ABB and Ericsson have strengthened their commitment to “accelerate the industrial ecosystem for flexible wireless automation”, with the aim of enabling enhanced connected services, industrial IoT and artificial intelligence technologies in the future.

The partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Hannover Messe 2019, establishing their joint vision for future flexible production with automation and wireless communication.

The collaboration comes during the Industry 4.0 era and 5G connectivity, which allow businesses to achieve increased productivity with the help of automation and digitalisation.

The MoU confirms the partners’ agreement to continue their strong research collaboration, explore improvements in manufacturing processes and automation, and discover new business opportunities for the industrial ecosystem.

ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said (www.new.abb.com): “We are very excited to extend our partnership with Ericsson, as the world moves closer to the era of 5G technology.

"ABB’s leadership in digital industries, combined with Ericsson’s pioneering work in connectivity, will open up new
opportunities for customers to enhance productivity and competitiveness by digitalising their businesses.”

The two partners are already fast-tracking the introduction of a new generation of intelligent factory technologies, with Ericsson deploying an intelligent automation system at its manufacturing facilities in Tallinn, Estonia.

ABB has provided a fully automated flexible robotics cell that assembles 5G radios for Ericsson (www.ericsson.com).