One is the Swedish Arcia company (ASEA) established in 1883, and the other is the Swiss Brown Boveri company (Brown, Boveri &; Cie).
Before the merger, both companies experienced a long and brilliant development history.
First of all, let's look at the history of Arcia, which was born earlier.
1883, Ludwig Fredholm and Jonas Winster Romer, an engineer, founded an electrical appliance factory called EA in Stockholm to produce lighting appliances and generators.
1889, Jonas invented the three-phase system of generator, transformer and motor.
The following year, they merged with the WGEK company of Jonas' brother Glenn Winster Rome to form Swedish General Electric Company, or ASEA, or Arcia, to provide electrical equipment for Swedish industrial enterprises.
Arcia Company is at the forefront of the electrical age. With the arrival of the new industrial revolution, it is rapidly developing the electrical industry.
1893, Arcia built the first three-phase transmission system in Sweden. Soon, Assia went abroad.
By 19 14, Arcia has branches all over Britain, Spain, Russia, Finland, Denmark and other countries, and established a leading position in the industry.
However, the double blow of the First World War and the Russian Revolution dealt a great blow to Harcia.
After several years of depression, CEO Edstrom led the company out of the predicament.
From 65438 to 0926, Arcia provided locomotives and converters for Stockholm-Gothenburg Railway, the first electrified railway in Sweden. 1932, Arcia built the world's largest self-cooled transformer.
Soon, Arcia resumed its pre-war development through mergers and acquisitions and further expansion of overseas markets.
However, World War II followed.
Although Sweden remained neutral in World War II, the Nazis forcibly took Harcia's enterprises in other parts of Europe as their own, and Harcia still suffered heavy losses.
Nevertheless, Arcia made some innovations and progress on the basis of domestic experience, and built the world's first 120MVA and 220kV transformers in Stockholm in 1942.
After World War II, Harcia has achieved new development while recovering.
From 65438 to 0947, the company expanded the American market.
1952, the company provided electrical equipment and technology for the world's first 400kV AC transmission line.
While developing the power industry, Arcia has also expanded its business scope.
1953, Harcia adopted high-pressure technology to manufacture synthetic diamonds, becoming the first synthetic diamond manufacturer in the world.
The following year, they established the world's first HVDC transmission line.
In 1960s, Kurt Nicolin, the new president, carried out in-depth reform in Arcia, introduced the division system and rearranged the company's department structure, especially the newly established electronic division, which marked the company's transformation from a high-voltage equipment manufacturer to an electronic and electrical company.
During this period, the development of Arcia even involves cutting-edge technical fields such as nuclear power.
1968, the company's nuclear power department merged with the Swedish state-owned atomic energy agency to form ASEA atomic company.
Four years later, Arcia built the first nuclear power plant in Sweden.
1978, Arcia invented and launched the first batch of industrial robots in the world.
At the end of 1970s, Arcia faced the crisis of recession and decline. In 1980, a new young executive director and CEO, Barnevik, took office, which turned the corner.
By 1987, Arcia has become an internationally renowned cutting-edge technology company.
On the other side of Europe, in 189 1 year, Charles ·e·l· brown and Walter Bofari founded the Brown Bofari Company in Baden, Switzerland, referred to as BBC.
Soon after, Brown Bovary became the first company to transmit high-voltage electricity.
Switzerland's small territory soon made the BBC realize that the whole of Europe is a market suitable for its own development.
Just entering the 20th century, in 190 1 year, the BBC built the first steam turbine in Europe.
The early BBC mainly produced motors and power generation equipment for electric locomotives and supplied the whole European railway system.
While accepting European orders, the Swiss BBC has also opened overseas branches to further expand its international business.
19 19, BBC authorized British manufacturer Vickers to manufacture and sell the company's products through patent transfer, thus officially opening the British market.
Despite the prevailing era of trade protectionism, BBC has gone abroad and achieved better development.
With the establishment and development of overseas agents, the BBC has gained huge overseas sales revenue and gradually expanded.
By the early 1920s, BBC had set up subsidiaries in Italy, Germany, Norway, Austria and many Balkan countries.
However, due to the depreciation of the French franc and the German mark and the increase of domestic costs, the BBC has suffered huge losses.
1927, Vickers, England terminated the cooperation agreement between the two parties, and the BBC even lost its original British market.
But nothing can stop the trend of the electrical age.
Although the BBC has been hit hard in overseas markets, the industrial modernization upsurge sweeping across Europe has given the BBC new opportunities, and the demand for high-voltage equipment is huge.
In the following time, BBC made great progress in locomotive.
1933, BBC obtained the patent for welded rotor of steam turbine.
The BBC also built the first gas turbine for power generation in 1939, and developed the first high-speed locomotive with a special drive shaft in 1944.
In the following years, the BBC repeatedly set the first place in the field of electrical engineering, and created a number of records of the world's largest capacity transformer.
In other aspects, such as electrical engineering, the BBC has also made great achievements.
The BBC developed the world's first gearless cement transmission in 1969.
BBC has gradually become a comprehensive company.
In the 1970s, BBC made a large-scale enterprise organization adjustment and integrated its overseas subsidiaries, forming five groups: German group, French group, Swiss group, medium-sized group (seven factories located in Europe and Latin America) and BB International Group (not belonging to the rest of the above four groups).
Each group has five business divisions: power generation, electronics, transmission and distribution, electric traction equipment and industrial equipment.
So far, the BBC has formed a complete global strategic system and an effective internal organizational structure, with clear responsibilities and clear division of labor, showing a healthy development trend.
At the same time, the BBC is also vigorously expanding the American market, which has not been involved for a long time, but the effect is not satisfactory.
The BBC held long-term joint venture negotiations with Rockwell, an American high-tech military and aviation application company, but the negotiations failed.
The BBC can only get a small part of the American market through several other companies.
From 1974 to 1975, North American sales only accounted for 3.5% of all BBC sales.
Nevertheless, in the 1970s, the BBC made new achievements in the international market.
1974, the BBC acquired the British control and equipment manufacturer George Kent, adding a product line for the BBC. The new company was renamed BBK (Brown Boveri Kent).
In the 1980s, the BBC also achieved good development.
The BBC has adjusted R&D: branches generally only do product research and development for the local market, while the theoretical research and development work is undertaken by the R&D organization of the parent company.
This change can make more effective use of R&D funds and put the BBC in a better development system.
1984, the first BBC generator was installed in the world's largest hydroelectric power station in Itaipu, South America, and 9 generators were installed in one * * *.
By 1987, Braun Bofari Company has made great progress in many aspects such as electric power, and many inventions have attracted worldwide attention.
1987, the two European companies decided to come together in about one hundred years.
In August, the two companies announced their decision to jointly establish ABB Co., Ltd., in which "A" was taken from the region and "BB" stood for Brown Bovary.
The headquarters of the company will be located in Zurich, Switzerland, and the original two companies each hold 50% of the shares.
The newly established group company began to operate on 1988 65438+ 10.
Nicolin of Arcia and Rutweiler of BBC are co-chairmen, and Barnevik, CEO of Arcia, is the CEO of the new company.
These two European electrical giants are equal competitors. This historic merger is a natural match, which not only greatly saves the high cost of R&D on superconductors, high-voltage chips and power plant control systems, but also perfectly complements the advantages of Arcia in the Nordic market and BBC in central and southern Europe.
And in the year or two before the merger, the development of BBC was slower than that of Arcia.
Barnevik hopes to increase the profit margin of 5.5% in Arcia and 1.5% in BBC to 10% in ABB, so as to achieve the cooperative effect that one plus one is far greater than two.
In order to achieve this grand goal, the newly established ABB soon began its expansion plan.
Company * * * acquired 15 companies in the first year of operation, and rapidly expanded the group's content organization in a cooperative way.
In this year, ABB's operating income was $654.38+07 billion, and it had 654.38+06 million employees worldwide.
More importantly, the new ABB makes up for the development limitations of two established European companies in the North American market.
In the two years since its establishment, ABB has acquired 55 companies in Western Europe and North America.
Among them, Westinghouse Electric Power Company, an American power giant, acquired by 1989, marks ABB's official foothold in the North American market.
In the same year, ABB invested $65.438+56 billion to acquire American Combustion Engineering Company (CE), but no one expected that this transaction would lay a curse for ABB.
In 1990s, ABB company began to expand its business scope to Central and Eastern Europe ambitiously, and was ready to expand its business scope to Asia.
In the mature markets of Western Europe and North America, ABB has gradually streamlined its staff, reformed its internal structure, concentrated its staff in emerging markets such as Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia, and made mergers and acquisitions and expansions in these markets.
Clear development ideas have enabled ABB to have a new system and develop in an orderly manner after the strong alliance and reorganization.
1 996 65438+1October1,ABB was elected as the most advanced company in technology and management in Europe.
At the same time, ABB made great achievements in scientific and technological innovation in 1990s.
1990, ABB released Azipod, as a part of the electric propulsion system installed outside the hull, which has propulsion and steering functions and can improve the initiative, efficiency and available space of the ship.
1998, ABB opened the world's first high-voltage power plant. In the same year, ABB released the FlexPicker parallel robot specially used in the picking and packaging industry.
Through the readjustment of the global market, continuous expansion and continuous scientific and technological innovation, ABB has achieved the goal of Banevik, and achieved the success that one plus one is far greater than two.
However, just as ABB was thriving, the turmoil of its American Combustion Engineering Company (CE) made ABB lose money one after another, even on the verge of bankruptcy.
Because CE's boiler products use asbestos containing carcinogens as heat insulation materials, people who have contacted these products have filed a class action lawsuit against ABB.
The number of plaintiffs exceeded100000, and ABB paid a total of $865 million.
Although in 2000, ABB sold CE to Alstom, France, ABB is still liable for compensation.
The lawsuit was followed by a sharp decline in the company's reputation and profits.
In 200 1 year, ABB lost $69 1 10,000, facing bankruptcy crisis.
An asbestos crisis in CE Company almost dragged ABB's electrical empire to the threshold of the new century.
Faced with salary, debt and bloated and complicated organizational problems, the board of directors responded quickly.
In September 2002, Juergen dormann, Chairman of the Board of Directors, became CEO, and was ordered to carry out system reform and redefine the business focus.
With the orderly negotiation, ABB obtained a bank loan, and the lawsuit ended in the bankruptcy of CE.
ABB experienced heavy losses and embarked on a new journey.
In 2004, ABB released its extended automation system 800xA, which was applied to many large and medium-sized processing plants in oil and gas, chemical industry, paper making, metal, mining, life science and other fields, and played an important role in continuously improving the production efficiency in various fields.
In 2008, ABB connected the transmission networks of Norway and the Netherlands through the world's longest submarine high-voltage DC cable.
2065 438+00 ABB's UHV DC transmission line from Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station in the southwest of China to Shanghai is about 2000 kilometers long, which greatly promotes the construction of transmission lines in China.
In 20 12, ABB successfully designed and developed a hybrid high-voltage DC circuit breaker suitable for creating a large-scale regional DC network.
This breakthrough has solved the technical problem of 100 years.
Today, ABB, which has witnessed the glory and vicissitudes, is meeting the challenges of the new era with a brand-new attitude.
Since the electrical age, AREA and BBC have made numerous achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. Today's ABB also deserves our higher expectations for its future.