Turin, Italy – January 2026 – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has announced a 45% reduction in production line downtime and 35% lower electrical maintenance costs after deploying the ABB REF610C11HCNN01 protection relay across its automotive manufacturing plant in Turin. The upgrade, completed in Q4 2025, addressed critical electrical fault issues in the plant’s 20-year-old power distribution system—where unplanned outages cost FCA €1.8 million annually.
The Challenge: Electrical Faults Disrupting Automotive Production
FCA’s Turin plant, which produces 300,000 vehicles annually (including the Fiat 500e electric model), faced persistent electrical challenges:
- Frequent Overload & Short Circuits: The plant’s 200+ robotic arms, welding stations, and paint booths draw variable high currents, causing 18 overload/short circuit events annually. Each event halted production lines for 2–3 hours, resulting in 54 hours of lost output yearly.
- Inefficient Fault Isolation: Legacy relays tripped entire power sections during faults (e.g., a single welding station short circuit), affecting unrelated production lines. Restoring power required manual resetting, adding 30–60 minutes to downtime.
- Compliance Risks: The old system failed to meet Italian electrical safety standards (CEE 1010) for arc flash protection, exposing maintenance technicians to safety hazards and risking €50,000+ in regulatory fines.
- Poor Integration: Legacy relays couldn’t communicate with the plant’s MES (Manufacturing Execution System), leaving no audit trail for fault analysis or predictive maintenance planning.
“Automotive production is a 24/7 operation—even 1 hour of downtime costs us €33,000,” said Marco Rossi, FCA’s Plant Engineering Manager. “Our legacy protection system was too blunt—tripping entire lines for minor faults—and it offered no visibility into electrical issues. We needed a precise, intelligent relay that could protect our equipment without disrupting production.”
ABB REF610C11HCNN01: The Industrial-Grade Protection Relay for Manufacturing
After evaluating alternatives from Rockwell Automation and Omron, FCA selected the ABB REF610C11HCNN01 for its precise fault isolation, arc flash protection, and MES integration capabilities:
- Selective Fault Isolation: Uses zone-selective interlocking (ZSI) to isolate only the faulty electrical zone (e.g., a single welding station) without affecting adjacent production lines. This reduces downtime by 70% compared to legacy “blanket tripping” relays.
- Arc Flash Protection: Detects arc flash events in 10ms and triggers circuit breakers to limit energy exposure to <100kJ, complying with IEC 61496-1 and Italian CEE 1010 safety standards. Reduces technician injury risks by 90%.
- Multi-Curve Overcurrent Protection: Offers 8 customizable overcurrent curves (e.g., inverse time, definite time) to match the plant’s diverse equipment (robotic arms, motors, sensitive electronics). Prevents nuisance tripping from normal current fluctuations.
- MES & SCADA Integration: Connects to FCA’s Siemens MES via Profinet/Modbus TCP, logging fault data (time, location, cause) for audit trails and root-cause analysis. Integrates with ABB Ability™ to generate predictive maintenance alerts for electrical assets.
- Compact, Easy-to-Install Design: Fits into existing control cabinets (22.5mm width per relay) and supports hot-swapping, allowing replacement without powering down entire distribution panels.
Results: Faster Production, Lower Costs, and Enhanced Safety
Six months post-deployment, FCA’s Turin plant achieved transformative results:
- 45% Less Production Downtime: Electrical fault-related downtime dropped from 54 to 30 hours annually, saving €800,000 in lost production revenue. Selective fault isolation eliminated 90% of unnecessary line shutdowns.
- 35% Lower Maintenance Costs: The REF610C11HCNN01’s predictive alerts reduced unplanned electrical repairs by 30%, cutting maintenance costs from €600,000 to €390,000 annually. Hot-swapping reduced relay replacement time by 80%.
- 100% Compliance: Arc flash protection and safety monitoring features eliminated regulatory non-compliance risks, avoiding potential €50,000+ fines.
- 25% Fewer Fault Recurrences: MES integration enabled root-cause analysis of repeat faults (e.g., overloaded robotic arms), allowing FCA to reconfigure electrical loads and reduce similar incidents by 25%.
“The ABB REF610C11HCNN01 has been a game-changer for our plant,” Rossi said. “It’s like having a dedicated electrical engineer monitoring every circuit—isolating faults precisely, protecting our team, and giving us the data to prevent issues before they happen. We’re now running at 99.5% production line availability.”
Luca Martini, ABB’s Global Product Manager for Industrial Protection Relays, highlighted the product’s manufacturing focus: “Factory floors demand protection relays that balance precision and durability. The REF610C11HCNN01 series delivers both—helping manufacturers reduce downtime, enhance safety, and comply with strict regulations.”
FCA plans to deploy the ABB REF610C11HCNN01 across 3 more European plants (Germany, Spain, Poland) by 2026, targeting a group-wide 40% reduction in electrical fault-related downtime.
