"In 2017, we have hired or admitted to in-service training 500 people, 350 of which are office workers and 150 are production workers," ABB Baltic human resources manager Agnes Hansen told BNS.

Last October, ABB opened a regional shared services center in the new Öpik Building in Ülemiste City, Tallinn. The shared services center is set to expand its workforce to over 400 within a few years. As of this January, approximately 200 people were already employed there.

The regional shared services center in Tallinn is one of six such centers that ABB has established or is in the process of establishing all over the world, the purpose of which is to make its operations more efficient by bringing together and standardizing support services that were previously provided in 68 separate countries. The shared services center supports ABB with financial, human resources and supply chain services.

In addition, ABB brought a number of jobs to Estonia and Italy after closing its renewable energy production equipment plant in Arizona lat year. "Some 70 people have begun working for us in connection with the closure of the U.S. plant," Hansen noted.

ABB has been active in Estonia since 1992. Its business here is divided into three primary areas: equipment, systems, maintenance services and project sales; motor, generator, renewable energy equipment, electrical carbine and substation manufacturing; and accounting, supply chain management and human resources services.

In 2015, sales of ABB Group in Estonia totaled €155 million. The unit employed an average of 1,056 people.