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Baden Turbocharger: It is perhaps the most global product in Aargau. They can be found on cruise ships and cargo ships, in diesel and gas power plants, in locomotives and construction machinery, almost all over the world.
This industrial icon employs around 800 people. In 1924 the first turbocharger of what was then Brown, Boveri & Cie. (BBC), and after the merger with Asea, production continued successfully on Bruggerstrasse in Baden.
But three weeks ago, ABB’s new CEO, Björn Rosengren, of Sweden, suddenly announced: ABB wants to sell the turbocharger business. It no longer fits the strategy.
Peter Voser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABB, during the interview at the group’s headquarters in Zurich-Oerlikon.
© Sandra Ardizzone / AGR
Now, the head of ABB takes a position. The chairman of the board of directors, Peter Voser, who comes from the Baden region, says that it is not about “getting rid” of this business. It’s about looking for the best for your future: “And the best is not always ABB,” he says in an interview with CH Media.
Listed company based in Baden, as in the times of the BBC?
Voser emphasizes that what ABB is planning is the opposite of a shutdown. “One of the options we are looking at is to make the business independent and then we will list it on the Swiss stock exchange.” Baden would then be the headquarters of a company listed on the Swiss stock exchange for the first time (ABB is based in Zurich, while BBC was also based in Baden). Voser does not foresee job cuts, as is feared in the region, but an expansion:
Installation of blades for turbochargers in Baden.
© Archive image ABB / HO
The ABB president justifies the advantages of becoming independent compared to staying in the group as follows: “It hurts me to keep something that is not part of the strategy for a long time. Because this way this business receives less money for investments and stays short for acquisitions. It is important to avoid that. “
Peter Voser also comments on a topic that is controversially discussed in Baden: the increasing dominance of Sweden in the group. ABB is headquartered in Switzerland, but only around 4,000 of the 110,000 jobs worldwide. And in the first positions, apart from Voser himself, the Swedes dominate. It says there is no such domain. “The composition by nationality is not decisive and anyway changes over time. On the executive board we have two Swedes, the CEO and the head of communications, nothing more ”.
