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Aerospace Report

GE Aviation Invests in Indiana, Alabama Facilities

GE Aviation hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking July 21st for a new, $100-million jet engine assembly facility in Lafayette, Indiana. The 225,000-square-foot (20,900-sq.-m.) facility will assemble the new LEAP engine of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (Safran) of France. CFM has logged total orders and commitments with airlines for more than 7,500 LEAP jet engines – and it does not enter service until 2016. It will power new Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and COMAC (China) C919 aircraft for airlines worldwide.

Launched in 2008, the LEAP is now undergoing development testing. As the engine transitions to the production phase, GE could begin hiring at the new Lafayette facility as early as 2015. Within five years, the plant’s workforce is expected to exceed 200 people with the capacity to do final assembly for the engine as well as the engine’s hot section (compressor, combustor, high-pressure turbine).

Final assembly of the LEAP engine at the Lafayette facility will involve using components and sub-assemblies from GE and Snecma operations and from their suppliers around the world. The LEAP engine will also be assembled at GE’s existing engine assembly plant in Durham, N.C.

The Lafayette facility will operate a highly advanced assembly line incorporating several new technologies, including automated vision inspection systems and radio frequency parts management to easily spot parts on the shop floor. GE worked closely with the state of Indiana to secure the Lafayette location. The state of Indiana, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), the city of Lafayette, and Tippecanoe County provided technical support and incentives. To prepare for the new factory, GE will work with Ivy Tech at Lafayette and Purdue University for skills and training support.

The plant will be minutes from Purdue University in West Lafayette, which has a long history of collaboration with GE Aviation and its parent, General Electric Co. GE employs more than 1,200 Purdue University alumni, including more than 400 at GE Aviation. Over the past five years, GE has financed more than $2.5 million in research and development projects at Purdue. GE Aviation leadership has met with Purdue officials to explore opportunities that will closely align the university to the new Lafayette facility. Purdue University is widely recognized as a leader in manufacturing technology, and GE intends to use the new facility as a catalyst for identifying talent and research capability.

Auburn, Ala., Plant To Produce
Additive Manufacturing Components

Also in July, at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK, GE Aviation announced plans to bring high volume additive manufacturing to its facility in Auburn, Ala. This facility will be the first of its kind to mass produce additive components for the jet propulsion industry. GE will invest $50M in the existing 300,000-square-foot facility to prepare for the additional work. Upon completion, GE investment will total more than $125M since 2011.

GE Aviation’s David Joyce, President & CEO, Colleen Athans, Vice President & General Manger, Supply Chain and Greg Morris, General Manager, Additive Technologies were joined by Governor Robert Bentley and members of the Alabama delegation at the Farnborough Air Show to celebrate the announcement.

“GE Aviation’s decision to launch a 3-D printing initiative at its Auburn plant speaks volumes about the ability of an Alabama workforce to carry out cutting-edge manufacturing. This is tomorrow’s technology, and we are proud to say it will be performed right here in Alabama,” said Governor Bentley.

Equipment installation will begin in late 2014 and production of additive components will begin in 2015. By the end of 2015, the plant could have as many as 10 printing machines with the potential to grow to more than 50 printers and occupy a third of the facility at full capacity.

The facility will also continue to manufacture precision, super-alloy machined parts for jet engines. Since opening in April 2013, GE has hired more than 70 people, and the additional work will accelerate hiring. Based on current demand for its jet engines, GE expects to hire 300 people when the plant is at full ramp-up later this decade. The specific component to be built in the new Auburn facility is a fuel nozzle. More importantly, this component will be on the best-selling LEAP jet engine, being developed by CFM International, a joint company of GE and Snecma (SAFRAN) of France and will mark the first time such a complex component will be manufactured using additive technology.

“We spent years proving out this technology for a critical component in the heart of the engine, the combustion chamber,” said Greg Morris, General Manager, Additive Technologies. “Now we are well positioned to apply this technology to other components in the same harsh environment which could prove to be game changing for future engine programs and designs.”

Auburn will have capacity to take on additional component work when new technologies are developed. All development of additive components will remain in Aviation’s Additive Technology Center (ATC) in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is also expected to grow over 300 percent in size in the coming year. The ATC will demonstrate a component’s manufacturing readiness before needing to scale for full rate production.