Brown-Boveri

Brown, Boveri

Sulzer steam engine and Brown-Boveri alternator from 1901 in the Electropolis museum in Mulhouse. France
Industry	electrical engineering
Founded	1891 (1891), disestablished 1 January 1988
Headquarters	Switzerland

Brown, Boveri (BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Baden, Switzerland, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 BBC took over the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1988 it merged with ASEA to form ABB Group, a company producing DC Motors, AC motors, generators, turbochargers, transformers and the electrical equipment of locomotives. Some of BBC's technology went into German U-boats of World War II, such as the depth controls.

BBC Brown Boveri was established in 1891. The company was one of only a few multinational corporations to operate subsidiaries that were larger than the parent company. Because of the limitations of the Swiss domestic market, Brown Boveri established subsidiaries throughout Europe relatively early in its history, and at times had difficulty maintaining managerial control over some of its larger operating units. The merger with ASEA, a company which was praised for its strong management, was expected to help Brown Boveri reorganize and reassert control over its vast international network.

Brown Boveri's early activities included manufacturing electrical components such as electric motors for locomotives and power-generating equipment for Europe's railway systems. In 1919 the company entered into a licensing agreement with the British manufacturing firm Vickers which gave the British firm the right to manufacture and sell Brown Boveri products throughout the British Empire and in some parts of Europe. The agreement gave Brown Boveri a significant amount of money and the promise of substantial annual revenue, and also helped the company expand into foreign markets at a time when protectionist policies inhibited international expansion.