SMA announces job cuts

[SibertSolar]

Not sure if it has been posted before, apologies if so.

SMA announces job cuts of over 1,000 : pv-magazine

Thoughts?

 

[i=p/u]

when its gives one of the best rates on your money and risk free and youl get £1000 a year back for 20 years...

just got leaflet in door...

 

[SolarRoofSols]

Even with their recent price reductions, they are still a good £200+ more expensive than power one and significantly more than Samils. I was talking to a supplier yesterday who suggest that their sales of SMAs have slowed as installers are favoring power one's and I can see why. The small market there is in our area is price sensitive and 'quality' is low on the tick list for many.

I wonder where the cuts will be made - if it is Tech support then for me they have lost their UPS as I always found this supurb.

 

[Ian-LS]

Even with their recent price reductions, they are still a good £200+ more expensive than power one and significantly more than Samils. I was talking to a supplier yesterday who suggest that their sales of SMAs have slowed as installers are favoring power one's and I can see why. The small market there is in our area is price sensitive and 'quality' is low on the tick list for many.

I wonder where the cuts will be made - if it is Tech support then for me they have lost their UPS as I always found this supurb.

Yep - we have barely used SMA since March. I only use them for the small jobs and occasionally for commercial jobs. Aurora do everything SMA do but cheaper, although I do prefer sunny design software and still use it even when not using SMA inverters

 

[The Solar King]

As Andy will tell you, do not be mistaken in to specifying the cheapest. A great number of your customers will drive Mercs & BMWs, not Ladas. When viewed over the life of a system, the incremental cost and difference in return between fitting good quality kit and the cheapest you can lay your hands on is in general marginal. We have never fitted SMA. Aurora when we need a twin tracker, and if the customer is happy to pay we use an Enasolar, ticks all the boxes, quick to fit and built in monitoring, but not cheap.

I am sorry that anyone loses their job in this way. It is good to see SMA are keeping up their R&D spend. As we have seen with the Immersun, self consumption is the next big step. We are sure to see a number of exciting product offerings in the next twelve months.

There is an object lesson here in not simply being involved in a race to the bottom. Whether you are an installer or SMA, its all about adding value.