It’s no big secret that Intel (ticker INTC) is looking to move into other markets beyond its traditional microprocessor line. One way to do so is to offer technical consulting services to other chip and electronics manufacturers. It now has a customer – MiaSole, a Silicon Valley start up making solar panels. An item in today’s Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) indicates that the Silicon Valley startup has engaged Intel’s nascent technical manufacturing services practice to provide expertise, employee training and other assistance as MiaSolé ramps up its production in 2011 and 2012. At the heart of the effort is an Intel strategy called Copy Exactly.

Under Copy Exactly, once a process is shaken down in one of the company’s development factories it is transferred identically to Intel’s other plants–right down to choosing the same color paint on the walls. Over the years, as Intel has refined the methodology, the company has continued to shrink the time needed for all its factories to hit maximum yields.

Joseph Laia, MiaSolé CEO, says it has been boosting production steadily at its sole plant in Sunnyvale, Calif. Where last year MiaSolé shipped solar panels capable of generating 22 megawatts of electricity, Laia projects it will hit 80 megawatts in 2011.

But the arrangement with Intel is expected to improve MiaSolé’s manufacturing efficiency. The larger company will station about a dozen people at MiaSolé’s Sunnyvale plant, Laia says. After helping to improve processes there, he says, Intel will help the startup prepare to transfer an identical set of methods to future factories–which haven’t been determined yet, but could be in the U.S. or abroad, he says.

Intel shares are currently trading at $22.11, continuing to advance after gapping up last week on the positive reaction by Wall Street to their most recent quarterly earnings announcement.