Business Profile

Manz AG – passion for efficiency.

Manz AG in Reutlingen, Germany, is a leading global high-tech equipment manufacturer. Over the past few years, the company has developed from an automation specialist to a provider of integrated system solutions for the production of crystalline silicon solar cells and thin-film solar modules, as well as the manufacturing of flat panel displays. A new business area is the development and manufacture of production systems for lithium-ion batteries.

The group, established in 1987, is headed by company founder Dieter Manz and has been publicly listed in Germany since 2006. Manz operates production facilities in Germany, China, Taiwan, Slovakia and Hungary. In addition, it has sales and service branches in the United States, South Korea and India. At the end of March 2011, Manz AG had around 1,900 employees, including 800 in Asia. Sales in the last business year exceeded 180 million euros.

Driven by the company’s new slogan, “passion for efficiency”, Manz engineers promise to provide their customers from various future key industries with evermore efficient manufacturing systems. Therefore, Manz is continuously optimising its product portfolio. The aim is to achieve highly reliable production processes on the customer side while steadily improving performance parameters for products manufactured on Manz equipment. This makes the Manz Group an important driver of innovation, helping to achieve breakthroughs in key technologies of our times, such as sustainable power generation, displays for global communication needs and e-mobility. Manz focuses its R&D efforts on production systems for the photovoltaics industry, flat panel displays and lithium-ion batteries. Research facilities are located in Germany, Taiwan and Israel.

In the summer of 2010, Manz signed a cooperation agreement with Wuerth Solar, Schwaebisch Hall, Germany, that gives Manz access to exclusive know-how in CIGS thin-film technology. CIGS modules are currently considered the most efficient on the market. Thanks to the agreement, Manz is the first manufacturer in the world offering a turnkey production line for CIGS solar modules that can be operated profitably today.

Manz AG has its roots in Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany, historically one of the cradle regions of German engineering and today one of the world’s leading high-tech regions. Manz employs people from 27 countries and is active in all the important growth markets around the world. With the opening of a new production facility in Suzhou, China, planned for end of 2011, Manz will be able to meet current market trends even more effectively.

As part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility, Manz supports a project called “Providing a future – metal workshop in Ethiopia”. This initiative offers vocational training to young people in Ethiopia.