WACKER is a globally active company with state-of-the-art specialty chemical products. Our portfolio includes over 3,500 products supplied to more than 3,500 customers in over 100 countries. WACKER products are used in countless everyday items, ranging from cosmetic powders to solar cells.
Silicon Is Our Main Starting Material
Most of our products are based on inorganic starting materials. Silicon-based products account for 80 percent of WACKER sales, and products that are primarily ethylene-related for 20 percent. We supply products to virtually every major sector, ranging from consumer goods, food, pharmaceuticals and textiles, through to the solar, electrical/electronic and basic-chemical industries, and to medical technology, biotech and mechanical engineering. As a manufacturer of silicones and polymers, WACKER is particularly well represented in the automotive and construction sectors. We are also a key supplier of silicon wafers to the semiconductor industry. Over the last four years, we have greatly expanded our polycrystalline-silicon business for the solar industry, where WACKER is one of the world’s largest manufacturers.
International Presence Enhanced
In 2010, we strengthened our presence primarily in growth regions. Now, WACKER has 50 sales offices in 29 countries worldwide. Over recent years, the Group has set up a network of technical competence centers to enable customers to learn about its product portfolio and to run product tests there. In total, 20 such centers ensure optimum customer support. With our WACKER ACADEMY facilities, we also offer customers topic-specific seminars and training sessions on our products and their fields of application. In 2010, we opened three WACKER ACADEMY branches (our fifth, sixth and seventh) in Dubai, São Paulo and Singapore, respectively. We also opened a new sales office in Chengdu, China.
Burghausen Is Our Key Production Site
WACKER’s global production network consists of 26 production sites – 9 are in Europe, 7 in the Americas and 10 in Asia. The Group’s key production site is Burghausen (Germany), with about 9,700 employees. In 2010, Burghausen’s manufacturing output reached around 500,000 metric tons. That is about 50 percent of groupwide production volumes. We are strongly expanding our Nünchritz site (Saxony), where our first polysilicon plant outside Burghausen will come on stream in 2011, with a nominal production capacity of 10,000 metric tons per year.
Legal Structure
In November 2005, WACKER became a stock corporation (AG) under German law. Headquartered in Munich, Wacker Chemie AG holds a direct or indirect stake in 56 companies belonging to the WACKER Group. Our financial statements include 50 companies that have been fully consolidated and 5 accounted for using the equity method. One small company that is not part of our core operations has not been consolidated.
Five Operating Divisions
WACKER is based on a matrix organization with clearly defined functions. The Group has five business divisions, which have global responsibility for their own products, manufacturing facilities, markets, customers and results. Regional organizations are responsible for all business activities in their areas. WACKER’s corporate departments primarily provide services for the whole Group, although some also have production-related functions.
