Von Ardenne: Annual Report 2008

In so doing, we followed our strategy to serve markets that help to save raw materials and energy and to generate energy with new methods.With the help of VON ARDENNE equipment and key technologies, such as magnetron sputtering and electron beam evaporation, our customers can manufacture unique and technologically sophisticated products efficiently and in high numbers. We successfully completed numerous projects, particularly in the photovoltaics and architectural glass coating markets, so that the ambitious investment plans of our customers could be realized on schedule.
 
We were able to defend and to extend our leading role on the architectural glass market. In the photovoltaics market, VON ARDENNE, already established with active-layer thin-film technologies, took over a leading role in the field of contact layers. The dynamic nature of these two markets became evident with the high and steadily increasing number of new orders. Accordingly, the year 2009 started with a record number of incoming orders, which was a reassuring situation in the face of the crisis of the financial market. However, it is not predictable for the moment what the short-term effects will be on customer investments. Delayed orders are to be expected due to the present difficult financing conditions for investment goods.
 
Read the full report here.