MiaSolé to Cut Jobs

When it comes to power going green is not only trendy, but also an important step towards reducing the world’s dependence on a type of fuel that will eventually run out entirely. For the most part however energy companies have been forced to cut back their plans as the bad economy has dragged on and made money less available. One of the companies feeling the pinch is MiaSolé. For those of you who are not too familiar with the company here is a look at how they have chosen to describe themselves, “MiaSolé is a pioneer and leading manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels. Through a distinctive manufacturing process, MiaSolé has established CIGS as one of the lowest-cost, highest efficiency thin-film solar panels in the world – thus advancing the extraordinary potential for harnessing solar power as a competitive, sustainable energy source. Our goal is to enable grid parity solar energy by 2012 through high volume manufacturing of low cost solar modules.

Sadly, the company is getting ready to cut back on a significant number of jobs in order to set its profits to right. The company is getting ready to make a mass layoff action happen, and for those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

For the time being the company has not put out an exact number of jobs to be cut, but given the fact that this is part of a much larger plan, on that relies on a restructuring of the company and a strategic partnership, the odds are good that the cuts will come in the near future. Here is an excerpt from the announcement that the company put out about the changes, “MiaSolé, the leading manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, announced today it will reorganize manufacturing and operations. This course of action will allow the company to continue strategic discussions with potential partners ensuring long-term success. In a move designed to reduce costs and focus the company on critical functions, MiaSolé will reorganize its workforce to retain employees in the technology, commercial and flexible product areas and make reductions in manufacturing and operations. This restructuring will ensure continued CIGS technology development, execution on our sales pipeline and ongoing development of our flexible product, which NREL recently verified at 15.5% efficiency, setting a world record.”

For the time being the workers of the company can only wait and see who get the axe and who gets to keep their jobs.