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Meyer Burger shuts down manufacturing in Thun, Switzerland

The Swiss technology company, Meyer Burger Technology, said it has initiated a cost efficiency programme to optimise its 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 and ntegrated photovoltaics applications – will be shut down. All the manufacturing activities in Thun are expected to be discontinued by the end of 2018. “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.” says Hans Brändle, CEO at Meyer Burger in a press release. 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. The company is making this move to achieve more flexible cost structures as well as to reduce delivery time and costs. 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. Following these measures, the Thun site will mainly be dedicated to global sales and marketing, services, research and development and headquarter functions in future. The result of this move will affect up to 180 positions mainly in manufacturing, logistics, purchasing and production planning in Thun over the next 15 months, the company says. Meyer Burger expects most of the transformation to be completed by the end of 2018. As part of the measures, the company will also assess solutions for production and logistics space no longer used going forward.

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March 28 2024 10:16 am V22.4.20-1
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