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  • What's next for GE and Erie?

  • Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.
Discussion of General Electric locomotive technology. Current official information can be found here: www.getransportation.com.

Moderators: MEC407, AMTK84

 #1426622  by MEC407
 
From GoErie.com:
GoErie.com wrote:The company calls it a Brilliant Factory, part of an initiative that combines an intensely technology-based approach with lean and advanced manufacturing to boost productivity and, according to GE, “(reimagines) the way we design, manufacture and service.”

The publication Automation World explained it this way: “The idea behind the Brilliant Factory is to link design, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution and services into one intelligent system.”

Out of 500 GE plants around the world, just seven have earned GE’s designation of Brilliant, including a plant that builds a variety of parts in India and another in Japan that makes medical scanners.

Another of those plants is 70 miles from Erie in Grove City, where about 400 people work in a plant, opened in 2011, that rebuilds old locomotive engines, most of them pulled from locomotives built over the years in Erie.

The plant, located just a couple miles from another GE Transportation factory that builds new engines, would traditionally have had a single plan for rebuilding an engine and would apply that same replace-everything-that-moves approach when a used-up engine arrived on the back of a truck.

But that approach ignored an important reality, said plant manager Jeff Smith: Many of those parts didn’t need to be replaced.

Under the company’s new approach, enabled by hundreds of sensors deployed on each locomotive, engineers in Grove City know precisely what’s wrong with an engine, what needs replaced and what parts can safely be reused in a move that saves customers both time and money.
Read the rest of the article at: http://www.goerie.com/business/20170402 ... gine-plant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And there's also a good article with video here: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/te ... on=pgevoke" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1439256  by MEC407
 
From GoErie.com:
GoErie.com wrote:GE Transportation plans to eliminate all locomotive production at its Erie plant, except for prototype development, by the end of 2018. That work is being transferred to Fort Worth, Texas.

The decision will result in the loss of as many as 575 hourly jobs, said Deia Campanelli, communications leader for GE Transportation. The plant currently employs more than 2,500 people.
. . .
“We remain committed to Erie,” Campanelli said. “The Erie plant will remain GE Transportation’s largest plant.”

Return to GoErie.com for updates throughout the day.
Source: http://www.goerie.com/news/20170727/ge- ... t-575-jobs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1439337  by Allen Hazen
 
O.k., I don't understand. Locomotives (except for "prototypes"-- what's that, one a year? two? one every two years?) will be assembled in Ft. Worth. Engines get made in Grove City. Yet Erie will continue to beGETS's most important plant? What will it be doing? (Making electrical/electronic components that will get trucked to Ft. Wort for installation?)
 #1439396  by MEC407
 
My assumption is that locomotive rebuilds/overhauls/modernization will still take place there (a big and growing part of GETS' business these days), as well as some of the mining equipment, and perhaps the less visible parts of the business like R&D, customer support, manufacture of components and spare parts, etc., and of course the manufacture of the electrical stuff you mentioned. My impression is that Fort Worth isn't set up to do any of that.

Updated info from GoErie.com:
GoErie.com wrote:The broad sweep of the plan involves transferring the production of locomotives and locomotive kits to the company’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and eliminating 575 positions in Erie.

At the conclusion, the Lawrence Park [Erie] plant will be the company’s center for design, engineering, prototype development and component manufacturing.

There will still be about 2,000 GE employees in Erie after this, said Richard Simpson, vice president of GE Transportation’s global supply chain. This will still be the company’s largest plant.
. . .
About 225 employees at the Fort Worth plant would be recalled to work if the plan goes into effect, and as many as 200 other jobs would be created at GE suppliers around the country, Simpson said.
. . .
Simpson said he hopes that half of the 575 local job cuts will be achieved through retirement, early retirement and “enhanced retirement,” which could include retirement incentives.

Many GE workers at the Lawrence Park plant have already reached retirement age and might be receptive to a retirement offer, Simpson said.

“These employees would also be eligible for preferential employee replacement, retraining and extended health insurance,” Simpson said. “There is a significant package available for any impacted employee.”

GE Transportation has no plans to close the Lawrence Park plant, CEO Jamie Miller told employees in a letter distributed Thursday.

“Should the decision be to move forward after decision bargaining, our intent is to transform our Erie campus to focus on design, engineering, prototype development, and components production,” Miller said in the letter. “Erie has been a part of GE for more than 100 years, continually evolving to meet market challenges. In fact, even following this proposed transformation, Erie would remain our largest location with approximately 2,000 hourly and salaried employees. The site will be a critical part of GE Transportation for years to come and this transformation will help write the next chapter.”

Manufacturing will also continue for alternators, grid blowers, UX controls and spare parts, Simpson said.
Source: http://www.goerie.com/news/20170728/ge- ... erie-plant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1439429  by mowingman
 
I think most of us saw this coming back in 2013. No matter what the press release says, Erie will continue to be phased out as a locomotive operation and Ft. Worth will continue to grow in importance. It is a 'no brainer". Any employees who have a chance to transfer should do so if they want to continue working for GE. I would guess that in another 10 years, most, if not all locomotive operations will be located in Ft. Worth.
 #1442181  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Can anyone provide a cogent reason for this move other than, pure and simple, Union Busting?

Are the production employees at Ft Worth presently non-Agreement. If so, who's to say that "you may be down and out but you ain't beatin, for you can pass out a leaflet and call a meetin'".

But it should be encouraging to all concerned that as the Immelt era closes in Fairfield and the Flannery era begins in Boston (funny?), Transportation remains an integral part of GE and is, if company propaganda is to believed, not about to become an Orphan as did EMD.

disclaimer: author holds long position GE
 #1468239  by MEC407
 
GE just released a video promoting their new emphasis on supplying used locomotives to shortline and regional railroads. The video features several Pan Am Railways employees and a lot of footage from Pan Am's yard at East Deerfield, Massachusetts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj4IndBV7yQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1469865  by Ronal U18C Indonesia
 
For IR Ll Co locomotive manufacture problem're, I am prefer Nippon Sharyo Ll Co or Woojin Ll Co