ABB Showcases Its Vision of Leadership in Digital Industries at ABB Customer World 2019

Mar 15, 2019

By Line Goyette

Leaders and innovators from business, government and the education sector gathered for this ABB premier collaboration event. More than 11,000 delegates attended the bi-annual ABB Customer World Houston 2019 from March 4 to 7 in Houston, Texas. ABB’s latest pioneering technologies were displayed over 150,000 sq ft of a colourful, buzzy display of futuristic conveyor belts and robots, an ABB Formula E Generation 2 car, and much more groundbreaking technology. ACW attendees also took part in keynote sessions and seminars focused on realizing the tremendous productivity and performance improvements that digitalization delivers for companies of any size and from any industry.

In his keynote address at the event, ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer explained how ABB was shaping its business for leadership in digital industries to support its customers in a time of unprecedented technological change and digitalization. He was joined by Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri.

Building on the joint presentation of ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri, ABB’s Chief Digital Officer, Guido Jouret, highlighted the potential of the new partnership with Dassault Systèmes, which was announced a week before the event. This partnership will focus on the creation of so-called digital twin solutions.

“In the last two years ABB Ability has gained momentum with co-innovation with our digital partners. We have developed over 60 use cases for augmented reality and virtual reality as well as artificial intelligence technology, using a common platform,” Jouret said.

Sami Atiya, ABB’s President of Robotics and Motion, discussed in his keynote how ABB Ability solutions have changed the industry. “Using our smart sensor for motors, predictive analytics and machine learning, we can now tell a facility manager how a motor is performing and if it will have an issue on the weekend when it might be difficult to fix, preventing factory shutdowns before they happen,” Atiya said.

Claudio Facchin, ABB’s President of Power Grids, participated in the program on the future of energy, discussing how the ways in which electricity is generated, distributed, and consumed are changing radically. “We already have the technology to interconnect power grids around the world but government regulations are critical for deployment.”  

Launched two years ago at the ACW Houston 2017, ABB Ability represents the globally leading digital offering in Industry 4.0, from device to edge to cloud. Some 45 percent of ABB’s new orders are generated from digital solutions, while the order pipeline for ABB Ability has increased by more than 20 percent since October, 2018. ABB is driving the development of increasingly sophisticated autonomous technologies, which will transform industry by enabling unprecedented visibility and control over machines, plants and systems.

Building on the joint presentation of ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri, ABB’s Chief Digital Officer Guido Jouret highlighted the potential of the new partnership with Dassault Systèmes, which was announced a week before the event. This partnership will focus on the creation of so-called digital twin solutions. “In the last two years ABB Ability has gained momentum with co-innovation with our digital partners. We have developed over 60 use cases for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality as well as Artificial Intelligence technology, using a common platform,” Jouret said.

Sami Atiya, ABB’s President of Robotics and Motion, discussed in his keynote how ABB Ability solutions have changed the industry. “Using our smart sensor for motors, predictive analytics and machine learning, we can now tell a facility manager how a motor is performing and if it will have an issue on the weekend when it might be difficult to fix, preventing factory shutdowns before they happen,” Atiya said.

Claudio Facchin, ABB’s President of Power Grids, participated in the program on the future of energy, discussing how the ways in which electricity is generated, distributed and consumed are changing radically. “We already have the technology to interconnect power grids around the world but government regulations are critical for deployment.”  

An additional program featured ABB Americas President Greg Scheu, futurist Tony Seba, and ABB President of Electrification Product Tarak Mehta discussing how electric, on-demand, and autonomous vehicles will disrupt the transportation industry. “ABB has been trying to help drive electric vehicle standards, but everyone in the industry must contribute to create those standards to be able to grow the market as quickly as possible,” Mehta said. 

This year’s event was a preview of the new ABB: as of April 1, 2019, ABB will have four customer-focused, entrepreneurial businesses:

    • Electrification
    • Industrial Automation
    • Robotics & Discrete Automation
    • Motion

To better understand this new profile and what it means for ABB Canada, we will present interviews we conducted during ABB Customer World 2019 with Nathalie Pilon, President for ABB Canada, Eric Deschênes, Executive Vice-President and Electrification Products Lead Division Manager, ABB Canada, Michael Desiderato, National Sales Manager, Canada Industrial Automation Power Generation and Water and Stephanie Medeiros, B.Eng, Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure, ABB Canada.

Line Goyette is Managing Editor of CEW; linegoyette@kerrwil.com