GE Aviation acquires 2 manufacturing firms

GE Aviation has acquired locally based Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing, precision manufacturing companies that make everything from parts for unmanned military vehicles to hip replacement prototypes.

Terms were not disclosed.

The two privately held companies employ about 130 people locally in additive manufacturing, an automated process for creating rapid prototypes and end-use production components.

Evendale-based GE Aviation says the acquisition allows the jet engine maker to expand its engineering and manufacturing capabilities to meet growing demand over the next five years.

“Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing are parts of our investment in emerging manufacturing technologies,” Colleen Athans, vice president and general manager of the Supply Chain Division at GE Aviation, said in a statement.

“Our ability to develop state of the art manufacturing processes for emerging materials and complex design geometry is critical to our future. We are so fortunate to have Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing just minutes from our headquarters. We know them well.”

Founded by Cincinnati natives Greg Morris, Wendell Morris and Bill Noack in 1994, Morris Technologies in Sharonville and Rapid Quality Manufacturing in West Chester have supplied parts to GE Aviation for several years. The companies have made everything from lightweight parts for unmanned aerial vehicles for the U.S. military to hip replacement prototypes for the medical field.

The Sharonville and West Chester facilities will become part of GE Aviation’s global network of manufacturing operations.

In a statement, GE Aviation said it already has contracted with the companies to produce components for the best-selling LEAP jet engine being developed by CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (SAFRAN) of France. The LEAP engine, which is scheduled to enter service in the middle of this decade on three different narrow-body aircraft, has received more than 4,000 engine orders before the first full engine has even gone to test.

Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing focus on the aerospace, energy, oil & gas, and medical industries.

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