Maxwell has stated that capacity expansion and process improvements in its production facility here position the company’s CONDIS® family of high-voltage (HV) capacitor products to continue a growth trend that has seen its sales more than double over the past five years.
CONDIS products are key components of circuit breakers and voltage transformers and dividers that are used in electric utility infrastructure and other applications involving transport and distribution of electrical energy worldwide. Maxwell delivered nearly 20,000 HV capacitors, generating sales of approximately $40 million in 2009, up from fewer than 10,000 units and sales of about $15 million in 2004.
“Electric utility infrastructure expansion in Asia and other developing regions has been driving strong demand for several years, and we are now seeing some replacement and upgrading activity in the more mature European and North American markets,” said Sacha Jenny, vice-president and general manager of Maxwell Technologies, Maxwell’s Swiss subsidiary, which produces CONDIS products. “Our products continue to dominate the high-voltage capacitor category with more than 60% global market share, and the investments we have made to improve efficiency and expand production capacity are allowing us to capitalise on these opportunities and strengthen our leadership position.”
CONDIS HV products perform reliably for decades in dead tank, live tank and other high-voltage circuit breaker and transformer applications, and a new line of capacitive voltage divider products addresses an additional market segment. Last year, Maxwell installed its fourth automated electrode winding and assembly unit and implemented a new statistical process control (SPC) system that monitors each individual assembly step in real time, improving yield and product reliability.
“We now have capacity in place to increase output by 25% or more with minimal additional investment,” Jenny said. “At our current rate, we expect to deliver the 150,000th CONDIS high-voltage capacitor in 2010.”