billion Deutschmark. Schott had been operating at only 40 sites in ten countries with global sales of DM 1.31 billion in 1984. In 2004, Schott Glas converted from a dependent enterprise of its sister enterprise Carl Zeiss (Oberkochen) to become a legally independent Aktiengesellschaft—Schott AG. The Carl Zeiss Foundation remains the sole shareholder of Schott AG. The Foundation Statute does not permit to sell its shares, ruling out the prospect of an IPO. Solar industry The technology group entered the solar industry in 2001, founding Schott Solar GmbH in 2005 (renamed Schott Solar AG in 2008). In 2008, Schott announced that it planned to produce crystalline photovoltaic cells and modules with a total of 450 MW annually. It also planned to produce thin-film PV wafers with a capacity of 100 MW. In 2009, the company inaugurated a US$100 million solar manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA to build solar receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants (CSP) and 64 MW of photovoltaic modules. They had already been making 15 MW of photovoltaics annually in Billerica, Massachusetts, until the factory was closed in 2009. The company was also engaged in concentrated solar power technology, by manufacturing solar receiver tubes. In June 2012, Schott announced that its Albuquerque plant would close down, laying off all photovoltaic cell manufacturing employees immediately and ramping down the remaining employees over the rest of the summer. Schott withdrew from its solar business in 2012 and Schott Solar AG was dissolved. Company profile The supervisory board appointed Frank Heinricht as chairman of the board of management of Schott AG in June 2013. Heinricht, a German physicist with a doctorate in engineering, succeeded Udo Ungeheuer, who had served as Chairman from 2004. SCHOTT AG established a glass manufacturing facility in India in Jambusar, Gujarat in 1998 under its Indian subsidiary, SCHOTT Glass India Pvt. Ltd.. The plant produces Type I pharma tubing glass, which is used to make pharmaceutical packaging products such as ampoules, vials, syringes and cartridges. The German Group also has a 50-50 Joint venture in India with KAISHA Group of Companies, as SCHOTT KAISHA Pvt. Ltd. which produces pharmaceutical packaging products. The company started operating in China since 2011, with a large production. SCHOTT reported sales worth 2.05 billion Euros in its fiscal year 2016–2017. In 2017–2018 sales increase to 2.08 billion euros with an annual profit of 208 million euros. In 2019, SCHOTT