Group Structure and Business Operations

Business Model of the Group

WACKER is a global company with state-of-the-art specialty chemical products found in countless everyday items, ranging from cosmetic powders to solar cells. Our portfolio includes more than 3,200 products supplied in over 100 countries.

Silicon Is Our Main Starting Material

Most of our products are based on inorganic starting materials. Silicon-based products account for about 70 percent of WACKER sales, and primarily ethylene-related products for 30 percent. Our customers come from virtually every major industry, including base chemicals, electrical engineering and electronics, the solar, textile and food sectors, consumer goods, medical technology and biotech. As a producer of silicones and polymers, we are particularly well represented in the construction and automotive sectors. WACKER is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of polysilicon for the semiconductor and solar industries.

Key Factors for Multidivisional Sites (graphic)

Technical Competence Centers: Support for Sales and Marketing Activities

WACKER operates all over the world. Our sales strategy is centered around expanding our presence in growth markets. In total, WACKER has 50 sales offices in 32 countries. Our sales organization is supplemented not only by a network of technical competence centers, where customers learn about WACKER’s product portfolio, but also by the WACKER ACADEMY, where we offer technical training sessions on our products and their application fields. In 2018, we opened a new technical competence center in Anyang, South Korea.

24 Production Sites

WACKER’s integrated global production system consists of 24 production sites (2017: 23): ten are in Europe, seven in the Americas and seven in Asia. The Group’s key production site is Burghausen, Germany. At this site alone, we have over 8,100 employees (including temporary workers and trainees). In 2018, Burghausen manufactured around 950,000 metric tons of product, accounting for almost 50 percent of the Group’s production output. Nünchritz is WACKER’s second multidivisional site alongside Burghausen.

See interactive map of WACKER sites

Silicon

After oxygen, silicon is the most common element on the earth’s crust. In nature, it occurs without exception in the form of compounds, chiefly silicon dioxide and silicates. Silicon is obtained through energy-intensive reaction of quartz sand with carbon and is the most important raw material in the electronics industry.

Ethylene

A colorless, slightly sweet-smelling gas that, under normal conditions, is lighter than air. It is needed as a chemical starting product for a great many synthetic materials, including polyethylene and polystyrene. It is used to make products for the household, agricultural and automotive sectors, among others.

Silicones

General term used to describe compounds of organic molecules and silicon. According to their areas of application, silicones can be classified as fluids, resins or rubber grades. Silicones are characterized by a myriad of outstanding properties. Typical areas of application include construction, the electrical and electronics industries, shipping and transportation, textiles and paper coatings.

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule made up of smaller molecular units (monomers). It contains between 10,000 and 100,000 monomers. Polymers can be long or ball-shaped.

Polysilicon

Hyperpure polycrystalline silicon from WACKER POLYSILICON is used for manufacturing wafers for the electronics and solar industries. To produce it, metallurgical-grade silicon is converted into liquid trichlorosilane, highly distilled and deposited in hyperpure form at 1,000 °C.

Semiconductor

A substance whose electrical conductivity is much lower than that of metals, but increases dramatically as the temperature rises. Semiconductors can be modified for a particular purpose by doping them with foreign atoms.

Sustainability Report 2017/2018