It’s one thing to talk a good game about creating an ecosystem that produces highly skilled engineers and the companies that employ them. It’s another thing to do it.
Welcome to Kentucky, where talk is backed by results produced in abundance. Case in point: Gov. Andy Beshear joined local officials and senior executives from GE Appliances on January 29 to announce the company’s first-ever, in-house water filter manufacturing operation at Appliance Park in Louisville. The operation creates 30 new jobs at the firm’s global corporate headquarters and notches another win for the state in the development and recruitment of highly skilled, high-wage jobs.
The announcement is part of GE Appliances’ ongoing $3 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing over five years. Together with other projects in the Bluegrass State, GE Appliances is creating over 800 new jobs for Kentuckians, including hundreds as part of a project announced last August that adds $490 million in investment to the firm’s Louisville complex. The company said it will rely on its 1,600 engineers that work at the Kentucky plant “to usher in the next phase of the company’s future, elevating the commonwealth’s position as a growing technology hub and ideal location for science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.”
The state-of-the-art water filter manufacturing line will be the first of its kind for GE Appliances. By designing, testing and manufacturing water filters all under one roof, GE Appliances noted that the expansion “further strengthens quality, supply chain resiliency and ability to protect consumers from counterfeit products.”
“We understand that the success of our students is our most important metric, and we are committed to developing talented engineering professionals who rise to the challenges of the future.”
— Rudy Buchheit, the Rebecca Burchett Liebert Dean of the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering
Outside analysts are taking note. Idaho-based Lightcast issued a comprehensive report on the state of manufacturing jobs in Kentucky and noted that “Kentucky supported 2.1 million jobs in 2019, and by 2029, the state is projected to add 131,960 new jobs, for a 6% job increase. The professional, scientific and technical services industry subsector, which includes the engineering services industry, ranks sixth in the state in terms of jobs and is projected to grow over the next decade.”
Rankings Bolster State’s Case
That talent growth is fueled by elite institutions that educate and equip highly skilled engineers. The University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering, for example, was recently recognized for its quality of education in the top half of U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 Best Engineering Schools. U.S. News ranked the Pigman College of Engineering No. 63 among public institutions and No. 1 in the state of Kentucky.
“As we continue to be the leader in engineering in Kentucky, we look to become national leaders in our specialty areas,” says Rudy Buchheit, the Rebecca Burchett Liebert Dean of the Pigman College of Engineering. “We also understand that the success of our students is our most important metric, and we are committed to developing talented engineering professionals who rise to the challenges of the future.”
Kentucky universities annually graduate more than 1,500 students with engineering degrees. The state’s community colleges produce another 600-plus STEM grads annually.
Many UK Pigman College of Engineering departments are ranked among the best public programs in the nation. Biological and agricultural engineering ranks No. 17; aerospace and aeronautical engineering ranks No. 39; and chemical engineering ranks No. 44.
Programs like these are a big reason why Kentucky annually ranks as one of the top producers of new corporate facility investments and job generators in America in these sectors: automotive manufacturing; energy; battery technology; food and beverage processing; and other ag-related fields.
One recent project win came in October 2025, when Tate Inc. marked the largest job creation project in Barren County in 18 years. The firm announced a $76 million facility that will be its largest site worldwide and create 400 manufacturing jobs upon completion.
The facility will house fabrication, assembly and testing operations, allowing Tate to meet increasing global demand for precision-engineered data center infrastructure. The Kentucky facility is slated to come online in phases, supporting ongoing investment in advanced manufacturing capabilities and developing a skilled local workforce.
“We’re delighted to become part of the Glasgow community,” said Daniel Kennedy, global president of cloud solutions and innovation at Tate, at the time of the announcement. “Expanding our manufacturing capabilities here in rural Kentucky reflects our commitment to expanding our U.S. manufacturing footprint and creating high-quality jobs.”
Another field benefiting from Kentucky’s ample supply of quality engineers is the rapidly growing biomass sector. Last June, Gov. Beshear announced that Biomass Engineering and Equipment (BE&E) — a maker of equipment for the agriculture, forest products and biomass sectors — broke ground on a new $20 million plant in Muhlenberg County. The project creates 250 high-wage jobs.
“BE&E is a global company and as such can choose anywhere in the world as the most advantageous location to expand,” said Dane Floyd, CEO of Floyd Holdings, parent company of BE&E, when the announcement was made. “Many factors go into such a major decision as this investment and all things considered, Greenville, Kentucky, is the right choice. I am grateful to everyone involved: the dedicated employees, the local government, the community, and Gov. Beshear’s office for making this decision so easy for us. We are proud to call Greenville, Kentucky, our new home.”
Lana Chausenko is a graduate of the University of Louisville’s Speed School of Engineering and currently in her test systems rotation in GE Appliances’ New Industry 4.0 Development Program.
Photo courtesy of GE Appliances
Defense Starts In Kentucky
The expansive role that Kentucky’s colleges and universities play in facilitating these corporate investments cannot be overstated. Engineering grads from the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University consistently show up on the payrolls of many of the world’s largest firms doing business in the Bluegrass State.
A notable example is Lockheed Martin, which last August celebrated the grand opening of a new facility on the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington. The project adds 70 high-wage jobs.
The facility is called the Engineering Center of Excellence and will support Lockheed Martin as it endeavors to meet the defense sector’s growing demand for innovative engineering and manufacturing solutions. Lockheed Martin already employs more than 1,500 workers in the state. Over the past 15 years, the company has worked with its partners in Central Kentucky to support the U.S. Department of Defense and enable some of the nation’s most critical missions by air, land, space and sea.
The facility is the result of a unique partnership between UK and Lockheed Martin. Last April, they joined forces to form UK Innovate to leverage cutting-edge expertise to drive innovation in engineering, materials, energy and manufacturing technology.
Also supporting the growth of engineering employment statewide is the Kentucky Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which recently established a database that firms can use to boost engineering services needed by Kentucky-based employers.
