ABB appoints new manager for UK drives business

Neil Ritchie replaces Steve Ruddell as head of low-voltage AC drive sales business in the UK

ABB have appointed Neil Ritchie to head up their low-voltage AC drives sales business in the UK. He replaces Steve Ruddell, who, after 10 years in the role, has moved into a global position within ABB as head of global marketing – motors and generators.

Mr Ritchie has worked for ABB for the last 22 years, starting in automation service technical support. For the past 10 years or so he has managed ABB’s service activities for drives and motors.

In his new role as local business unit manager for low-voltage AC drives, UK, he will be based in Daresbury and will report to Chris Withey, who has recently taken over Steve Ruddell’s other role as local division manager for discrete automation and motion, UK.

‘I’m looking forward to running the UK drives business at what is an exciting time for drives generally,’ commented Mr Ritchie. ‘We have new low-voltage drives based on a common architecture as well as a push into micro-drive applications.

‘We also have an extensive motion-control portfolio which helps us secure markets and offer a comprehensive and complete portfolio. And underpinning this will be a concerted effort to build on our life-cycle services while ensuring we improve our customer responsiveness at all times.’