ABB Robotics - Electric Motor Manufacturing at Baldor (ABB)

For Baldor Electric Company (a member of the ABB Group), robots are part of a strategy to stay close to their customers and retain good employees by keeping manufacturing in the US and taking humans out of harm's way.

The robots are working in the Southwestern Die Casting facility—which is tasked with producing all the aluminum castings for Baldor's motors. Foundry work is dirty and dangerous, which lends itself well to robotic automation. And just down the road from Southwestern Die in Fort Smith, Baldor's newest winding facility, robots also come into play during the incredibly intricate and complex step of winding copper coils.

"Some people might think that because ABB and Baldor are the same company now we get special treatment," says Jed Reinhard, Manager of Engineering and Maintenance for the Southwestern Die Casting facility." But the reality is that we were using ABB robots long before the acquisition and we are buying more today for the same reasons we always have: they are reliable and ABB provides great customer service—something we also value as a core mission at Baldor."