OREANDA-NEWS. ABB will invest USD 30 million in building a new manufacturing site and expanding its customer experience center for its Low Voltage Products division near Memphis, Tennessee.

The investment will initially create more than 200 jobs, with a further 100 jobs expected to be added over the next five years. ABB's total workforce in the Americas has tripled over the last five years to about 20,000 as the company has expanded across the region, including with its USD 3.9 billion purchase of electrical components maker Thomas & Betts in 2012.

"As part of ABB's Next Level strategy, we are expanding our offering of low-voltage products in the United States. This will allow us to provide the full ABB portfolio of products to our customers across the U.S., through the strong distributor network of Thomas & Betts," said Low Voltage Products Division President, Tarak Mehta, at the opening of the company's Automation and Power World fair in Houston, Texas. "This investment will boost ABB's organic growth potential through improved customer focus and a broader portfolio of electrical connection, protection and control products."

The new 11,000-square-meter facility will assemble products from across ABB's low-voltage products portfolio, including the world's first integrated breaker and power manager, Emax2. The range will include other breakers, switches; power distribution systems; modular enclosure and DIN rail products; and control products including ABB's new soft starter solution. Additionally, the site will house research and development and product development.

ABB is also expanding its customer experience center at its existing Memphis location. The investment will be used to upgrade its training suite to accommodate the requirements of its expanding product portfolio as well as to reinforce ABB's commitment to best-in-class technical support and training.

The new investment follows a USD 14-million expansion of a Measurement Products business unit in Bartlesville, Oklahoma that provides solutions for the oil and gas industry. ABB has also expanded in several other locations in recent years, including New Berlin, Wisconsin; Anderson County, South Carolina; Huntersville, North Carolina and South Boston, Virginia.