After a long hiatus I have decided to get back on the blogging trail with albeit a belated blog about ABB's acquisition of T&Bat the end of January. I must admit that the bulk of the deal centers around T&Bs manufacturing of low-voltage and ultra low-voltage electrical products such as connectors, conduits and fittings as well as wiring management products for the construction, industrial and utilities markets. These are products complementary to the offering of ABB’s Low Voltage Products division, which includes products such as breakers and switches.
ABB previously acquired Newave back in December 2011 as a means of broadening its UPS offerings which one of my colleagues blogged about at the end of 2011 based on our Power Protection market intelligence. Of interest to this particular blog is T&Bs line of hard wired surge protection products and industrial UPS solutions and T&Bs network of more than 6,000 distributor locations and wholesalers in North America which complements ABB's well established distribution channels in Europe and Asia.
Time and again VDC's research, which relies on feedback from extensive web and phone surveys, reveals that most customers are increasingly desiring to partner with suppliers that can provide a complete product portfolio but also best in class service and support. ABB instinctively realizes that in its corporate DNA and has completed a number of acquisitions in different markets in which VDC provides coverage, including process level measurement and HMI solutions.
Through its acquisition of T&B, ABB will be able to provide its customers a more complete selection of UPS and hard wire surge solutions with which to meet their needs and help them to move effectively compete in their respective markets. It also provides ABB a strong beach head from which to gain market share in the hard wired surge protection markets and the industrial UPS segments, both of which T&B has a solid footprint.
The overall market for power protection solutions is quite large but also fragmented on some levels, thus VDC anticipates seeing more PAC Man activity as suppliers continue to seek revenue growth not just through organic new product development initiatives.
Comments