Three Key Facts:
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- Robotics giant ABB recently expanded its facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan by 30%, a $20 million investment in the state.
- The expanded facility will create over 70 new high-skill, high-paying jobs with the company training workers of all skill levels as well as 5,000 of its customers’ employees each year.
- ABB credited recent economic and industrial policies of the Biden-Harris administration as a driving force in its decision to invest in manufacturing capacity, distribution systems, and technology innovation to bring its products and services closer to customers.
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ABB, a European-based robotics company, has opened a newly refitted, state-of-the-art US robotics facility in Auburn Hills. The move brings new, high-paying, high-skill jobs to the region and ensures that the robotics supply chain is secure in the state.
“ABB’s $20 million investment in Auburn Hills will create more than 70 good-paying, high-skill jobs and build on Michigan’s advanced manufacturing leadership,” said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The expansion, she continued, “will tighten the supply chain and cut down on production delays, while building on ABB’s long-standing investments in local workforce development and hands-on education.” The facility employed approximately 350 workers prior to the expansion.
The project is part of a $170 million investment the company announced in April 2023. The company says the move “reflects ABB’s commitment to long-term growth in the US market.”
With its heavy manufacturing base, Michigan is the ideal location for ABB to expand. As ABB Robotics Division president Mark Segura explained in a video, the state “boasts a unique talent pool of workers with unmatched skills and experience.” In addition, ABB will train workers with no prior experience or degree with the skills needed to build a successful career in the robotics and automation industry, according to The Robot Report.
ABB U.S. Robotics Division president John Bubnikovich said the expansion goes beyond increasing the plant’s manufacturing capacity by 30%. It will also “allow ABB to train 5,000 of its customers’ employees a year on how to manage and work with the robots.” Ninety percent of the robots that ABB delivers to North and South America are manufactured at the Auburn Hills plant.
ABB’s robots and automation equipment support the production of electric vehicles, medical devices, electronics, and even pastries.
The newly retooled facility will help ABB to be more responsive to its customers, as well, Bubnikovich told The Robot Report. “We also opened up a Root-Cause Analysis (RCA) center to increase responsiveness,” he said. “It used to take 60 days to do RCA because we had to send equipment back to Sweden, but now it takes under 10 days.”
The company says their technology “touches every sector of the economy, from transportation to utilities to buildings.” In addition to a $450,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant from the state of Michigan, ABB says “legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, gives ABB confidence to invest in manufacturing capacity, distribution systems and technology innovation to bring products and services closer to customers.”
