ABB has entrenched its commitment in southern Africa by opening a new 2 200 square metre facility in Windhoek, Namibia, which increases the company’s capacity to supply, maintain and service products to the local market and neighbouring countries such as Zambia and Angola. This expanded facility will also start servicing the market needs for medium voltage products, low and high voltage switchgear, and is soon to introduce distribution transformers into the local market.
The new headquarters is a consolidation of the two offices ABB previously had in Windhoek and the company has realigned its organisational structure to reflect its growth focus, and position ABB Ability, which represents its complete portfolio of digital solutions with a set of common enabling technologies that are used to build devices, systems, and applications.
“Namibia is an important market for ABB, as it is the second largest contributor in the region to our revenue after South Africa,” said ABB southern Africa MD, Leon Viljoen. “We have been in the country since the early '90s, and this investment is part of our commitment to the region to enable the offering of more services and products. The new facility will also help us to service the neighbouring markets of Angola and Zambia, further improving our penetration into those countries.”
ABB has been operating in Namibia since 1990, after acquiring a small local contracting business and converting it into a full service business focusing on the local mining, utilities and industrial sectors. In the past decade,
ABB’s operations in the country have grown in parallel to the country’s GDP growth, resulting in more business from the public sector.
Viljoen said the new Windhoek facility will also ensure that the company is prepared for the anticipated continued public sector spend in the next few years. With a reasonable operation in Zambia, but very small in Angola, Viljoen envisions Namibia becoming the main centre for delivering services across the border in Angola. “One advantage for our team in Namibia is that they can speedily service customers in Angola,” he said.
ABB has spent the last 12 months realigning and restructuring the Namibian operation, including ensuring that local employees are adequately developed through upskilling in order for them to respond to the growing service demand. The new facility currently employs about 70 people.
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