B&R Industrial Automation

B&R Industrial Automation contact details

Head office

B&R Strasse 1
5142 Eggelsberg
Austria

Telephone +43 7748 6586-0

Email office.br@abb.com

Website br-automation.com/en-gb

B&R Industrial Automation Ltd. (UK)

c/o ABB Ltd, Broadoak, Southgate Park
Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate
Peterborough PE2 6YS
United Kingdom

Email office.uk@br-automation.com

Web br-automation.com/en-gb/about-us/contact

Show B&R Industrial Automation headquarters on the map Open in Google Maps →

Contact details as published by ABB, checked 2026-10-30. Specify Motion is not affiliated with ABB.

B&R Industrial Automation product lines

Who B&R is

B&R Industrial Automation is an Austrian maker of machine and factory automation, headquartered in Eggelsberg, Upper Austria, and since 2017 part of ABB. It describes itself as ABB’s global centre for machine and factory automation, responsible for machine automation within ABB Automation.

B&R’s approach is to supply the whole control system of a machine from one source: controllers, I/O, HMIs and industrial PCs, servo drives and motors, mechatronic systems and the Automation Studio software that ties them together. For motion engineers, it is best known for its ACOPOS servo drives, its 8-series synchronous motors and its POWERLINK real-time Ethernet. This profile concentrates on servo motors, servo drives and controllers.

History and ownership

Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer founded the company in 1979, and its name, B&R, comes from theirs. ABB’s 2017 investor presentation summarises the product history: early PLCs in the 1980s, the Automation Studio software in 1997, ACOPOS servo drives and motors in 1999, the POWERLINK open Ethernet protocol in 2002, the X20 PLC and I/O system in 2005 and the openSAFETY protocol in 2007. At that point B&R had more than 3,000 employees, was active in 70 countries and reported revenue of over 600 million US dollars for fiscal 2015/16.

ABB announced its acquisition of B&R, then Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH, on 4 April 2017 and completed it on 6 July 2017. ABB described B&R as the largest independent provider of open-architecture machine and factory automation and made it a global business unit, Machine & Factory Automation, based in Eggelsberg. The imprint now names B&R Holding GmbH as sole shareholder of B&R Industrial Automation GmbH, and ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd as sole shareholder of the holding company.

Motion portfolio

Servo drives

The ACOPOS P3 is B&R’s compact multi-axis servo drive, with 1-, 2- and 3-axis modules from 0.7 kW up to 80 kW per module and a 50 µs sampling time, against 400 µs on the previous generation. The ACOPOSmulti is the modular system for larger machines: power supply modules and single- or two-axis inverter modules on POWERLINK, with wall, feed-through or cold-plate mounting and SafeMOTION variants. ACOPOSmicro, ACOPOS X and ACOPOSremote cover smaller and decentralised needs.

Within ACOPOS P3, B&R splits the range into power classes: high-power 1-axis modules at 32, 40, 51 and 80 kW and 2-axis modules up to 64 kW per axis, mid-power modules from 7 to 18 kW, low-power 1-, 2- and 3-axis modules from 1 to 4 kW, and a compact 1-axis version from 0.7 to 4 kW. B&R says the ACOPOS P3 needs about 50% less control cabinet space. Our servo drive hub explains how to size a drive’s continuous and peak current.

Servo motors

The 8LS synchronous motors are the core range, with stall torque from 0.8 to 390 Nm, nominal speeds from 1,300 to 6,000 rpm and flanges from 58 to 269.9 mm, in self-cooled and fan-cooled versions. The 8KS motors go up to 140 kW and 555 Nm stall torque with fan or water cooling. For hygienic machines, the 8JS stainless steel servo motors are IP69K, designed to EHEDG and FDA guidelines. The ACOPOSmotor puts the drive on the motor, from 0.55 to 2.3 kW, with power and POWERLINK on one hybrid cable. B&R also lists 8LV and 8WS motors, 8LT torque motors, 80MP stepper motors and 8G planetary gearboxes.

Controllers

The X20 controllers are modular PLCs up to Intel Atom performance, with POWERLINK and, on the current generation, OPC UA over TSN, connecting to around 250 X20 I/O modules. PC-based control runs on Automation PC and Panel PC hardware, and Power Panels combine control, motion and HMI. See our motion controller hub.

Technologies and standards

B&R developed POWERLINK, an open real-time Ethernet protocol, and the openSAFETY protocol for transmitting safety data. Its newer controllers support OPC UA over TSN. Safety functions such as STO, SS1, SLS and SDI are integrated in SafeMOTION drives and in the network version of ACOPOSmotor. The 8JS motors’ hygienic design follows EHEDG and FDA guidelines, with a surface finish below 0.8 µm.

Industries served

ABB’s 2017 summary lists plastics, metals, food and beverage, textile machinery, packaging, paper and printing and automotive among B&R’s served industries, with about 4,000 machine builder customers at the time. Our packaging and food market page covers the motion requirements most relevant to those machines.

Global and UK presence

B&R links to 22 country and language websites. In the UK, B&R Industrial Automation Ltd. is based c/o ABB Ltd at Broadoak, Southgate Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6YS, email office.uk@br-automation.com. The pages we read give no UK phone number, so UK engineers are directed to the web contact form or the head office in Eggelsberg on +43 7748 6586-0.

Sourcing B&R parts through Specify Motion

Specify Motion is independent of B&R and ABB and is not affiliated with either. We can help you source ACOPOS drives and 8-series motors for an existing machine, or propose equivalents from our supply network on published figures. Send a part number through the find a replacement form.

B&R Industrial Automation history: key dates

1. 1979Founded by Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer
2. 1999ACOPOS servo drives and motors introduced
3. 2002POWERLINK open real-time Ethernet protocol introduced
4. 2005X20 PLC and I/O system introduced
5. 2017ABB announces the acquisition of B&R on 4 April
6. 2017ABB completes the acquisition on 6 July; B&R becomes its Machine & Factory Automation business

B&R Industrial Automation servo drives

Multi-axis servo drive

ACOPOS P3

Compact 1-, 2- and 3-axis servo drives from 0.7 kW to 80 kW per module with a 50 µs sampling time, available with SafeMOTION.

Multi-axis servo drive

ACOPOSmulti

Modular multi-axis servo system of power supply and single- or two-axis inverter modules on POWERLINK, with wall, feed-through (IP65 cooler) or cold-plate mounting and SafeMOTION inverter options.

B&R Industrial Automation servo motors

Integrated servo motor

ACOPOSmotor (8DI)

Servo motor with integrated drive from 550 W to 2.3 kW and 1.2 to 10 Nm in three sizes, IP65, with POWERLINK and power on one hybrid connector and STO/SS1 safety.

AC servo motor

8LS synchronous motors

Synchronous servo motors with stall torque from 0.8 to 390 Nm (series maximum, force-cooled 8LSP9), nominal speeds from 1,300 to 6,000 rpm and flanges from 58 to 269.9 mm.

AC servo motor

8KS synchronous motors

Large synchronous servo motors up to 140 kW with stall torque up to 555 Nm air-cooled (575 Nm water-cooled 8KSJ9) and speeds to 3,000 rpm, with fan or water cooling.

Stainless servo motor

8JS stainless steel servo motors (8JSB / 8JSQ)

Hygienic 100% stainless steel servo motors to IP69K in sizes 3 to 6, designed to EHEDG and FDA guidelines with surface finish below 0.8 µm and EnDat 2.2 encoders.

B&R Industrial Automation controllers, plcs and hmis

PLC

X20 controllers

Modular X20 PLC system with controllers up to Intel Atom class, POWERLINK and OPC UA over TSN on the current generation, and around 250 directly connectable I/O modules.

Frequently asked questions

What is the B&R website?

B&R's website is br-automation.com, with UK pages at br-automation.com/en-gb/. It carries product pages for motion control, PLC systems, industrial PCs and mechatronic systems, plus the contact page, the imprint with the Austrian legal entity and the UK office address. It links to 22 country or language sites.

How do I contact B&R in the UK?

B&R's contact and imprint pages give the UK company as B&R Industrial Automation Ltd. c/o ABB Ltd, Broadoak, Southgate Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6YS, with the email office.uk@br-automation.com. No UK phone number is shown on those pages; there is a web contact form.

Where is B&R's headquarters?

The headquarters is in Eggelsberg, Upper Austria. The imprint gives B&R Industrial Automation GmbH, B&R Strasse 1, 5142 Eggelsberg, telephone +43 7748 6586-0, registered at the Ried im Innkreis regional court under FN 111651 v.

Who owns B&R?

ABB. The imprint states that B&R Industrial Automation GmbH is wholly owned by B&R Holding GmbH, which is wholly owned by ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. ABB announced the deal on 4 April 2017 and completed it on 6 July 2017. B&R is now ABB's global centre for machine and factory automation.

What does B&R stand for?

B&R comes from the names of the founders, Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer, who started the company in 1979. The former full company name was Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH. Both founders acted as advisors to ABB during the integration after the 2017 acquisition.

What does B&R make?

B&R makes PLCs and I/O (X20), industrial PCs and HMIs, servo drives (ACOPOS P3, ACOPOSmulti, ACOPOSmotor and others), servo, torque and stepper motors, planetary gearboxes, ACOPOSinverter frequency inverters, mechatronic systems and the Automation Studio engineering software.

Sources

1. B&R: Imprint / disclosure
2. B&R: Contact
3. B&R: About us
4. ABB: ABB completes acquisition of B&R
5. ABB: Leadership in industrial automation, ABB to acquire B&R (investor presentation, April 2017)
6. B&R: Motion control
7. B&R: ACOPOS P3
8. B&R: ACOPOSmulti
9. B&R: ACOPOSmotor
10. B&R: 8LS synchronous motors
11. B&R: 8KS synchronous motors
12. B&R: 8JS stainless steel servo motors
13. B&R: X20 system
14. B&R: PLC systems

Figures are summarised from the sources above and from manufacturers' published data on the date shown. Always confirm against the current datasheet for your exact part.