Module manufacturers are struggling with cost structures, following the recent, drastic, decline of margins in the PV industry. Special attention is drawn to their supply chains, since 80 to 90 percent of the total costs are allocated there. The supply chain setup of European, American and Asian manufacturers differs substantially, however, resulting in differences in inventories, inventory carrying costs, and costs for production and transportation, for example. These variations have fundamental effects on performance drivers for customer satisfaction, such as time to market and on time delivery.

Although European manufacturers, in particular, are feeling the pressure, long lead times from Asia and high transportation costs could become critical disadvantages for their Asian counterparts, caused by volatile market prices and declining margins. Therefore, the University of Cologne, Barkawi Management Consultants and pv magazine have developed a benchmarking concept to investigate the decisive success factors for module supply chains.

The Benchmark follows a two-step approach, measuring the supply chain performance of the participants in terms of costs versus on time delivery and lead time. In a second step, a catalog of 68 questions with standardized answering options provides qualitative insights into the success factors of the top performing supply chains.

The Benchmark will be carried out in the first half of 2012. All module manufacturers are invited to register now to take part in this international study. Participants will receive an individual report, indicating their competitive position in the overall, anonymous, field of manufacturers. The confidentially and security of all benchmarking data is guaranteed by non-disclosure agreements.

Project Partners:

>> Register now