Quick Mount PV, a residential rooftop solar racking company, plans to close its approximately 40-person factory in Walnut Creek, California at the end of this year — moving its manufacturing operation to China, according to sources close to the company.
Stijn Vos, CEO of Esdec, Quick Mount’s parent company, confirmed the move.
Quick Mount was acquired by Netherlands-based Esdec last year in a roll-up of U.S. racking companies. Esdec also acquired racking companies IronRidge and EcoFasten at undisclosed prices to gain a reported 60% share of the nation’s residential racking market.
Business for Quick Mount seems to be going well. According to equities analyst Roth Capital Partners in its most recent industry note, Quick Mount’s revenue is growing 70% year-over-year. Last year, the firm doubled its annual production capacity to 1.2 gigawatts.
So why leave sunny California?
No longer made in the USA
The CEO told pv magazine:
QuickMount PV is now part of Esdec’s global supply chain which gives the Esdec companies stability and flexibility. Products are sourced from all over the world including the U.S.A. The Walnut Creek facility only performs a portion of the manufacturing steps for some of the QM products. Many manufacturing operations were already outside the capability of the Walnut Creek facility, requiring a contract manufacturing partner.
Many of our current manufacturing partners are based in the U.S. and North America, and we will continue to source from these partners going forward. But as a global company, we are working hard to create a globally diversified supply chain with multiple qualified suppliers for each component. Having partners in multiple geographic regions allows us to ensure the integrity and continuity of supply, especially during dynamic times like these. The solid results over the first six months of 2020 confirm that all companies within Esdec solar group perform well and benefit from our reliable supply chain.
The company’s website includes this language at the time of publishing.
- “Since the founding of the company in 2006, “Made in the USA” has become the central policy behind Quick Mount PV’s ongoing efforts to bring job growth, security and sustainability to our environment, our economy, and the energy industry.”
- “Quick Mount PV takes great pride in manufacturing in America and in the state of California, and the jobs we create here are an integral part of our success.”
Quick Mount was one of a small number of solar companies that manufacture in-house in the U.S.
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Big Corporations eat up little ones and send the work to CHINA. This happens in every industry because we do not look for “Made in USA”. Sun Power is also leaving California for CHINA. GM is building it’s Buicks in China and not in the USA and the list goes on. What will happen when we go to WAR with China over Hong Kong or the South China Sea? Remember Nixon opened China and this Republican president is starting a trade war or even a HOT WAR over the “Cung Fu Virus” with China. This Week, Diplomats are being expelled on both sides and we have two US carrier groups looking for a fight right now in the South China Sea. I grew up in Walnit Creek, California and it is a shame that another company goes Bye Bye from Califonia.
I can understand leaving CA, but there are lots of lower costs states in the U.S.
Too bad they didn’t want to stay in the U.S.
They are a Dutch company and do not care about the US at all. They only care about making themselves richer. It’s a shame as QuickMount and IronRidge were two of the best companies in the space.