Staking a company’s claim along the selling chain is one of the most foresighted considerations that a company can make. Generally, this is true because the company’s customers are further downstream from where that company is located along that selling chain (not always true.) If a company can find a selling place along the chain closer to the beginning, it will be better positioned to expand its selling and profit possibilities through product expansion and integration up and down the chain.
Solar Thin Films Inc., a manufacturer of solar power module manufacturing equipment, uses Dixx Hills, NY as its corporate headquarters and, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Kraft Electronics Inc., of Budapest Hungary, this location as its main manufacturing center. At present, the company is involved with manufacturing the machinery necessary for manufacturing solar thin film modules. In the not-too-distant future, however, it foresees a time when it will be able to more fully vertically integrate manufacturing/installation/operation components into its business plan.
In today’s sophisticated manufacturing environment, tolerances in equipment manufacture are extremely tight. In the solar module equipment manufacturing market they are even more critical to end-product performance. To this end, the company has developed equipment and specifications that meet or exceed customer’s needs. Glass preparation drilling systems, deposition systems, sputtering equipment and laser scribing systems are all manufactured so they can be integrated into existing modular lines or used as a complete start-up package.
Currently, the company has the bulk of its manufacturing capacity located in Budapest Hungary. This location holds many advantages for a product that is taking root more quickly in Europe than any other part of the world. Additionally, as other parts of the world find solar manufacturing a good green-tech opportunity, the company will be geographically suited to fill service and manufacturing needs. In this particular instance, China would be a good case in point. It is increasingly finding solar power companies popping up throughout its countryside to serve its (and the world’s) very large energy appetite.
As the company settles into a stable routine, after its acquisition of Kraft Electronics, it will be able to manage a spider-web type of expansion throughout Europe and Asia; offering equipment manufacture and services while preparing to enter other parts of the solar field. Where others may have begun solar manufacturing operations at the downstream level, Solar Thin Films Inc. has positioned itself at the source of the process. The others are looking only forward toward selling the end-consumer, whether industrial or residential, but Solar Thin Film Inc. is looking forward toward selling all that solar power has to offer in a currently hot and growing market.
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