From furniture to foil – laminate : firm branches out to embrace new PV business
German laminate company Bürkle is well-known in the laminates and pressing industry for its work in the wood, plastic card and circuit board industries. Now, it has gained a foothold in the photovoltaic industry and is determined to use the expertise it already has to be a major-league player among solar product manufacturers. In an interview for PES, Bürkle Managing Director Hans-Joachim Bender describes how the company diversified into PV and what its ambitions are for the sector.
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PES: To start, could you please give us an overview of BÜrkle as a company, its history and the type of work it does?
Hans-Joachim Bender: The headquarters of the plant manufacturer Robert Bürkle GmbH are in Freudenstadt / Baden-Württemberg. The company is represented in Germany by a branch in Mastholte / North Rhine-Westphalia as well as by a branch in Paderborn. There are also subsidiaries in the USA, in China, Taiwan and in Slovakia. The range of products for the derived timer product and furniture industry varies from presses and lacquering lines to thermoforming plants and foil laminating plants. Bürkle manufactures multi-daylight presses for the plastic card and circuit board industry.
