mexico renews itself - ProMéxico

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Kyocera’s production
complex in Tijuana is
the company’s chief
manufacturer of solar
modules for North America;
and the plant’s production
capacity will continue to
grow as demand for solar
energy increases.
Kyocera’s Pioneering Solar Energy
Business Gears up for Further Growth
Mexico plays a strategic role in Kyocera’s solar
module manufacturing plans, not only as a
production hub but also as a potential growing
market for the company’s solar solutions.
____
photos courtesy of kyocera mexicana
You may be familiar with Kyocera, a Japanese manufacturer
of microelectronics packaging, industrial ceramics,
cutting tools, solar panels, cell phones and office
equipment. What you may not know is that Kyocera
boasts a rich history of operations in Mexico, since Kyocera
Mexicana began manufacturing products in Tijuana, Baja California
in 1989.
Kyocera Mexicana has proved successful with a variety of
manufacturing processes in the past 23 years. The company’s
hard-working employees in Tijuana have helped improve
yield, reduce cycle time and lower defect rates on some of
Kyocera’s most important products by executing complex
technology transfers, adhering to the core principles of continued
process improvement and maintaining a “customerfirst”
attitude.
“Tijuana has played a key role in Kyocera’s expansion, thanks to
its pool of talented employees who have a strong commitment to
producing high-quality products,” says John Rigby, President of Kyocera
International, Inc., the firm’s San Diego-based North American
headquarters and holding company. “Support from Mexican
leaders and employees has made us stronger, and allowed us to serve
more customers with high-value-added manufacturing.”
One of the latest success stories at Kyocera’s Tijuana facility is
solar module manufacturing.
Kyocera has been in the renewable energy business since the
1970s, when Dr. Kazuo Inamori started researching sapphire
crystal-growth technology and photovoltaic cells. Inamori, who
had founded Kyocera in Kyoto, Japan in 1959 as a producer of
advanced ceramics, believed crystal-growth technology could be
applied to growing silicon crystals. When the OPEC oil embargo
brought the global economy to a standstill in 1973, he became convinced
that renewable energy would become a global imperative.
Inamori’s instincts were spot on. By 1979, Kyocera had become
the first company in the world to successfully deliver silicon
crystal-ribbon solar cells using the Edge-defined Film-fed Growth
(EFG) method.
Over the years, Kyocera has developed production processes
and in-house quality evaluation systems that allow the company to
ensure high quality at every phase of manufacturing.
In 1982, the company was the first to mass-produce multicrystalline
silicon solar cells using the casting method, which is
now the main technique used throughout the world.
This year marks the 37th anniversary of Kyocera’s involvement
in solar energy. Global demand for clean energy has created an explosion
of new companies in fields ranging from geothermal power
to biofuels. Although expectations are high, only a few companies
worldwide have a long tradition of providing reliable renewableenergy
solutions. Kyocera is among the most notable.
Kyocera began solar module production in Tijuana in 2004.
In 2007, the company broke ground on a new, large-scale facility
there as part of an aggressive plan to more than double its annual
solar module manufacturing capacity. The resulting world-class
production center –a two-story plant with 223,000 square feet of
production space– was inaugurated in 2009.
In 2010, the facility put the icing on the cake by installing a
100-kilowatt solar electric generating system on its roof. Now,
in addition to manufacturing solar panels in Tijuana, Kyocera is
producing clean, renewable power that flows directly from the sun
through its solar array and into the power grid.
Today, this high-tech production complex in Tijuana is Kyocera’s
chief manufacturer of solar modules for North America;
and the plant’s production capacity will continue to grow as demand
for solar energy increases.
Global Expansion
Solar energy growth is inevitable. With more than 1.6 billion
people worldwide lacking access to electricity, few technologies
are in greater demand. Making solar energy more affordable is a
matter of enhancing technologies, raising the energy conversion
efficiency of solar cells, and increasing mass production volumes.
Kyocera has developed a global production framework to manufacture
solar panels near major markets, thus minimizing the
environmental impact and costs of shipping bulky solar modules
from manufacturer to installation site. The company’s Tijuana
facility supports US, Canadian and Mexican markets with its highquality
manufacturing processes.
Solar power offers a hedge against the rising cost of electricity,
and serves as an environmental countermeasure to acid rain, ozone
layer depletion and rising carbon levels. The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) estimates that each gigawatt of fossil-fuel electricity
replaced by solar power will reduce carbon dioxide as much as
a forest covering about 289 square miles.
Due to their high reliability and efficiency, Kyocera modules
have been employed in various installations ranging from utilityscale
power plants, public and industrial facilities to residential
homes in virtually every nation of the globe.
“People all over the world are demanding an energy source
that’s affordable, reliable and safe for the environment,” says Steve
Hill, President of Kyocera Solar, Inc. “Thanks to the quality and
dedication of our colleagues in Tijuana, that is exactly what Kyocera
delivers.”
While most of the panels Kyocera builds in Tijuana are currently
exported, the company believes strongly in the potential
of Mexico’s solar market. “Kyocera is ready to serve this robust
market with cost-effective solar solutions, so Mexican consumers
can enjoy clean, renewable energy from the sun,” concludes David
Hester, Kyocera Mexicana’s President. n
www.kyocera.com