholders' equity (Dec. 31) | 14,885 | 13,790 |
| Total assets | 36,295 | 34,728 |
| Capital expenditure | 840 | 967 |
| Cashflow from operations | 4,197 | 4,027 |
| Number of employees | 116,500 | 116,000 |
| Basic earnings per share | | |
| Net income | 1.12 | 1.27 |
Things you may not know about ABB
- ABB i-bus® KNX automation technology provides energy efficiency, comfort and safety in each of the 499 guest rooms of the innovative Yas Marina hotel in Abu Dhabi
- ABB i-bus® KNX system increases energy efficiency in the CIRCA on Jellicoe art gallery in Johannesburg, by controlling multiple types of lights and using motion detection sensors
- ABB i-bus® KNX intelligent control system installed in the Ministry of Higher Education's head office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, enabling energy efficiency saving of 35 percent
- ABB technologies propel the world’s largest cruise ship across the globe
- ABB has built the world’s most powerful battery storage system providing emergency power in Alaska
- ABB’s FACTS SVC technology has improved the efficiency of the entire South African grid
- ABB technology is used at the Scramjet facility at NASA for simulating speeds up to Mach 8
- ABB’s power and automation technologies run the world’s largest paper-mill in Belgium
- ABB’s Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) technologies power studios in Hollywood
- ABB variable speed drives help generate subsonic wind speeds for the Boeing Wind Tunnel
- ABB provides mission-critical solutions for the world's only floating rocket launch platform
- ABB motors and drives solution helps move skiers safely up the Alps
- ABB's Azipod® propulsion system can rotate 360° on its axis enabling smooth sailing at high seas
- ABB has built the world's longest UHVDC link to create a 2,000 km power superhighway in China
- ABB 800xA system helps optimize performance of Spain’s largest solar plant
- ABB’s medium voltage switchgear and substation technologies powered India's first barge mounted substation
- ABB has built the world’s longest underwater HVDC link between Norway and Netherlands
- ABB has built the world’s highest substation to power the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai
- ABB’s instrumentation technologies help space and meteorological agencies forecast the weather and monitor global climate change
- ABB technologies are installed in the world’s second-largest hydroelectric power station in Itaipu on the Brazil-Paraguay border
- ABB has installed intelligent building systems in Singapore for projects that have been honored with best-performance awards for energy efficiency and environmental friendliness from the Singapore government and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
- ABB automation technologies control the world's largest paper-making machine
- ABB has delivered the world’s most powerful gearless mill drives to copper mill in Sweden