Record Production Intersects With New Technologies

Buoyed by record production on a new-generation of jet engines, engine components and aircraft systems, GE Aviation investments reached $4.3 billion in its expanding U.S. operations during 2011-2016 with another $1.1 billion invested in its international sites.

The U.S. investments include $214 million to establish five new plants in Ellisville, Mississippi; Auburn, Alabama; Asheville, North Carolina; Lafayette, Indiana; and Huntsville, Alabama. About two million square feet of new manufacturing floor space is being created.

In addition, GE Aviation has upgraded current U.S. operations, including expansions in West Jefferson, NC; and Hooksett, New Hampshire; and created centers for emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing, digital engine monitoring, ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) and electrical distribution.

The first company to introduce heat-resistant, lightweight CMC components into the hot section of commercial jet engines, GE Aviation is creating America’s first fully-integrated supply chain to mass produce components from this advanced material: From a CMC raw materials plant in Huntsville to CMC manufacturing research labs in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Newark, Delaware; to full-scale CMC production in Asheville.

In advancing additive manufacturing, GE Aviation has created an Additive Development Center in northern Cincinnati and a component production operation in Auburn where more than 40 additive machines are mass producing commercial and military engine components.

“GE Aviation is a global company with significant technology capability around the world,” said Colleen Athans, Vice President and GM of the GE Aviation Supply Chain. “At the same time, we are introducing several highly proprietary technologies that are upping our manufacturing capabilities in the United States."

(Image provided with GE Aviation news release)

FMI: www.geaviation.com