GE INVESTS MORE THAN $430 MILLION, CREATES 500 NEW JOBS IN U.S. APPLIANCE PLANTS
The Associated Press recently reported that General Electric (Fairfield, CT) is planning to invest $432 million to establish four U.S.-based refrigeration design and manufacturing centers that will be the focus for its new energy-efficient line of refrigerators and other appliances. The company announced “the move will create 500 new jobs by 2014 and help preserve another 1,166 existing positions.”
According to GE, the investment “is an effort to revitalize its appliance business and take advantage of increasing global competitiveness of U.S. factories . . . GE said this will drive down costs by making the manufacturing process more efficient and improve product quality.”
Bloomberg News reported, “Factories and design centers in Bloomington, IN; Louisville, KY; Decatur, AL; and Selmer, TN, will open during the next four years, Fairfield- based GE said. Designs will incorporate Energy Star standards in effect in 2014 and target the U.S. . . . Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said in September that he planned to bring appliance jobs back from China and Mexico, because U.S. workers were making higher-quality products for less. Employees and unions agreed to cut expenses including reducing starting wages for production employees.” Campbell said GE “decided to invest at a time when the industry is suffering so that GE will be ready when business picks up with new products.”
Commenting on the move, the Wall Street Journal reports, James P. Campbell, President and CEO of GE Appliances & Lighting, said, “This is a big commitment on the part of GE to really transform the business and put us in a much different place over the next couple of years. . . . Our US plant can and will be competitive in the production of these products.” The company noted a total of about $78 million of local government, state and federal incentives.
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