Bo Henriksson, ABB Country Manager in Estonia:
The government doesn't meddle. "The climate to operate a business in Estonia is very easy," says Henriksson. "There is very little bureaucracy."
An ample supply of specialists. Even when the labour market has been at its tightest, ABB has been able to recruit and train the specialists it needs. When ABB could not find the specialists it needed to produce turbines for wind generators, it created programs and trained them itself.
A good work ethic. At the level of the assembly line workers, the local labour is consistently praised as honest and hardworking.
Geography. Since as much as 100 percent of some of ABB Estonia's production is slated for other ABB factories, the geographic proximity to Scandinavia is critical. This is true of wind turbine production at the Jüri factory: although thirty percent of the world's wind parks use its products, every generator must journey to another ABB facility before it meets its final user.
Room to grow. ABB is engaged in lobbying work with ABB Corporate to expand production in Estonia. There are case studies which illustrate success in moving entire operations to Estonia, such as in 2006 when ABB moved the compact substation manufacturing facility from Denmark. "It's profitable in Estonia," says Henriksson. "For a variety of reasons, it wasn't ever profitable in Denmark."
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