Adtran has announced the opening of its new Terafactory in Meiningen, Germany. Most importantly, the new facility fortifies the company’s supply chain resilience and accelerates regional technological advancements.

The new state-of-the-art facility brings production back to Central Europe. Thus, boosting the company’s robustness against global logistics shocks and promising to create new local jobs. The Terafactory also streamlines workflows and reduces resource consumption by harnessing advanced automation technologies. The move towards supply chain autonomy for Adtran’s core European market echoes a similar strategy in the United States. Recently, the company has also expanded its manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

“Our new Terafactory helps us mitigate against supply chain challenges like those we experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. By enhancing the production and logistics side of our business, we’re not just reducing our dependency on third parties but also putting us in control of our own destiny,” said Christoph Glingener, CTO of Adtran.

Moreover, the company considers the new factory as a strategic move as it make them more responsive and resilient to shifting supply chain pressures. “Our new Terafactory generates a significant portion of the power it needs, making day-to-day operations more energy efficient,” said Glingener.

In addition, Glingener said, “(In addition), by bringing the production of our world-leading optical transport technology back to Germany, we can more easily ensure precision and quality. What’s more, it will strengthen Europe’s position in optical transport technology, fostering regional innovation and setting new benchmarks for the industry worldwide.”

State-of-the-Art Facility

The new Terafactory reduces Adtran’s dependence on overseas suppliers and helps stabilize the delivery of its networking solutions to customers.

Particularly, as part of the BMBF-sponsored 6G-Terafactory project, Adtran will deploy an Open-RAN-based private mobile network across the campus, enabling automated processes. Thus, making the production of hardware, such as the company’s flagship FSP 3000 open optical transport platform, more efficient. It also emulates simplified quality control, as experts at the Meiningen site can now conduct this before distribution.

Moreover, with its photovoltaic solar power system, Adtran is further reducing its carbon footprint as it moves towards energy self-sufficiency throughout the Terafactory. A substantial investment from the Thuringian government has bolstered this significant initiative.

Meanwhile, Bodo Ramelow, Minister-President of Thuringia, said, “Adtran’s Terafactory represents German industry at its best. This state-of-the-art facility sends a clear message to others who may be scaling back operations in response to global pressures.”

Furthermore, Ramelow said “In an increasingly uncertain world, we must be confident and ambitious in our collective capacity to invest, innovate, and grow our way towards a brighter, more prosperous future.”

ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Adtran, Inc. Particulalry, Adtran has become a leading global provider of open, disaggregated networking and communications solutions that enable voice, data, video, and internet communications across any network infrastructure. From the cloud edge to the subscriber edge, Adtran empowers communications service providers around the world. That is, to manage and scale services that connect people, places, and things.