Just one year after its formal launch, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates' Solion ion implant technology is being adopted in high volume by solar cell manufacturers across the U.S., and in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Europe.
Solion — defined by the company as "simply efficient solar" — is part of Varian's ion implant portfolio and is supported by a worldwide service network. Portrayed as the most cost-effective system for creating high efficiency solar cells, the company's "precision patterned implant" technology is aimed at providing continuous improvement in cell efficiency.
The gains by the company, Gloucester's largest employer, come in the wake of a mega-merger that is currently awaiting finalization — a stockholder-approved $4.9 billion cash acquisition by California-based Applied Materials Inc.
Applied is the world's largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer, with $9.6 billion in sales and about 13,000 employees.
Corporate Financial Officer Bob Halliday has been quoted as saying that Varian will operate as a division of Applied, but will maintain the Varian name and will remain rooted in Gloucester.
With some 2,000 workers currently on staff, the Blackburn Industrial Park-based Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. was originally founded in another merger back in 1975, when Extrion Corporation of Gloucester, then a manufacturer of medium current ion implanter products, was acquired by Varian Associates, initiating an intense program of research, product development and technological innovation.
But an important driver in the current merger, according to Christopher Muse, an analyst at Barclays Capital, is "the importance of ion implant in developing next generation transistors."
And in a prepared statement issued Monday, Jim Mullen, vice president and general manager of Varian solar products, noted that, "just one year ago, Solion was undergoing beta testing and evaluation."
"Today," Mullen said, "Solion systems are production proven and processing millions of cells at several of the world's largest and most advanced (cell) manufacturers."
Solion installations have, according to Mullen's and the company's statement, ramped up quickly and efficiently, with systems going from loading dock to running first cells in less than 20 days at several installations.
In that vein, the company now has multiple Solion systems running full production at several customers — and a number of repeat orders have been received.
Also ramping up quickly — and in tandem with accelerated production and delivery — has been Varian's staffing.
Human Resources Director Michael Newman could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but the company has been adding staff steadily, with 129 hires throughout the past year, and 25 staff openings — most for senior level engineering jobs — currently posted on its website.
Varian's staff additions have helped offset the city's job losses over the past year — including some 100 jobs lost at Gloucester-based First Boston Pharma, and another 49 from the city itself — contributing to recent positive jobs statistics. July figures from the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, reported in Tuesday's Times, show the city's unemployment figures down by nearly 1.3 percent from 8.9 percent in July of last year.
"Varian is a great fit for our strategy to profitably grow share in our core semiconductor business with best-in-class technology and talent," Michael R. Splinter, chief executive of Applied Materials, said in a prepared statement. "The pace of product innovation is accelerating, requiring devices that are more mobile, more connected and more personalized. Combined, Applied and Varian will be better positioned to ... deliver long-term value to shareholders."
Joann Mackenzie can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3457, or at jomackenzie@gloucestertimes.com.
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