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Lloyd G. Trotter - President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Industrial Systems
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1999 proved to be a major breakthrough year for GE Industrial Systems. This relatively “young” business — the result of combining the talents and assets of the former Electrical Distribution & Control and Industrial Control Systems businesses — drove strong double-digit improvements in earnings during its first full year of operation.
E-Business efforts accelerated across the business, and Power Management led the effort. It doubled online sales of its relays and Power Management products, largely by the use of configuration wizards to simplify transactions on our external Web site. Innovative features on our internal Web site are also changing the way we work. For example, WEB CITYTM was designed to bring together engineers from around the world to collaborate in real time on new product development. Working in this virtual environment means that engineers can share data, specifications and other critical information around the clock, seven days a week, allowing us to tap into the best talent available globally while significantly reducing costs and cycle time for product innovation.
We continued to extend our global reach through acquisitions, joint ventures and investments in world-class production facilities, gaining access to new markets and products enabling growth. GE Power Controls, our European arm, fully integrated its GEC Alstom and AEG-NGEF low-voltage acquisitions in India and built two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Ozd, Hungary, and Klodzko, Poland. The Shanghai GE Breakers Co., Ltd. and Shanghai GE Gaungdian Co., Ltd. joint ventures will produce a wide range of medium- and low-voltage circuit breakers and other products for the China and export markets. The Satyam-GE Design Center in India accelerated its staffing of high value-added engineers and is expected to double its personnel strength next year.
GE Fanuc Automation’s acquisition of Total Control Products, Inc. will contribute significantly to both top and bottom line. That business unit also introduced its VERSAMAX™ single control product that offers customers modular and scalable architecture, intuitive features and unparalleled ease of use at competitive prices.
1999 was the year in which GE Industrial Systems positioned itself as a leading integrated source for delivering quality electrical and electronic systems, services and solutions to customers.
Visit GE Industrial Systems online at: http://www.geindustrial.com/geip/GEIPersEntry
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(Click photo to enlarge)
Sudarshan Allada (seated), a Senior Engineer at Satyam-GE in Hyderabad, India, and Mallik Rachakonda, Chief Operating Officer, use the Web to evaluate a prototype of a DP Contactor against the model designed by the India Design Center. Engineers and suppliers can now collaborate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on new product designs, delivering them to our customers faster and more cost-competitively.
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