By Mark Osborne, News Editor, Photovoltaics International
Although much of the emphasis of Part 1 of this paper (in Photovoltaics International ed. 5) focused on material quality issues and attention to detail on process control, high-volume manufacturing requires a concerted effort to constantly improve productivity of the lamination process and in turn the productivity of the total module manufacturing line. Such is the competitive landscape that greater attention to these factors is becoming a key differentiator for both equipment suppliers and module manufacturers. In this, the second part of the lamination process focus, we will look closely at the dynamics impacting module prices and the developments being undertaken to improve cycle-times of the lamination process, overall productivity and optimization as well as costs to ensure future competitiveness.
