A global technology company recently began operations at its multimillion-dollar, innovation-centered expansion project at its Memphis facility.
ABB Installation Products recently opened its $3 million, 16,000-square-foot Robert M. Thomas Innovation Center at 860 Ridge Lake Blvd. The move is part of ABB's $170 million investment in the U.S. to support its electrification and automation lines of business.
The ABB Installation Products division, which is part of ABB's electrification business, was formerly Memphis-based public company Thomas & Betts, which ABB acquired in 2012 for $3.9 billion. The new innovation center and lab is named after the inventor and cofounder of Thomas & Betts.
Ralph Donati, executive VP and GM of the U.S. and Latin America regions for ABB, told MBJ that the innovation center and lab began to come together in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, he noted the lab became UL certified in the spring of 2023, which prompted pilot testing to prepare for its official opening this May.
The innovation center aids in expediting the development of next generation electrification products and addresses the growing needs of sectors such as automation, data centers, food and beverage, original equipment manufacturing (OEM), robotics, and infrastructure. The on-site lab and testing facilities are expected to serve as an integral part in streamlining the development process and decreasing time to market for new products.
“What we saw with this project is that we need to continue to innovate,” Donati said. “ABB is known as a technology and innovation leader, and that is our core competency. We’re doing this to spur and accelerate innovation.”
The space helps bring together the firm’s research and development, engineers, and product and training specialists to coordinate with customers on the design and testing of electrical products for a broad range of industries and environments.
"We can work directly [with customers] to design the next generation of products and go through the [production] cycle with designing, machining, testing, and getting it to the market faster,” Donati said. “We want to make sure we serve everyone with this explosion that’s about to come in electrification.”
ABB currently has about 300 employees at the Memphis facility supporting the Installation Products line of business. More than a dozen full-time specialists moved from ABB's Southaven lab to its Innovation Center upon its opening.
And Donati said the firm has made it a priority to find more talent, especially for its Memphis operations.
“We’re going to definitely continue to hire high-paying talent, such as product management, engineers, HR, product specialists, and sales training and support,” he said. “That is going to be big for us as we continue to grow the business. Currently, I have about 18 to 20 positions open right now, with about five or six of those just in the Memphis office. As the market grows, we are going to continue to be looking for high-end, highly compensated talent to come into the Memphis area.”
