International Standards Address Fundamentals of Quality and Environmental Management Systems

ROCKLIN, Calif., Dec. 21, 2011—SMA America's Denver-based, solar inverter manufacturing site recently passed its initial registration audit for both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards. More importantly, both registration audits yielded zero findings.

"This is a tremendous achievement for SMA," said Scott Crabtree, general manager of North American operations for SMA America Production, LLC. "Passing the registration audits for both ISO standards, and with zero findings, is evidence of our industry-best manufacturing processes, resulting in a superior experience for our customers."

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world's largest developer and publisher of international standards. ISO 9001 addresses the fundamentals of quality management systems, while ISO 14001 focuses on environmental management systems.

Certification to both standards enables SMA to continue to provide the highest quality products and services to new and existing customers and helps make the company's procedures more efficient.

TÜV USA, Inc. performed the certification audit and awarded SMA registration for ISO 9001:2008 and 14001:2004 based on SMA's successful compliance to the standards. The Denver facility began its ISO certification process in January 2011 and spent the following months planning, organizing, creating and implementing procedures that make the development, manufacturing and supply of its products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner.

The ISO certification is current for three years, at which time the Denver facility will undergo a re-certification audit to renew the certification.

SMA's Denver assembly site provides Sunny Boy and Sunny Central inverters for the U.S. market. Production began at this facility, SMA's first manufacturing site outside of Germany, in early 2010.

About SMA
SMA Solar Technology AG is the global market leader for solar inverters. The SMA Group generated sales of €1.9 billion in 2010. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented in 19 countries on four different continents. The Group employs a staff of over 5,300 worldwide, plus a number of temporary employees which varies on a seasonal basis. The multi award-winning product range covers solar inverters for roof systems, major solar projects and off-grid systems, enabling SMA to provide a technically optimized inverter solution for all size categories and system types. Its range of services is complemented by a worldwide service network. The highly flexible manufacturing plants for solar inverters in Germany and North America have a capacity of approximately 11.5 GW a year. The SMA Group also operates a manufacturing plant for electromagnetic core components in Poland. Since 2008, SMA has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for its excellence as an employer and achieved first place in 2011 in the federal "Great Place to Work" competition. www.SMA-America.com