Innovation Improvement Award from ABB

Technology group ABB has presented TDK in China with its “Innovation Improvement Award.” The company is recognizing the further development of varistor product design, which replaces silver with copper and tin with nickel in response to fluctuating raw material prices and rising cost pressures. 

The varistors are manufactured at the Zhuhai FTZ site in China and are used in ABB's surge protection devices, primarily in metering systems and in data and telecommunications technology. 

In response to rising cost pressures across the industry, TDK revised the product design of its varistors and the corresponding manufacturing processes last year. In doing so, the company replaced expensive materials such as silver and tin with more affordable alternatives like copper and nickel, while maintaining the same product performance. This allowed the company to offset rising material costs and create competitive products for ABB. 

Eric Ruan, Product Marketing Manager for Varistors at the Zhuhai FTZ site, emphasizes: “This award from ABB is a high recognition of our technological expertise in R&D as well as our capabilities in quality control. ABB thereby underscores the profound cooperation between both parties, working together to overcome challenges and create added value.” 

ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) is a leading technology company in the fields of electrification and automation, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. The group employs approximately 110,000 people worldwide.