Paris, France – January 2026 – Groupe PSA (Stellantis), one of Europe’s largest automotive manufacturers, has successfully deployed ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC Line Protection Relays to upgrade the protection systems of 50 industrial power lines at its Paris-area assembly plant. The upgrade addressed critical issues with the plant’s legacy relays, including slow fault response, inaccurate tripping, and poor integration with the plant’s energy management system—problems that caused costly production downtime and equipment damage. Six months post-deployment, the plant has achieved a 68% reduction in power-related downtime, a 52% improvement in fault resolution speed, and a 12% decrease in maintenance costs—significant gains for high-volume automotive manufacturing.
The Challenge: Legacy Relays Disrupt Automotive Production Lines
Stellantis’ Paris assembly plant produces over 300,000 vehicles annually, relying on 50 industrial power lines to supply electricity to robotic assembly arms, paint booths, conveyor systems, and quality control equipment—all critical to continuous, high-speed production. Automotive manufacturing requires uninterrupted power; even a 5-minute outage can disrupt production lines, delay vehicle deliveries, and lead to costly rework. Legacy line protection relays, installed in 2015, were unable to meet the plant’s stringent reliability demands.
Before the upgrade, legacy relays took 200-240ms to respond to faults, resulting in 32-36 power-related downtime incidents per year and 150+ hours of lost production—translating to €8.4 million in annual revenue losses. Their inaccurate tripping caused 15-17 unnecessary equipment shutdowns annually, damaging 4-5 robotic arms per year and costing €1.5 million in repair costs. The relays were incompatible with the plant’s ABB Ability™ Energy Management System, requiring manual fault analysis and increasing maintenance workloads by 22+ hours weekly. Additionally, their lack of remote monitoring capabilities made it difficult to detect faults in real time, extending downtime and increasing costs.
“Automotive production is a high-speed, continuous process that leaves no room for power disruptions,” said Pierre Dubois, Plant Electrical Engineer at Stellantis Paris. “Our legacy relays were too slow and inaccurate—faults caused costly downtime and damaged our expensive equipment, while manual fault analysis wasted valuable technician time. We needed a fast, reliable line protection relay that could integrate with our energy management system and protect our production lines.”
The Solution: ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC’s Speed and Industrial Integration
After an 8-week evaluation of line protection relays from ABB, Siemens, and Rockwell Automation, Stellantis selected the ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC for its ultra-fast fault response, accurate tripping, seamless energy system integration, and remote monitoring capabilities. The deployment followed a phased approach to avoid production disruption: first, upgrading relays on 10 power lines during scheduled maintenance; second, training 60 plant technicians on relay configuration, fault diagnostics, and remote control; and finally, full rollout across 40 more lines over four months with ABB’s on-site support.
Key features of the ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC that solved Stellantis’ challenges include:
- Ultra-Fast Fault Response: Responds to line faults in just 22ms—87% faster than legacy relays—activating protective measures to prevent equipment damage and minimize production downtime.
- Precision Tripping Algorithms: Uses advanced digital protection algorithms to distinguish between real faults and transient electrical disturbances, eliminating unnecessary equipment shutdowns by 95%.
- Seamless Industrial Integration: Supports OPC UA, Modbus TCP, and Profinet protocols, integrating directly with the plant’s ABB Ability™ Energy Management System for real-time fault monitoring and automatic reporting.
- Remote Monitoring & Control: Enables technicians to access relay data, diagnose faults, and adjust settings remotely from a central control room—reducing maintenance time by 68% and speeding up fault resolution.
The Results: Uninterrupted Production and Lower Operational Costs
Six months after full deployment, the ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC has delivered transformative results for Stellantis’ Paris assembly plant, improving production efficiency and reducing costs:
| Metric |
Before Deployment |
After Deployment |
Improvement |
| Annual Power-Related Downtime |
150+ Hours |
48 Hours |
68% Reduction (€5.71M Annual Savings) |
| Unnecessary Equipment Shutdowns/Year |
15-17 |
1-2 |
95% Reduction (€1.43M Annual Repair Savings) |
| Weekly Maintenance Time |
22+ Hours |
7.04 Hours |
68% Reduction (€462K Annual Savings) |
| Fault Response Time |
200-240ms |
22ms |
87% Faster |
“The ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC has been a game-changer for our production line,” said Pierre Dubois. “Its fast fault response and accurate tripping have eliminated costly downtime, while its integration with our energy management system has streamlined our maintenance operations. We plan to deploy this relay across all our European assembly plants by 2028.”
Thomas Laurent, ABB’s Global Product Manager for Industrial Line Protection, added: “Automotive plants require protection relays that are fast, precise, and integrated with industrial systems—and the ABB REC670 1MRK002814-AC delivers on all fronts. Stellantis’ success demonstrates how this relay can drive efficiency and reduce costs in high-demand manufacturing environments.”
