GE Aviation ramps up engine production

GE Aviation expects to produce more jet engines in 2013 and foresees more of its engines in use as its commercial business grows.

The Evendale-based company and its joint ventures are also developing new engines with better fuel efficiency, and have already sold some of these engines for airplanes still under development, said Rick Kennedy, spokesman for GE Aviation.

Overall engine production by GE and GE’s joint ventures will grow from 3,400 engines in 2012 to 3,600 engines this year, Kennedy said. The number of GE and joint venture engines in service — engines placed in active aircrafts — will grow from 25,000 today to about 40,000 by 2020, he said. It is key to build a large base of engines in service, and then provide spare parts and maintenance for them over a long period, Kennedy said.

“The business is growing because airline aviation continues to expand around the world,” Kennedy said.

GE jet engines power commercial aircraft made by Airbus, Boeing, Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada, as well as military aircraft. GE Aviation employs about 40,000 worldwide, and about 8,600 people in the Cincinnati-Dayton area.

“Commercial aviation is doing extremely well. It’s across the industry,” said Dan Stohr, spokesman for trade group Aerospace Industries Association. Growing or developing markets include China, the Middle East and across Pacific Asia, he said.

GE Aviation has a joint venture with French company Snecma to make the CFM56 engine, which powers the narrow body jetliners Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. The joint venture, CFM International, has a new engine under development that will come to market in 2016.

Called the LEAP engine, the new engine will also power future Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 airplanes, as well as new planes under development — the Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX and COMAC C919 from China, according to Kennedy.

The LEAP engine is GE Aviation’s biggest development program right now.

“The company has already sold more than 4,000 engines on three different airplanes under development, and the first engine hasn’t even run yet. So, it’s an extremely important program for GE, and is being designed to deliver both outstanding reliability and better fuel burn,” Kennedy said. “Achieving both is very challenging.”

GE Aviation is also in the early stages of development for an engine called GE9X, which will be the successor to its current GE90 engine that powers the Boeing 777 jumbo jet. Boeing is looking into a new-generation 777 aircraft, for which GE is preparing to provide the engine, Kennedy said.

In October, GE Aviation said it began testing an engine core for the ADaptive Versatile ENgine Technology (ADVENT) program with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The new core technologies being tested, including lightweight and heat resistant materials, will result in a 25 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, a 30 percent increase in operating range and a 5 to 10 percent improvement in thrust compared to current fixed-cycle engines, the company said.

Meanwhile, GE Aviation is completing a $100 million, multi-year renovation of its suburban Cincinnati headquarters and plans to open a Dayton research facility in the summer. The company also plans to build two new production plants in Mississippi and Alabama this year.

GE Aviation said its local growth enhances the Interstate 75 aviation corridor.

Another recent development was GE Aviation’s acquisition in November of sister companies Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing. Morris Technologies, of Sharonville, and its production arm Rapid Quality, of West Chester Twp., are world leaders in metal additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, is the process of creating solid objects from a digital file by printing thin layers of material one on top of another.

Morris Technologies supplies GE Aviation with prototypes of jet engine components.

Later this decade, GE plans to have Morris Technologies make components using the additive manufacturing process for the full production phase, not just for prototypes, Kennedy said..

“They’re looking at the next generation aircraft engines — the future engines where they have to make them stronger, cheaper and lighter — additive does that,” said Tim Warden, previously vice president of sales and marketing for Morris Technologies. He now works for GE. “We can put features in metal components that you could not have machined prior using traditional manufacturing.”

Source:    http://www.daytondailynews.com