• TPMTech
  • February 23 – 24, 2023 | Hilton Long Beach

Ardes Johnson

Meyer Burger Americas

President & General Manger

Ardes is a 25 year energy veteran. After graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University, Ardes entered U.S. Navy where he served as a Nuclear Surface Warfare Officer aboard the Harry S. Truman. There he served in various department engineering leadership roles and as qualified reactor watch officer. He also qualified and stood watch as Officer of the Deck for underway operations. Following his 5 years in the Navy, he entered the civilian world where he has had various executive leadership roles at companies such as General Electric, Tesla, and SolarWorld. Now he is with Meyer Burger, a Swiss headquartered technology company with manufacturing sites in Germany and soon to be the U.S. As the President and General Manager of Meyer Burger Americas (MBA) he is focused on manufacturing and selling the highest efficiency, most sustainable solar cells and modules in the world. He works closely with his colleagues in Germany where they are currently ramping up to 1.5 GW of Cell and Module. Meyer Burger (Americas) will import hundreds of megawatts into the U.S., which will be sold through various channels throughout the states. In 2022, Meyer Burger announced an expansion factory in Goodyear Arizona that when done will employ up to 500 people and will manufacture an additional 1.5 gigawatts of solar modules annually. The plant is currently under construction and is coming online at the beginning of 2024.

If we sprinkle in personal, which I’m totally good with, but want to be consistent:

Ardes has been married to his wife Paige for 24 years and they enjoy all of their available free time with their 4 children ranging from 3rd grade to a freshman at University of Arkansas.

Sessions With Ardes Johnson

Friday, 24 February

  • 03:45pm - 04:15pm (PST) / 24/feb/2023 11:45 pm - 25/feb/2023 12:15 am

    Shippers Sound Off on Technology
    Shippers face a technology investment challenge that virtually no other entity in global logistics does. That is, a global importer or exporter is balancing its technology needs across a huge list of needs that spans every department in the company. An investment in logistics technology means a shipper has less to invest in sales, marketing, human resources, finance, customer service, and on and on. Some investments into logistics can impact multiple departments, but the problem for logistics teams is that global freight transportation wasn’t often seen as the highest priority, especially as freight rates stayed at low levels on a historical basis. That, of course, changed during the pandemic, when supply chain as a whole received unprecedented attention. The question going forward is whether logistics teams can channel that better understanding of technology into sustained technology investment. In this session, a transportation technology vendor and two of its shipper customers will discuss what systems, features, and tools matter most, and how access to investment for technology has changed during the pandemic. 
View Full Agenda