SMA America Production Welcomes General Manager of U.S. Technology

ROCKLIN, Calif. - Dec. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Michael Mendik has been tapped as the general manager of U.S. technology for SMA America Production, LLC, the Denver-based manufacturing division of global solar technology leader SMA Solar Technology AG.

In this role, Mendik oversees product technology for SMA’s Power Plant Solutions group in North America. This includes the popular Sunny Central (http://www.sma-america.com/en_US/products/grid-tied-inverters/sunny-central.html) inverter line and Medium Voltage systems assembled at the Denver facility. He is responsible for hiring and overseeing SMA’s U.S. product management, project management and engineering teams, while also ensuring engineering quality. Mendik also works closely with SMA’s research and development team in Germany to drive and implement a product vision and strategy that meets both customer needs and market demands.

“We are excited to have Michael lead SMA’s U.S.-based product development teams,” said Roland Grebe, chief technology officer of SMA. “With his extensive engineering background and technical experience, Michael will help SMA further develop products that are tailored to the North American solar market.”

Mendik has nearly 20 years of international business experience from various roles including engineering, business development, global product management and general management. Before joining SMA, he spent his career with ABB (http://www.abb.com/), a global leader in power and automation technologies based in Zurich. He started as a development engineer there and worked his way up to general manager of the company’s surge arrester business unit for the utility sector in Mount Pleasant, Pa. In his most recent position, his responsibilities included profit and loss, engineering, and commercial and operational oversight, as well as supervising international research and development projects, fostering business development and establishing product lines and facilities.

Mendik earned a Master of Business Administration in general management from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, and later was awarded a doctorate in physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

About SMA
The SMA Group generated sales of €1.5 billion in 2012 and is the global market leader for solar inverters, a key component of all PV plants and, as an energy management group, offers innovative key technologies for future power supply structures. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented internationally in 21 countries. The Group employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. SMA’s broad product portfolio includes a compatible inverter for every type of module on the market and for all plant sizes. The product range includes both inverters for photovoltaic plants connected to the grid as well as inverters for off-grid systems. SMA is therefore able to provide ideal technical inverter solutions for all plant sizes and types. Since 2008, the Group’s parent company, SMA Solar Technology AG, has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (S92) and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for excellence as an employer and achieved first place in the nationwide “Great Place to Work®” competition in 2011 and 2012. www.SMA-America.com