Isola Group announced it has reached an agreement to sell its Chandler, Ariz. production facility to Rogers Corp. The sale does not include products, technology or other assets related to Isola's continuing business operations. Isola also announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art facility in the Chandler area that will be optimized for the quick-turn PCB market that drives much of the product innovation in North America.
"The strength of Isola lies in our local presence to our market leading customers in North America, Europe and Asia," said Jeff Waters, president and CEO of Isola. "Today's announcement signifies an enhanced ability to meet demanding North American customer lead times as they race to introduce new products with our advanced materials, like our Tachyon 100G. Paired with our facility in South Carolina, we have complete coverage coast to coast."
Timing for the opening of the new production facility is targeted for early 2020. Isola will transition out of its existing facility over the course of 2019 and will work closely with its customers and distributors to manage the transition period to the new facility.
"The nature of the electronics market in North America has shifted from volume manufacturing to new product prototyping and early stage production. Our new facility will be optimized to quickly deliver smaller batches of our broad product portfolio, utilizing a modern cell-based manufacturing approach," said Waters.