ABB to Build Web Inspection Systems Factory in Shanghai

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ABB, Westerville, Ohio, USA, announced that it will transfer manufacturing of its Web Inspection Systems, WIS HDI800, to a new factory in Shanghai, China. The new Shanghai facility, already under construction, is part of a previously announced transfer of ABB's Quality Control systems business. The Web Inspection business is currently located in Helsinki, Finland, and is part of ABB's Process Automation Division, Pulp and Paper Business Unit.

Web Inspection Systems, used by the pulp and paper industry to inspect the surface of paper as it is being produced, can see and report many types of defects including holes, spots, and streaks. Using patented neural classifiers, ABB adds intelligence to the system by letting papermakers know exactly what type of defects are occurring, thus reducing rejects, saving fiber, and reducing energy consumption. ABB, through its ULMA business, has been an industry pioneer in Web Inspection Systems for 40 years.

According to Roger Bailey, global manager of ABB's Pulp and Paper business, the decision to merge the Web Inspection factory into the new Quality Control systems factory in Shanghai was based on ABB's continuing strategy to align its footprint with the market demand. "Given our significant investment in a new state of the art facility to manufacture Quality Control Systems, moving the Web Inspection business is a logical conclusion of that."