Recognizing the impact of the economic recession on business growth and the subsequent impact on American employment and job security, GE is finding new pathways for growth based on a future in low-carbon economic development. Throughout 2009, GE stressed that economic renewal will come from investing in innovation, announcing a series of facility openings across the United States, where jobs will focus on building and manufacturing technologies for a clean energy future.
To give an energy-efficient edge to the company's consumer-facing roots, GE announced it was bringing 830 jobs to Appliances Park in Louisville, Kentucky, to build energy-efficient water heaters and new “smart” washer and dryers. The Smart Grid-enabled GE Profile appliances and hybrid water heater can communicate with home energy management software and utility smart meters to reduce demand during peak usage times, empowering consumers to control their energy consumption and save money in areas with time-of-use or other dynamic pricing options. Together, the production of these products has the potential to create over a thousand more incremental “green” jobs over time for suppliers and contract partners and generate other positive financial impacts in Louisville and across the United States.
Similar to the other facility openings announced throughout the year, these new Louisville jobs were made possible thanks to cooperation from local and federal government and other employee organizations. “We are making big investments in new products and in energy-efficient technologies that are creating American jobs,” said GE Appliances & Lighting President and CEO Jim Campbell. “We can't make these products in the United States competitively without everyone coming to the table — unions, the company, employees, local/state/federal officials. We are grateful to the state and the city for their continued support in bringing these new products and jobs to Appliance Park.”
In May 2009, GE announced it would open a new, state-of-the-art battery manufacturing plant in upstate New York. The $100 million project, which will be the backbone of GE's newly formed battery business, will create 350 new “green collar” manufacturing jobs and thousands more in the supply chain. GE's new business, which will be a part of GE Transportation, will manufacture a unique type of battery: a high energy-density sodium-metal-halide cell. It's particularly suited to the rail, marine, mining, communications and energy sectors — and has the potential to be a $1 billion business for GE over the next decade.
Building on the momentum of the New York facility, a month later in June 2009, GE announced the opening of its Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center in Van Buren Township, Michigan, that will bring more than 1,100 information technologists and engineers to the hard-hit Michigan industrial sector, focusing on new software, processes and technologies to drive excellence and efficiencies in manufacturing for GE and its customers. Speaking to an audience at the Detroit Economic Club where the announcement was made, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt explained, “Workers who might have made cars in the past, will be bringing GE technology to life rebuilding our economy. The people of this great state have been told that the decline of their manufacturing base was inevitable. I reject that pessimistic view. I believe that good jobs can again return to Michigan and in manufacturing centers across America.”