Year-on-Year Increase in Production Output

In 2014, production output increased compared with the previous year. WACKER POLYSILICON sold higher volumes than ever before. Our chemical divisions, too, saw their volumes increase and plant utilization was high, at over 80 percent. Apart from the temporary shutdown of a vinyl acetate monomer facility at WACKER POLYMERS at year-end, there were no major facility shutdowns in 2014. Production costs were up 5 percent. Maintenance costs were slightly above prior-year levels and totaled € 370 million.

Plant Utilization in 2014

Investments in new production facilities amounted to € 572.2 million in 2014 (2013: € 503.7 million), with most funds flowing into the expansion of our polysilicon facilities in Tennessee (USA), where a new polysilicon production site has been under construction since April 2011.

All of the projects announced for 2014 are now in operation.

Key Start-Ups

Corporate Engineering is responsible for implementing all investment projects at WACKER.

Productivity Program Focused on Higher Plant Utilization

High productivity throughout the supply chain is a key to WACKER’s success. WACKER boosts productivity along the entire supply chain via its Wacker Operating System (WOS) program. Our goal is to continue reducing specific operating costs every year, and 2014 saw the implementation of more than 650 projects in operational business and at corporate departments. Almost 500 of these concerned operational business, while the corporate departments accounted for 150. Last year, the focus of WOS was on improving plant utilization levels, specific energy consumption and raw-material yields, and on optimizing specific maintenance costs.

During the year under review, our WOS ACADEMY (founded in 2009) held seven training courses at which some 80 employees were trained in the application of new productivity methods, such as Six Sigma. We also trained more than 50 employees in Six Sigma techniques at the non-German sites.