BUSINESS SECTION

Maquiladora Supplies the Solar Revolution

Tijuana News
Frontera Norte Sur
September 7, 2005

Soaring energy prices are rekindling interest in alternatives to fossil fuels. In Tijuana, a Japanese company is making moves that signal large corporate confidence in the future of the solar energy market. Recently, Kyocera Solar Inc. announced a new $20 million-dollar investment in a Tijuana factory owned by the company that manufactures solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. Company President Saul Garcia Huerta said the capital infusion will significantly increase production of the PV modules which range from 35 to 190 watts.

Motivated by an expanding solar market, Kyocera rolled out the PV module assembly line in Tijuana last year as the latest component in the firm's Mexican industrial presence. "This expansion reflects both the growing demand for solar energy systems and the success of our Mexican operations in providing high-quality, cost-effective manufacturing," said Rodney N. Lanthorne, the director of Kyocera Corporation and president of Kyocera International.

The Tijuana maquiladora is the Mexican link in a far-flung global research and design, production and sales enterprise. The border production facility is designed to service a growing solar market in Mexico and the Americas.  

Based on projections from the new investment, Kyocera's Saul Garcia estimated monthly production of PV modules will more than double from the 5,000 units manufactured now to 10-11,000 units in the short-term. The company has a goal of producing 21,000 units each month sometime in 2006, Garcia said. Explaining the new production will be highly automated, Garcia said the investment should still generate about 250 jobs.

Kyocera Solar Inc. is a subsidiary of Kyocera International Inc., the North American branch of the Kyoto-based Kyocera Corporation. Netting sales of $11 billion dollars in 2004, Kyocera Corporation supplied products for the solar, telecommunications, semi-conductor, electronics, camera, laser printer, industrial ceramics, and copier sectors.
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Sources: Frontera, August 31, 2005. Article by Juan Arturo Salinas. Kyocera press release, August 10, 2004. 
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New MexicO
 

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