ABB : Bulgaria celebrates one hundred millionth Miniature Circuit Breaker

As a traditional ABB product, the MCB is a vital component in home and industrial installations, ensuring electrical safety in multiple applications. It is designed to automatically switch off electrical circuits during an overload or fault conditions, to improve safety and overall reliability.

The Rakovski factory, located near the city of Plovdiv, has two production facilities, opened in 2009 and 2013. It employs more than 1900 people from the region and produces components and products for low- and medium- voltage equipment, including over 4000 different versions of MCBs. The site has been so successful that it now exports products, made in Bulgaria, worldwide and is a flagship for other manufacturers to follow.

Commenting on the milestone, Hans W. Schaefer, Hub business line manager for Din-Rail Products in Germany said: 'We've now produced so many MCBs that, if they were lined up, they would span the distance from Sofia to New York. This massive achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication of our Bulgarian team, who have over the last nine years, established the Rakovski factory as a blueprint for others to follow.'

With a clear commitment to the local economy, ABB Bulgaria has invested in building the capability and expertise of its team and was recognized as Bulgaria's Employer of the Year in 2018 for its innovative approach to people development and training.

'We recognize that people are the key to our success and that's why we attract the best talents and making sure that we upskill all of our teams to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Health and Safety are key priority for ABB, and we organize regular activities to create awareness that this is fundamental to the way we do business, said Uwe Tschirner, Manager of the Rakovski factory.'

The factories customized testing lines were engineered and produced in Germany to provide the highest levels of quality standards. To ensure all mechanical and electrical characteristic of an MCB are 100 percent tested, ABB Robots are used to automatically test components against key performance metrics before they leave the factory.

In addition to Rakovski, ABB also operates two low-voltage factories in Petrich and a high-voltage production unit in Sevlievo. A modern service station for Turbochargers is located in Varna, serving both the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts of the Black Sea. The company's main office in Bulgaria is in Sofia.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a technology leader that is driving the digital transformation of industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB has four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by the ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB's Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com

(In the photo from left to right: Rangel Mishev, Atanas Argirov, Aleksandar Petkov, Ivan Ivanov, Uwe Tschirner, Vladimir Laskov, Petya Valkova, Alessandro Salerno, Hristina Taneva, Boyan Boev, Peter Petkov, Tsvetelina Mantarova, Stoyan Ivanov, Stoyan Kasov.)