[January 10, 2005] GT Equipment Technologies Adopts Advanced Manufacturing Tweet MERRIMACK, N.H. --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 10, 2005 -- Expands Capacity to Meet Record Demand for Solar Equipment GT Equipment Technologies, the only worldwide company that designs, manufactures, assembles and installs turn-key fabrication lines for all three stages of the photovoltaic manufacturing chain, announced today it is implementing an advanced manufacturing process to expand its capacity to meet unprecedented worldwide demand for solar equipment. GT Equipment Technologies solar division, GT Solar Technologies, has generated a record-backlog of orders in excess of $32 million over the past eight months - more than a 500% increase in business over the previous year. More than 75% of the company's products are being exported to countries such as Taiwan, China, Germany, Spain and eastern block European countries. The advanced manufacturing process known as "cellular flow manufacturing" is implemented on the manufacturing floor by organizing employees into working cells with each cell focused on a specific group of tasks aimed at feeding parts and information into other working cells on the floor and ultimately into the final product. This process will allow GT Equipment Technologies to expand its capacity by a factor of 4x to 5x and still preserve its ability to customize orders. The company is also expanding its workforce by more than 40% with the hiring of engineers, technicians, assemblers and support personnel. "The solar energy industry is undergoing unprecedented growth worldwide due to several factors, including improvements in the manufacture of solar energy equipment and panels, the increased efficiency of solar cells, and the uncertainty surrounding the supply and price of oil," said GT Equipment Technologies President and COO, Tom Zarrella. "We are upgrading our manufacturing process to meet that growth." GT Equipment Technologies, Inc. is a privately held company and an industry leader in the design and manufacture of semi-custom and specialty equipment for the solar and materials-processing industries, serving niche markets for photovoltaic and semi-conductor applications. For more information on GT Equipment Technologies' solar division, visit our website at www.gtequipment.com and click on gtsolar.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]