Close×

ABB is investing €100 million ($159m) into the construction of a state-of-the-art innovation and training campus in Austria to develop technologies for smart machines and robots.

 

The new innovation and training campus will develop technologies for the factory of the future, based on ABB Ability which sees production undertaken autonomously by smart and cloud-connected machines and robots.

 

The campus will cover 35,000 m² and be home to a significant number of state-of-the-art facilities.

 

This include R&D laboratories to develop and test new automation technologies, from industrial control systems up to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and an Automation Academy to train and educate customers, partners and employees in these technologies.

 

ABB said it is its largest ever organic investment in industrial automation and will create around 1,000 new high-tech jobs. It is expected to be up and running in 2020.

 

ABB campus 2

Packaging News

Following the voluntary administration of Recycling Plastics Australia and confirmation that no Commonwealth packaging scheme will be introduced this term, voices from across the packaging and recycling value chain have delivered a blunt assessment of what is at stake.

Pact Group CEO and managing director Sanjay Dayal has advised the board that he intends to leave the company, with an executive search now under way for his successor.

With a Commonwealth packaging scheme ruled out this term, pressure is building ahead of the 18 September Environment Ministers Meeting, as industry, recyclers and environmental groups demand clarity on what meaningful national reform can still be delivered – and when.