A year ago, ABB bought Austrian industrial automation specialist Bernecker & Rainer (BR), which makes programmable controls for machines, to better challenge German rival Siemens on the factory floor.

Now it plans to create around 1,000 new jobs at a new campus at the B&R headquarters in Eggelsberg in the province of Upper Austria, ABB said.

The campus is expected to be finished by 2020.

ABB said a year ago it aimed to increase B&R's annual sales to above $1 billion from around $600 million.

"We are well on track to achieve this goal," Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer said in a statement.

The Austrian acquisition helped ABB consolidate its No. 2 position in the $130 billion processing and industrial sector behind Siemens but ahead of rivals such as Emerson , Rockwell Automation and General Electric.

 

Copyright Reuters, 2018