Meyer Burger Technology Ltd (SIX Swiss Exchange: MBTN) announced today that it has initiated a cost efficiency programme to optimise manufacturing costs and further concentrate its product portfolio. As a result, the production site in Thun/Switzerland, which currently manufactures equipment used in the wafer and module processes as well as for building integrated photovoltaics applications, will be reorganised. All the manufacturing activities in Thun are expected to be discontinued by the end of 2018.
Hans Brändle, CEO at Meyer Burger said: “The decisions to close down production in Thun in 2018 and to reorganise certain parts of our product portfolio were difficult to take. Especially since it also affects many long-term employees of Meyer Burger. But this transformation and reorganisation has become unavoidable and necessary to improve the Group’s operating efficiency and to secure the future of Meyer Burger. We will ensure that the personnel measures are carried out in a fair, respectful and socially responsible way.”
Manufacturing of diamond wire saws moves closer to clients
In Wafering, with 85% of PV wafers manufactured in Asia (largely in China), Meyer Burger will move its production of diamond wire saws from Thun to China during the course of 2018 in order to achieve more flexible cost structures, reduce delivery time and costs and further increase customer proximity. In Modules, the company is going to focus its resources on establishing SmartWire Connection Technology (SWCT) as an industrial standard. The proprietary Busbar technology and JT laminator technology will be discontinued. For Solar Systems, which mainly addresses the Swiss market with its MegaSlate® products for building integration, strategic alternatives are being evaluated. The panel production in Thun will also end during 2018.
