Year-over-Year Increase in Production Output

In 2015, production output increased compared with the previous year. WACKER POLYSILICON sold higher volumes than ever before. Our chemical divisions also reported increased volumes, and high plant utilization of over 80 percent. There were no major facility shutdowns. Production costs were up by 4 percent. Maintenance costs of € 427 million were above the prior-year level.

Plant Utilization in 2015

Investments in new production facilities amounted to € 834.0 million in the reporting year (2014: € 572.2 million). Most of this amount was for polysilicon production in Tennessee (USA), where we have built a new polysilicon site, construction work having started there in April 2011.

Key Start-Ups

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

Focus on Productivity: Higher Plant Capacity Utilization and Lower Specific Maintenance Expenditures

High productivity throughout the supply chain is a key to WACKER’s success. The Wacker Operating System (WOS) program helps us to boost productivity along the entire supply chain. Our goal is to continue reducing specific operating costs every year. In 2015, we implemented more than 600 projects in operational business and corporate departments. Some 400 of these concerned operations, with the corporate departments accounting for about 200. Last year, WOS focused on improving plant utilization levels, specific energy consumption and raw-material yields, as well as on optimizing specific maintenance costs and reducing third-party contracting.

During the year under review, our WOS ACADEMY (founded in 2009) held seven training courses at which some 100 employees were trained in the application of new productivity methods, such as Six Sigma. In addition to these courses, we carried out projects aimed at reducing specific costs.