The acquisition, a key step in ABB's external growth strategy, was signed on July 19 and is expected to close by mid-summer 2021. Both parties have agreed not to disclose any details regarding the purchase price. The official announcement will be made at a press conference featuring Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation, and Verónica Pascual Boé, CEO of ASTI Mobile Robotics Group.

Founded in 1982, ASTI is headquartered in Burgos, Spain, and employs over 300 people in Spain, France, and Germany. The majority shareholder is Verónica Pascual Boé, who also serves as CEO. Another shareholder is European Growth Buyout Keensight Capital. ASTI currently services one of the largest AMR fleets in Europe, with a top-tier customer base in the automotive, logistics, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors across 20 countries. Since 2015, the company has achieved average annual growth of nearly 30% and aims to reach approximately $50 million in revenue by fiscal year 2021.

“With its industry-leading product portfolio, comprehensive software, and deep expertise in growth segments, ASTI is the perfect choice for us to support our customers with the next generation of flexible automation,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB’s Robotics & Discrete Automation business. “With this acquisition, ABB will be the only company to offer a complete portfolio of AMR, robotics, and machinery automation solutions, from production and logistics to the point of consumption. This provides a key advantage for our customers, enabling them to tailor solutions to individual customers and capitalize on the diverse needs of end users.”.

AMRs will enable an unprecedented degree of flexibility, from production, logistics, and intralogistics to retail and healthcare. This shared vision of ABB and ASTI will help customers replace current static production lines with fully flexible networks, where intelligent AMRs will autonomously transport materials, parts, and finished products between connected workstations in factories, logistics centers, laboratories, stores, or hospitals.

Verónica Pascual Boé, CEO of ASTI, commented: “ABB’s vision aligns perfectly with ours, as we both support our customers’ flexibility and competitiveness through workplace automation. This is the next exciting stage of our journey, and together we will accelerate our innovation plans, expand our global customer service, partner network, production and execution capabilities, and leverage ABB’s global market access, particularly in China. I am delighted to join the robotics management team and lead the AMR business to deliver this ambitious growth plan.”.

ASTI's Burgos headquarters will become the main headquarters for ABB's AMR business, led by Verónica Pascual Boé. All functions, including but not limited to R&D, engineering, product value chain, and project management, will continue at ASTI's facilities in Spain, France, and Germany. ABB will significantly expand production capacity in Burgos to support planned sales growth in Europe and the Americas. To facilitate the growth potential of AMR in China and Asia, ABB will also establish an AMR hub on the continent, encompassing the entire value chain and manufacturing, at its new robotics factory, scheduled to open in Shanghai in 2022. China, the world's largest robotics market, is projected to reach $1.8 billion in annual AMR sales by 2025.

ASTI's industry-leading AMR product portfolio includes autonomous traction vehicles, goods-to-person transport solutions, autonomous pallet, container and box carriers, as well as a comprehensive software offering, ranging from navigation and vehicle control, fleet and order management, and cloud-based traceability systems.

This set of solutions will be integrated into ABB's portfolio of solutions comprising robots, machine automation, modular solutions and software suite, including RobotStudio®, ABB Robotics' simulation and programming tool, thus creating a unique and comprehensive automation portfolio for ABB customers.

ABB and ASTI have extensive experience in industrial sectors such as automotive, food and beverage or packaged consumer goods, as well as in new growth segments such as logistics, e-commerce, retail and healthcare.

With global sales of AMR projected to reach approximately $14 billion by 2025, representing a year-on-year growth rate of approximately 20%, ABB plans to expand AMR sales and support to 53 countries. The acquisition by ABB Robotics comes shortly after the company's announcements to expand robotic automation to new sectors and users, including the launch of its new GoFa™ and SWIFTI™ collaborative robot families and its announcement that it will advance automation in the construction industry.