Production Output Up 25 percent
2010 was marked by a strong increase in production output at every division. Consequently, capacity utilization improved appreciably, averaging far in excess of 80 percent at our chemical divisions. There were no unplanned temporary or permanent facility shutdowns. Although production quantities increased by 25 percent, production costs only rose 18 percent.
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Capacity Utilization in 2010 |
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% |
Plant Utilization | |
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WACKER POLYSILICON |
100 | |
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WACKER SILICONES |
93 | |
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WACKER POLYMERS |
80 | |
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SILTRONIC |
80 |
Investments in new production facilities amounted to €597.1 million in 2010. Currently, our most important projects are setting up polysilicon production at Nünchritz and starting the preparatory work for polysilicon production in the US State of Tennessee. In 2010, we opened production facilities at Zhangjiagang (China), at Jandira (Brazil), and at Jena and Burghausen (Germany). The site in Duncan (USA), where WACKER used to produce silicone emulsions, was closed as planned. We took over Henkel’s Jincheon production site (South Korea), where we manufacture silicone sealants under the Lucky-Silicone name.
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Key Start-Ups |
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Site |
Project |
Start-Up | ||
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Jena |
Small-scale biologics |
2010 | ||
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Zhangjiagang |
Polymers and fluids plant |
2010 | ||
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Zhangjiagang |
Siloxane and pyrogenic silica |
2010 | ||
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Jandira |
Silicone emulsions plant |
2010 | ||
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Burghausen |
Expansion of specialty silanes |
2010 |
Our own Corporate Engineering teams are responsible for running all investment projects. It is one of WACKER’s great strengths to have in-house engineering specialists. This enables us to secure production expertise – for example, in the field of polysilicon.
680 Productivity Projects Completed
WACKER boosts productivity along the entire supply chain via its “Wacker Operating System” (WOS) program. Our goal is to increase productivity by 10 percent annually, which we achieved in 2010. Specific production costs rose far less than production quantities. In the year under review, WACKER carried out around 680 productivity projects worldwide. Their main focus was on controlling energy and raw-material costs. 34 percent of all measures served to streamline the use of raw materials, with 16 percent tackling how to save energy in our production processes.
Our WOS ACADEMY (founded in 2009) held a total of 15 productivity seminars. On-site training sessions tailored to each sector’s demands supplemented the training program. In all, 60 employees were trained in the application of new and proven productivity methods (such as Six Sigma) or in project management.