Oerlikon Solar: Quickly Expanding Global Capacity
- Partnership with Flextronics enables future production scalability
- Singapore site management team established
- Customer support and delivery response will be significantly enhanced
- Singapore facility will include a fully integrated end-to-end pilot line
- Oerlikon Solar on track to reach grid parity by 2010
San Francisco, INTERSOLAR N.A., July 14, 2008 - As the ramp up of the new Singapore site proceeds, Oerlikon Solar announces an agreement with Flextronics, a leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider. Flextronics will provide important capacity and supply chain solutions needed to accelerate the expansion of Oerlikon's global production capacity. Partnering with Flextronics supports Oerlikon's ability to serve more customers and further reduce project delivery times. "The facility in Singapore and the partnership with Flextronics will extend our global presence in the rapidly growing solar market. This will extend our lead in terms of production capability, delivery time and cost", states Dr. Uwe Krüger, CEO of Oerlikon group. "Customer response and support will be significantly enhanced in Asia and around the globe. "The Singapore facility is also a key element of our plan to achieve grid parity by 2010", says Jeannine Sargent, CEO of Oerlikon Solar.
Based on recent industry announcements, Oerlikon Solar expects installed thin film solar panel manufacturing capacity to grow beyond 8 GW by 2010. With this new Singapore facility, Oerlikon Solar will have the resources to capitalize on this growing market. "We have engaged highly skilled PV experts to operate this facility. Our enlarged service and production capabilities as well as our R&D activities will be raised to a new level - both in Asia and around the world", outlines Oerlikon Solar CEO Sargent.
Strategic partnership to scale global production capacity
Oerlikon Solar and Flextronics, a leading EMS provider with proven expertise in the solar industry, have entered into an agreement whereby Flextronics will support Oerlikon Solar's scalability requirements for global production capacity allowing the execution of more simultaneous projects in multiple geographies. Flextronics' strong global presence and vast resources will enable Oerlikon Solar to optimize its operations and reduce time to market. "The Flextronics Industrial segment operates a focused global team that is dedicated to providing advanced solar solutions to this strategic customer segment. By leveraging our experience in the semiconductor capital equipment, energy and electro-mechanical equipment markets, our solar team is able to rapidly develop unique solutions for the emerging solar market. We have developed a broad service offering for this space and will continue to make further investments in this high growth market. We are very pleased to have entered into this partnership and look forward to working with Oerlikon Solar," states EC Sykes, President Flextronics Industrial.
The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) is spearheading the development of a world class solar industry cluster in Singapore. "Oerlikon's decision in choosing Singapore as its Asia manufacturing and R&D hub clearly demonstrates our rapid progress in developing the solar industry. This project is a significant boost to this growing sector, and shows how our existing strengths in manufacturing, particularly in precision engineering, have evolved to support exciting new areas", said Ko Kheng Hwa, Managing Director of Singapore Economic Development Board."
