- Panasonic Corporation has has decided to cease the production of photovoltaic products at its factories in Malaysia and Shimane Prefecture, Japan.
- This will result in the company’s withdrawal from the production of photovoltaic products by March 2022.
- The sales of photovoltaic modules in and outside Japan will continue.
With regard to the factory in Malaysia, Panasonic will stop the operation of photovoltaic wafer, cell and module production in fiscal 2022. While looking into transferring assets such as the building and land property, the local entity of the factory, Panasonic Solar Energy Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. will be liquidated. Panasonic will support impacted employees with sincerity, providing measures including premium severance payment and outplacement assistance.
As for Shimane factory, the production of power-conditioners (inverters), storage batteries, and other products will continue while photovoltaic cell production will end in the fiscal year 2022. For the employees involved in the photovoltaic cell production, employment will be maintained by transferring to other business areas where growth is expected, basically within the factory.
With the withdrawal of production, the photovoltaic R&D functions of Nishikinohama factory in Kaizuka City, Osaka, will be downsized accordingly and human resources will be shifted to other growth areas.
Panasonic will continue the sales of photovoltaic modules under the Panasonic brand in Japan by subcontracting production to its manufacturing partners. For the global market outside Japan, the company will also continue to sell outsourced photovoltaic modules as it has been doing in North America.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
