Pune. Close on the heels of launching as a standalone company listed on New York Stock Exchange, GE Aerospace has announced an investment of over Rs 240 crore (~USD 30 million) to expand and upgrade its manufacturing facility in Pune.
The investment will allow the facility to add new projects and manufacturing processes by acquiring machines/equipment and specialised tools along with capacity enhancement of existing products.
“Our team at multi-modal manufacturing facility- Pune has a strong focus on safety, quality and delivering for our customers. I am delighted to see the expansion at this site which has already become a strong contributor to our global supply chain of aircraft engine components,” said Mike Kauffman, vice president, Global Supply Chain at GE Aerospace.
“This investment helps us to continue our growth in aerospace in India, giving us the resources, we need to meet increasing customers’ demand,” said Amol Nagar the managing director for GE Aerospace’s Pune facility.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in February 2015, the factory produces components for commercial jet engines. These are supplied to GE’s global factories where they are used to assemble G90, GEnx, GE 9X, which is the world’s most powerful commercial jet engine, and the LEAP engines by CFM, a GE and Safran joint venture. The facility has been instrumental in developing local aerospace manufacturing talent having trained over 5000 people since inception in specialised aerospace precision manufacturing processes.
Certified under ISO14001 & ISO45001, the facility has built environmental best practices and stewardship in the community. For example, 30% of its power consumption comes from renewable sources, it has zero liquid discharge, recycles and reuses 1 crore litres of water (100 million litres) every year and recycling 20 metric tons of plastic.
GE Aerospace has been a partner to India’s aviation industry for over 40 years. 700 GE Aerospace and partner engines are in service, powering major Indian airlines. GE Aerospace’s defence engines and systems power Indian Airforce’s Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk 1 and helicopters and Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier battleships and frigates. Its Pune manufacturing facility and 13 local India partners are part of the company’s global supply chain. Researchers and engineers at the company’s 24-year-old John F Welch Technology centre in Bengaluru are building the latest aviation technologies.