Dayton-area investments represent mostly equipment upgrades, including new machinery and new tooling to replace aging equipment “to maintain cutting-edge manufacturing technologies,” a spokeswoman told this news outlet.
“This investment ensures that GE Aerospace Dayton will continue to play a starring role as we reinvent the future of flight, helping us meet growing demand from our customers today while building a strong future as GE Aerospace becomes an independent, standalone company,” Brian De Bruin, site leader for GE Aerospace’s Beavercreek manufacturing facility, said in a statement.
GE Aerospace is a provider of jet engines, components and systems for commercial and military aircraft with a global service network to support these offerings. GE Aerospace and its joint ventures have installed more than 44,000 commercial and 26,000 military aircraft engines.
GE officials say their first aviation product, the turbosupercharger, was tested and matured at Wright Field, beginning in 1919. Today, about 1,400 GE employees work in Dayton-area facilities, including a production facility that opened in 2023 on Research Boulevard in Beavercreek, Dayton Cores and Castings on Heller Drive in Beavercreek, GE Aerospace on Poe Avenue in Vandalia and GE Aviation EPISCenter on the University of Dayton campus.
The company’s West Chester Twp. facilities will get $18.2 million, which will go toward new additive manufacturing machines, new tooling and equipment to support production of widebody aircraft engines and military helicopter engines., a spokeswoman confirmed.
GE Aerospace’s facility in Adams County’s Peebles will get $25 million for additional equipment, smart test cell upgrades, and specialized tooling to support the testing and development of widebody, narrowbody and regional aircraft engines. Several buildings will receive upgrades.
The company’s headquarters in Hamilton County’s Evendale will get $64.2 million for upgraded machines, additional hoists and new specialized tooling to increase production and assembly of the GE Aerospace family of engines. Some buildings will see modernization and upgrades of test cells.
GE and its partner engines power three out of every four commercial flights around the world and two-thirds of U.S. military aircraft, according to the company.
“As GE Aerospace prepares to become a standalone company this spring, we are making significant investments in the future of flight and in the dozens of communities and supplier partners helping us build it,” H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Chairman and CEO of GE and CEO of GE Aerospace, said in a statement. “These investments are part of the next chapter for GE Aerospace, supporting cutting-edge equipment and safety enhancements that will help us meet our customers’ growing needs.”
The 2024 investment plan calls for nearly $450 million to go toward new machines, inspection equipment, building upgrades and new test cells and safety enhancements at 22 GE Aerospace facilities across 14 states. An additional $100 million will go to supplier partners based in the United States.
Among the investments around the nation is $107 million to facilities in the greater Cincinnati region. Additional additive manufacturing machines, new tooling and equipment, and modernization and upgrades to test cells will allow the company to increase production capacity of engines used in commercial aircraft and in U.S. and allied military helicopter and fighter jets.
The investment will strengthen the company’s U.S. supply chain, helping suppliers build and maintain capacity and capabilities needed for sustained growth, according to the company. Suppliers provide materials such as castings and forgings, plus some early-stage parts for commercial and military engines.
GE Aerospace is hiring more than 1,000 employees for open external positions at its U.S. factories. While a company spokeswoman told this news outlet she could not specify how many jobs were available statewide or at a given facility, a search of GE Aerospace’s job listings Tuesday showed 329 jobs of all kinds listed at facilities in Ohio, with 35 in Dayton, 34 in West Chester, nine in Vandalia and six in Beavercreek.
Available positions included everything from engineering to manufacturing.
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