More online
Read a full story online about GE Aviation CEO David Joyce on jet engine technology.
By the numbers: GE Aviation
3,600 jet engines to be delivered in 2013 (estimate), up from 2,800 in 2010
$20 billion in revenues in 2012, up from $17.6 billion in 2010
$3.75 billion profits in 2012, up from $3.3 billion in 2010
40,000 total employees worldwide at 85 sites
GE Aviation said Friday it is investing $200 million over the next three years in its Ohio operations, including Evendale, Peebles and the Dayton area.
The jet engine maker in 2009 received a 15-year Job Retention Tax Credit from the state, and committed to spending $100 million on its Evendale headquarter operations. GE Aviation says it met that commitment by 2012. The $200 million announcement is in addition to that, company officials said.
“GE Aviation’s Ohio network of facilities is vitally important to our success,” said Colleen Athans, vice president and general manager of GE Aviation’s supply chain organization, in a statement. “A combination of strong volume on current product, coupled with needed capacity to develop our next generation product, requires that we make these infrastructure investments.”
Projects include a new building at the company’s Evendale complex, located in suburban Cincinnati, to house a new test cell for engine combustors. The new building will handle engine tests for higher air compression rates. Also, a new test cell will be constructed in an existing Evendale building for marine and industrial aero-derivative engines, the company said, which makes commercial and military jet engines and parts.
A second engine test facility is being built in Peebles, in southern Ohio, to handle higher production volume.
At a Beavercreek jet engine component manufacturing site, plans are to establish a high-pressure turbine blade castings laboratory to study development. A vendor currently makes the blade castings, GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy said.
Kennedy said the new investment plans don’t include, and are in addition to, this summer’s opening of the Dayton EPISCENTER research center.
GE Aviation released the estimates Friday afternoon, following a morning roundtable with President and Chief Executive Officer David Joyce.
Engine orders overall are up as a result of new product innovation, the company said. GE Aviation in 2010 delivered a total 2,800 jet engines, including ones made by joint venture CFM International. It’s expecting to deliver 3,600 engines this year and 3,800 in 2014.
Joyce is cautiously optimistic about business in the year ahead.
Demand for air travel is up about 3 percent from a year ago and has accelerated since October 2012, he said. Worldwide, planes are flying 80 percent full on average. However, oil for jet fuel is high priced.
“I would say there are more positive trends then there are negative trends at this time,” Joyce said.
About the Author