Zollner to produce for SMART Technologies in Hungary

German EMS-provider Zollner will assemble the interactive whiteboards at its facility in Vác, Hungary. Initially, it will have the capacity to produce more than 125,000 SMART Board 600 series interactive whiteboards per year, significantly increasing SMART’s annual global production. With SMART Board interactive whiteboards assembled at the Hungary facility, service to SMART’s EMEA customers will improve. Currently, all SMART Board 600 series interactive whiteboards are assembled and shipped from SMART’s main plant in Ottawa, Canada. Hungarian assembly will also decrease SMART’s reliance on transatlantic shipping, thereby reducing the company’s carbon footprint. The decision to assemble SMART Board interactive whiteboards at the Vác, Hungary, facility comes amid continued strong sales for SMART in EMEA. According to Futuresource Consulting, approximately 210,000 interactive whiteboards were sold in the region in 2008, and SMART had a 45.4 percent product category share, nearly twice that of its nearest competitor. Futuresource estimates 2.3 million interactive whiteboards will be sold in EMEA over the next five years. When the facility in Hungary is fully operational in June 2009, approximately 140 Zollner staff will assemble SMART Board interactive whiteboards. “The Zollner Group has a tradition of working with some of the best leading-edge technology companies in the world,” says Johann Weber, CEO. “We are proud of forming this long-term relationship with SMART Technologies and look forward to helping SMART strengthen its leadership in the interactive whiteboard category.” “Demand for SMART Board interactive whiteboards is increasing rapidly in EMEA because of the benefits to teaching, learning and presenting,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “This arrangement with the Zollner Group to assemble our 600 series interactive whiteboards in the heart of the EMEA region means we can serve our EMEA customers in a more timely and efficient manner.”