Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 translation: General Swedish Electric Company; Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 industry company. It merged with the Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 Brown, Boveri & Cie

Brown, Boveri & Cie

Brown, Boveri & Cie 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...

 (BBC) in 1988 to form Asea Brown Boveri

Asea Brown Boveri

ABB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and best known for its robotics. ABB operates mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking ....

. ASEA still exists, but only as a holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 owning 50% of the ABB Group.

History

ASEA was founded 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 as manufacturer of electrical light and generators. By a merging with Wenström's & Granström's Electrical Power Company (Wenströms & Granströms Elektriska Kraftbolag) the name was change to Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, literally the "General Swedish Electrical Limited Company", or a ASEA for short.

• 1889 - the partner Jonas Wenström
  Jonas Wenström
  Jonas Wenström was a Swedish engineer and inventor. He invented in Sweden the three-phase electric power system, the basis for ASEA ....
  
   creates 3-phased generators, motors and transformers.
• 1933 - The company removes a swastika
  Swastika
  The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
  
   from the logotype, due to the symbol's association with Nazi Germany
  Nazi Germany
  Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
  
  .
• 1953 - ASEA creates the first industrial diamonds
  Synthetic diamond
  Synthetic diamond is diamond produced in a technological process; as opposed to natural diamond, which is created in geological processes. Synthetic diamond is also widely known as HPHT diamond or CVD diamond, denoting the production method, High-Pressure High-Temperature synthesis and Chemical...
  
  .
• 1954 - HVDC Gotland
  HVDC Gotland
  The HVDC Gotland, on the Swedish east coast, was the first fully commercial static plant for high voltage direct current transmission in the world. The first HVDC Gotland link went into service in 1954. It could transfer 20 megawatts over a 98-kilometer-long submarine cable between Västervik on...
  
   project, first static high-voltage DC system
• 1960s - ASEA builds 9 of 12 nuclear plants in Sweden.
• 1974 - Industrial robots are introduced by ASEA
• 1987 - Acquires Finnish Oy Strömberg Ab
  Stromberg (company)
  Stromberg or Oy Strömberg Ab, was a company founded by Gottfrid Strömberg in 1889 in Helsinki, Finland, and manufactured electromechanical products such as: generators, electric motors and small power plants. The company was founded initially as Gottfrid Strömbergin sähköyhtiö in Finnish, Gottfrid...
  
  
• 1988 - Merges with BBC Brown Boveri

Further reading

• Jan Glete
  Jan Glete
  Jan Glete was a Swedish historian. He was professor of history at the Stockholm University, specializing in 20th century Swedish industry and banking as well as the connection between state formation and naval history in early modern Europe.-Academic career:Glete spent his entire academic career...
  
  , Asea under hundra år: 1883-1983: en studie i ett storföretags organisatoriska, tekniska och ekonomiska utveckling. (Västerås, 1987).