ABB continues to join hands with schools to cultivate senior technicians

Xiamen, China, June 27, 2008, - ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, today signed a contract to co-establish an “ABB Class” with Xiamen Technical School to cultivate young technical talents, so as to closely integrate talents training with market demand. This is the second time for ABB to cooperate with a technical school to run ABB classes since its cooperation with Chongqing Machinery School of Advanced Skilled Workers in 2007. Technical experts from ABB will conduct skills training for students of the class. In addition, ABB will set up an “ABB Scholarship” to fund financially disadvantaged students to continue their study in the following two years.

The ABB Class will be open in September 2008 and consists of 50 students from various departments of Xiamen Technical School such as Mechanical Processing, Applicable Electronic Technology and Numerical Control Machine Tools Operation. A teaching team will be formed jointly by ABB and the School. Experienced experts from ABB will give lectures on specific topics and coach students. Before graduation, the students will have opportunity of internship in the ABB factories in Xiamen. This model of technician training integrates technical education with talent demand of enterprises, and can facilitate the development of senior technical talents and effectively bring schools and employers closer.

Meanwhile, ABB (China) Ltd has set up “ABB Scholarship” in the School. In the next 2 years, ABB will donate RMB 100,000 annually to help more needy students, and get rid of poverty through employment.

Bernd Muehe, Senior Vice President of ABB China, said in the ceremony, “As a global leader in power and automation technologies, ABB has a deep understanding of the importance of knowledge, technology and innovation. We firmly believe that high quality products come from high quality talents. The cooperation between ABB and Xiamen Technical School is to create a new talent-training model which is more interactive, efficient and better meet the needs of enterprises.

ABB has a full range of business in China, including manufacturing, R&D, sales and engineering services, which requires lots of top-tier R&D talents as well as many technicians with high-level skills. In 1992, the first joint venture of ABB in China was founded in Xiamen. Currently, ABB has 5 local companies, 1 branch office and over 2,300 employees in Xiamen.

On April 6, 2007, the first ABB Class was established jointly by ABB and Chongqing Machinery School of Advanced Skilled Workers to meet market’s urgent needs of senior technician talents. At present, 45 students of the class have started their work at ABB. Aiming to provide both industry and society with more skilled workers, ABB plans to duplicate the technician training model and the successful experience to other cities in China.

ABB has always been committing itself to support the development of education and poverty alleviation in China, and actively takes its social responsibilities. Since 2005, ABB China has donated RMB one million annually to China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation to help needy students finish their college studies. In July 2005, ABB established “ABB Scholarship” at Xiamen University of Technology and set up a training base there to teach university students majoring in Electronic Engineering and Automation through an “order-form cultivation” model, besides supporting needy students with excellent performance.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in about 100 countries and employs more than 110,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including R&D, manufacturing, sales and service, with 12,800 employees, 26 joint ventures and wholly owned companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 60 cities. To find out more about ABB in China, visit www.abb.com.cn.