Jabil increases Lamination Capacity by 240MW at plant in Poland
German equipment supplier Buerkle has recently provided two additional Multi-Opening Lamination Lines Ypsator 1722-7 to electronics manufacturing service provider Jabil and their manufacturing facility in Kwidzyn, Poland.
Each Lamination Line has 7 openings and can process 2 solar modules per opening (process room) which results in a capacity of 14 modules per cycle and approximately 120 MW per year.
Jabil manufactures 800 MW of solar modules per year for various customers at their facility in Kwidzyn, Poland.
"The Buerkle Ypsator Lamination Line is a high efficiency tool with a high uptime and high yield. We added 2 Lamination Lines Ypsator 1722-7 and increased the overall number to 6 of these Lamination Lines in our factory in Kwidzyn, Poland. It is very important to have a good lamination tool since the PV industry is very price sensitive and the overall market conditions do not allow any insufficient operation or equipment. The Buerkle equipment is very reliable and we are very happy with the provided service and support", says Jean-Marie Siefert, Business Unit Director PV at Jabil.
The Buerkle Multi-Opening Lamination Line Ypsator is available in different sizes and configurations with 4 to 10 openings. For the lamination of glass back sheet modules the lamination process is carried out in a vacuum membrane press followed by a cooling press. For the lamination of glass glass modules (either thin film or crystalline cells) Buerkle offers a unique lamination process. The lamination process is split into 2 steps. In the first step the modules are pre-laminated and sealed. The final lamination is carried out in a hot press with top and bottom heating platens which results in a very uniform heating and reduced edge pinch of the modules. The cooling is carried out in a separate cooling step.
Sven Kramer, Sales Director PV at Buerkle mentions that "A profitable operation of a solar module manufacturing facility is possible in Europe and a European manufacturer can compete with Chinese operation costs. The Ypsator Lamination Line reduces the overall required floor space and allows Jabil to have a high volume production facility in one factory hall with a minimum foot print. Lower manufacturing and operation costs are the decisive advantage of the Ypsator Lamination Line."