ABB makes $90 M investment in Canada
Staff
Automation ABB MontrealThe new headquarters replaces six locations that were spread out across Greater Montreal and will support over 700 employees.
ABB officially opened its $90 million state-of-the-art Canadian headquarters and Customer Innovation Center in St. Montreal, QC.
(L-R) Dr. Beat Nobs, Ambassador of Switzerland to Canada; Alan DeSousa, mayor of Saint-Laurent; Nathalie Pilon, President, ABB Canada; Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB Group; The Honourable Bill Morneau, Finance Minister of Canada; Greg Scheu, president, ABB Americas; Jean-Marc Fournier, Minister responsible for Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie, and Per Sjögren, Ambassador of Sweden to Canada.
The new headquarters replaces six locations that were spread out across Greater Montreal and will support over 700 employees. The Saint-Laurent campus houses research and development, manufacturing, assembly and testing for the company’s energy value chain in Quebec.
“The new headquarters reaffirms ABB’s commitment to Canada as a growth market and an important customer base,” said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “It strengthens our capacity to provide our leading offering to our customers and support them with the digital transformation of their operations. We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and this site has been designed to enable our workforce to unlock value for Canadian enterprises.”
The campus is the home of the Customer Innovation Center, which showcases ABB Ability, the company’s comprehensive digital offering.
“The new campus allows greater collaboration with our business partners and with the academic and research sectors,” said Nathalie Pilon, President of ABB Canada. “The latest technology from ABB is driving energy efficiency and powering Canada’s innovation ecosystem in so many ways. In addition to showing what ABB Ability can do, the headquarters is also home to our new North American Centre of Excellence in E-Mobility.”
The E-Mobility centre will focus on developing electric-powered transportation technologies. It will help develop transport networks, including electric buses and trains, and will bring together transit operators, power utilities and engineering experts to address challenges related to building smart cities and sustainable mobility solutions for Canada.
The company also announced a number of major Canadian projects, including an agreement to modernize 10 large seagoing vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard, equipping them with upgraded propulsion systems, extending vessel life by 20 years. They will also be a key technical supplier for the electrification of Nemaska Lithium’s new mine, near James Bay, managing the complete electrification and automation of the site.
In addition, the company will provide an integrated substation for an important data center operated by Hypertec in Quebec. To meet growing demand, the new substation will increase the facility’s existing power supply from 25 to 120 kilovolts.
