Operations executive resigns at Evergreen
Maker of solar panels changing strategy, shifting more work to contractors
Evergreen Solar Inc., which makes solar panels at a factory in Devens, is parting ways with vice president of operations Rodolfo Archbold.
Archbold was in charge of executing Evergreen’s global manufacturing expansion and overseeing factory operations. Earlier this year, the company announced an overseas expansion through a subcontracting partnership with Jiawei Solarchina Co. in Wuhan, China. Evergreen will lease a factory on Jiawei’s campus, where it will make solar panels. The reasoning, chief executive Rick Feldt said at the time, was that Evergreen could grow in China for less money than it could at locations in the United States, while also producing ever-cheaper panels.
Archbold, who joined Evergreen in 2007, is slated to resign effective Aug. 28. The company expects to pay him a severance of his base salary, which was $290,000 in 2008, and benefits for six to 12 months, according to the regulatory filing that announced Archbold’s departure.
In a statement to the Globe, Evergreen wrote that as its expansion strategy “evolved in recent months’’ it has focused on bringing in contract solar cell and panel manufacturers to augment the company’s own manufacturing.
“Because of this change in direction, our need for a senior-level manufacturing operations executive has been altered,’’ the company said. Evergreen spokesman Chris Lawson said Archbold agreed to leave the company to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
Prior to his role at Marlborough-based Evergreen, Archbold was an operations consultant at Teradyne Inc., the North Reading maker of automatic test equipment for the electronics and telecommunications industries. There, he developed strategies to improve global operations and supply chain design, according to a bio on Evergreen’s website. Archbold was not available for comment.
Evergreen officials said last month that they think the company’s Chinese facility will be operational by next spring, and making solar panels for about $1.40 to $1.50 for each watt of generating capacity. The goal is to drop that cost to $1 a watt by 2012.
The company said in May it hopes to be producing panels at its Devens factory for $2 a watt by the end of this year.
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com. 
