Annual Report 2011 (5.07 MB, PDF-File) - Oerlikon

Business development
In 2011, the solar market faced extremely challenging conditions
characterized by excess production capacity, significant
price declines, and a downturn in several regional end markets.
The Segment suffered from lack of customer investment in
solar module production lines and has, as a result, performed
unsatisfactorily this year.
Despite such challenging market conditions, Oerlikon Solar received
its first order for a complete 120 Megawatt ThinFab
production line from Asia during the first half of 2011. Other
contracts for the ThinFab 120 were delayed, although negotiations
with several customers have reached an advanced
stage. Order intake at Oerlikon Solar totaled CHF 202 million in
2011, a decrease of 12 % compared with CHF 230 million for
2010. Through the execution of existing orders, sales rose by
27 % from CHF 254 million in 2010 to CHF 323 million in 2011.
EBIT totaled CHF –10 million compared with CHF –59 million in
the previous year. Order backlog amounted to CHF 130 million
in 2011 compared with the previous year’s total of
CHF 255 million.
Key topics
Operational Excellence: The Segment made significant improvements
to internal processes by systematically executing
Operational Excellence initiatives, and On Time Delivery (OTD)
programs in particular. The Segment increased OTD of components
from suppliers to 99 % from just 59 % in 2010.
Outlook: fundamentally reevaluating structure
The Segment expects the challenging market environment to
continue in 2012, putting break-even operations out of reach
given the current organization of the Segment. As such, Oerlikon
Solar is fundamentally reevaluating its structure.
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In contrast to the slow market, the Segment made significant
progress in terms of technological advances, optimization of
internal processes, and further cost-cutting. Since being created,
the Segment has received orders totaling more than
870 Megawatts (MW) of annual production capacity. More than
5 million solar modules using Oerlikon technology have now
been manufactured.
The Segment introduced a significantly improved next generation
of the ThinFab production line in January 2012. The line,
designed for 140 MW of annual capacity, delivers production
costs of just USD 0.5/EUR 0.35/Watt-peak (Wp). The Capex is
also considerably lower, now reaching USD 1/Wp, representing
a cost reduction of more than 20 %, compared with the previous
model. Oerlikon Solar also presented a new R&D record cell with
12.5 % efficiency, breaking the previous record of 11.9 % – also
held by Oerlikon. This is another clear demonstration of the longrange
development potential of Oerlikon’s technology.
Quality: In the second half of 2011, independent German
technical service provider TÜV Rheinland confirmed the high
quality and reliability standards Oerlikon Solar offers its customers.
The thin film module with 155 Watt-peak (Wp) capacity
developed for the ThinFab prouction line passed all tests for
IEC 61646 and IEC 61730 standards. TÜV Rheinland certification
allows Oerlikon Solar’s customers much quicker access to
the market and thus faster amortization of production line
capital expenditure.