BP Solar Announces Agreement with Jabil to Manufacture Solar Modules in Poland
Move to regional assembly and distribution will reduce time to market and make BP Solar more cost competitive.
“We have selected Jabil as our partner to help bring down the cost of manufacturing BP’s proprietary solar products, and help continue to deliver the highest lifetime value to our customers,” said Reyad Fezzani, CEO of BP Solar. He noted that Jabil has a strong track record of successfully working with customers in Solar and a broad range of similar industries. “We are confident that Jabil’s focus on manufacturing excellence will meet BP Solar’s exacting standards for safety reliability and product quality,” said Fezzani. Fezzani stressed that Jabil will manufacture modules designed by BP Solar and that BP’s quality assurance standards will be integrated into Jabil’s processes. He added that BP Solar is especially pleased to inaugurate the partnership with Jabil in
“Jabil is pleased to be working with BP Solar, a longstanding leader in the solar industry. Our services allow businesses to innovate and grow – clearly BP Solar is on that track,” said Timothy L. Main, president and CEO of Jabil.
Michael Petrucci, vice president of global operations, BP Solar said, “This partnership with Jabil, is part of our overall strategy to become more cost competitive and nimble by moving to a model of regional assembly and demand fulfillment centers, leveraging the scale of materials and production capacity.” He added that this is another important step in improving cost competitiveness while remaining fully committed to the quality and higher lifetime value that BP Solar modules offer.
Commenting on the market outlook for solar, Fezzani said, “While economic conditions have slowed growth in the past year, we have seen a significant uptick this past quarter. We expect that to continue.”
“Jabil’s ability to locate solar panel assembly operations in the major consuming regions of the world to optimize logistics provides a significant advantage to our customers and will afford BP Solar the opportunity to serve their customers more efficiently,” said Brain Althaver, vice president, Strategic Development. Althaver heads Jabil’s renewable energy business.
Jabil
Jabil is an electronic product solutions company providing comprehensive electronics design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. Offering complete product supply chain management from facilities in 22 countries, Jabil provides comprehensive, individualized-focused solutions to customers in a broad range of industries. Jabil common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, "JBL". Further information is available on the company's website: jabil.com.
BP Solar, part of BP Alternative Energy, is a global company with about 2,200 employees. BP Solar designs, manufactures and markets products which use the sun's energy to generate electricity for use in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. With over 35 years of experience and installations in most countries, BP Solar is one of the world's leading solar companies having manufacturing plants in:
BP Alternative Energy, launched in November 2005, combines all of BP’s interests in low and zero-carbon energy including $8bn investments up to 2015 in: wind; solar; hydrogen power with carbon capture and storage; and, biofuels. Alternative Energy invested $1.5bn in 2006-2007 and a further $1.5bn in 2008 and $500 million - $1 billion expected in 2009.
BP is one of the world’s largest energy companies, with interests in more than 100 countries and over 96,000 employees.
Further information is available on: bpsolar.com
bpalternativeenergy.com
bp.com
Contact:
Deb Witmer, BP Solar,
Tom Mueller, BP,
Robert Wine,
