PDF, 1.2 MB - Pfleiderer AG

management report segment report pfleiderer ag 35
Prices
Prices obtained in the telecommunication sector remain subject to competitive pressure,
forcing further cost cutting. The Telecommunication Business Unit is present throughout
Germany, ensuring customer proximity and positioning it well for increasing its market share
and expanding capacity utilization.
However, order volumes in the Telecommunication Business Unit are considerably down
on the previous year, with orders on the books running at around two months.
Wind Power
The wind converter market is profiting from German legislation, particularly the German
Renewable Energies Act (EEG). Guaranteed payments for energy produced by wind power safeguards
the operation of wind converters for the next 8 years. The number of wind converters
installed in Germany increased in the first nine months of 2002 by 12 percent to 12,810 units.
The rise in total capacity of installed units was even more dramatic, up by 20 percent to
10,639 megawatts. However, offshore wind converters are now regarded as holding out the
most promise for the future. Here, the Federal Government hopes to achieve an installed
capacity of up to 500 megawatts by 2006 and 3,000 megawatts by 2010.
Pfleiderer’s Wind Power Business Unit develops and sells fully equipped and operational
wind converters. In 2001, several onshore units with capacities of between 600 kilowatt and
1.5 megawatt went on stream. At the Coswig plant, assembly capacity for mast and tower production
is being used to pre-assemble individual components. In 2002, Pfleiderer Wind Energy
GmbH was awarded a contract to set up a wind park at Altenheerse comprising 14 smaller 600kilowatt
converters. This project underlines Pfleiderer’s competence in the field, involving full
project management from construction of paths and foundations down to the power cabling.
Pfleiderer has vast experience and recognized competence in the construction of towers
for wind converters. Now this knowledge has been merged with the development know-how of
our companies Windtec GmbH and Multibrid GmbH. In Rendsburg, together with the engineering
company Aerodyn, we are turning our innovative offshore MULTIBRID ® technology into
reality – the first full systems solution for offshore wind converters. The first prototype wind
converter using this technology will be erected in the autumn of 2003. Over the medium term,
a partner is being sought for the wind operations, particularly for the offshore segment,
who is capable of continuing these activities and can provide an appropriate development
environment.
Quality Management
For many years, Pfleiderer Infrastructure Technology has operated and continually improved its
quality management system. During the course of last year, this system has been extensively
revised and adapted to current structures. A system is now in place that works uniformly for all
the business units within the Infrastructure Technology Business Center, in particular coping
with technically complicated plant in the Wind Power Business Unit which is otherwise difficult
to audit. Only comprehensively tested materials from selected producers are approved for
procurement in the “source list” of our integrated SAP R3 operating system.