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[Thank you all for coming today. ]
[for Michigan, and perhaps the greatest symbol of that]
[young people who are going to be joining us behind]
[who all will be looking for future jobs as part of what we are announcing today. ]
[[Jennifer Granholm Governor State of Michigan]]
[So pleased to be here, and I want to single out a couple of people. ]
[Jeff Immelt, who, of course, is the Chairman and CEO]
[of General Electric, is going to make a big announcement here.]
[So, I'm not going to be able to do that, but I ]
[do know that there are an awful lot of people who have]
[helped to make this announcement a reality, ]
[and I want to single out a couple of them.]
[Senator Debbie Stabenow was really a tremendous matchmaker]
[in this effort, and we're so grateful]
[General Electric and his team. ]
[And if she was the matchmaker, I know that we]
[So I want to say thank you so much to our]
[great Michigan economic development corporation team. ]
[Greg Main is here and he's the president and CEO.]
[We have such tremendous partners--our economic ]
[development crew with our local partners. ]
[We're also joined up here--and with our federal partners, as well. ]
[We're joined up here by Dr. Ed Montgomery, who]
[is the head of the President's task ]
[force on automotive communities and recovery. ]
[The President has been extremely supportive of our]
[strategy to diversify Michigan's economy.]
[So we're so grateful that you are here as well. ]
[The Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, who had a singular]
[focus in his role as Lieutenant Governor.]
[One of his important focuses has been on education,]
[which is a critical component to having a high-tech facility,]
[and so we're glad that he's joining us. ]
[I want to acknowledge the Wayne County]
[executive Bob Ficano because, as you]
[will hear, this facility will be located in Wayne]
[County in the actual band of the ]
[Aerotropolis site, so it is a tremendous,]
[tremendous partnership that we have--state,]
[federal, local, and of course with our partner General Electric. ]
[This is a great day because of our]
[As I said to Mr. Immelt, we are--]
[about reshaping Michigan's economy.]
[And as General Electric focuses]
[on imagination, we are focused]
[on reimagining what Michigan is. ]
[We are proud of what we have been, and we]
[know that our focus has been on adding new sectors]
[to make us competitive in the 21st century.]
[Technology, the green economy, and]
[making sure that we take advantage of our universities, is]
[part and parcel of what today's announcement will be. ]
[to be able to introduce the president and]
[CEO of General Electric to make a ]
[tremendous, tremendous announcement for Michigan and it's people. ]
[Great. Thank you, Governor. [applause]]
[Thank you, Governor, and Senator.]
[It's really an honor to be here with you this morning. ]
[What I'd like to just do briefly is kind of describe]
[what we're going to do, why we're doing it, and ]
[why we think it's important. ]
[[Jeffrey Immelt Chairman & CEO General Electric] What we're going to do is we're going]
[to move and create an advanced manufacturing technology]
[and software center in Michigan.]
[It's going to be located at Visteon Village Office Park.]
[We're going to assume some of the space there,]
[and, in addition, we're going to invest a little bit more than 100 million dollars]
[We think we'll start with about 1200 people.]
[probably beginning the end of this year and]
[And basically we're going to put three work streams into this site. ]
[One will be around the science]
[of manufacturing high-tech products.]
[We make jet engines, we make gas turbines, we ]
[make wind turbines, we make nuclear power plants, we make]
[MR scanners, and the manufacturing that is a part]
[is very precise, so we will be putting both]
[machinery capability and technologists to really]
[develop the next generation of manufacturing technology]
[that helps us be productive, have higher quality, ]
[and so that will go into this site.]
[In addition, we will put people in software]
[Smart Grid technology and the software associated with that, ]
[healthcare information technologies, some of the software associated with that, ]
[then other applications inside the company.]
[We view, in our service business, the ]
[need for more software, and so those capabilities]
[will go into this site, as well. ]
[And then the third major work stream is we're going to use this as a place to co-locate]
[many of our information technology resources]
[So these three groups will be located in this site.]
[So that's what we're doing. ]
[We plan to start right away. ]
[It's going to start at about 1200 jobs, and it's--]
[[laughter] I find that the Governor is]
[sales people I've ever seen up here. ]
[So that's what we're doing. ]
[Why we're doing it--we've had a long association]
[University of Michigan is one of the biggest feeders]
[We've had great collaborations.]
[We've got lots of graduates of Michigan and Michigan State that work at GE.]
[We've been long-believers in the ]
[quality education of the state. ]
[We have 2000 employees here.]
[We believe that in the precise machining world, ]
[that between the Tier 1 automotive group]
[and the automotive technology per se, ]
[that we can tap into some of the great]
[labor resources that already exist in this state.]
[I would say that this is a great public, private partnership. ]
[These investment decisions have to be made from an economic foundation.]
[We found the state of Michigan to be aggressive and a good partner. ]
[And, again, when I think about a site like this, it's not a short-term thing.]
[We view this as a long-term commitment, so it ]
[really is both the partnership and the ]
[vision that has to be a part of it. ]
[So that's why we're coming to Michigan. ]
[The last thing I would say is why is this important?]
[I think when you think about GE, we're in]
[energy, healthcare, transportation.]
[We're a 19 billion dollar exporter.]
[to be a good long-term partner]
[in some of the industries that are going to help shape the 21st century, ]
[and do it from the base of technology.]
[We very much believe that the U.S. has to be an export-oriented country. ]
[You can only do that from a strong foundation of technology.]
[So we look forward to collaborating]
[with the universities and the government here in the state]
[in terms of driving exports in the future from a standpoint of]
[low-cost manufacturing, high-tech manufacturing,]
[and operational capability that is second to none. ]
[So that's why we're here today.]
[It's exciting to be here, and, again, I want to say thanks again]
[to Governor Granholm and Senator Stabenow who have been great]
[partners, and I look forward to working with them in the future, as well. ]
[Thank you. Thank you very much. ]
[the great Senator who needs no introduction in this state. ]
[[applause] Thank you, Jeff. ]
[You know, I was thinking last night, Thomas Edison started GE and he was]
[Of course you have to be in Michigan. ]
[Of course, right? [applause]]
[It is just such an important]
[effort that we are doing in rebuilding Michigan, ]
[led by our great governor and her vision]
[ and our great lieutenant governor and the team]
[that they have put together in terms of economic development. ]
[We now have a partner in Washington.]
[Ed Montgomery and the President have]
[let us know in every way possible]
[that they are there as partners, and, Ed, we thank you]
[You've been here when we've been struggling with bad news, and we're so glad]
[you're here with good news as we talk]
[about Michigan moving forward. ]
[saying to businesses as they come into my ]
[office in Washington and as I travel around]
[the country, "You should be in Michigan," that Jeff]
[was smart enough to take me up on it. ]
[[laughter] Talking with Jeff in his office in New York ]
[with he and his team about all they were doing,]
[to me it was just a perfect, perfect match.]
[This is a company, one of the stellar companies]
[in our country and in the world,]
[that is really focused on imagination and innovation]
[and the jobs of the future, and that's exactly what we're doing.]
[Right, Governor? That's where we are. ]
[We are focused on the jobs of the future. ]
[I didn't have to explain to Jeff about why]
[manufacturing was important, and I love that because]
[there are folks that somehow think it doesn't matter if you make ]
[things anymore in this country. ]
[We all know that we need to, and to have such a ]
[of his company, but in working with ]
[President Obama on the broader economic]
[We thank you for your public service and your willingness to do that.]
[[Debbie Stabenow U.S. Senator Michigan] But it became very clear]
[very quickly that when we talk about the]
[engineering capacity that we have, which is second to none in Michigan, ]
[the outstanding universities, the quality of life,]
[what we are doing, what we have done, and what we will do]
[for a company that is on the move.]
[In Washington, working on the energy bill, I ]
[also appreciate the partnership of GE.]
[We are focused on, not only clean energy incentives, ]
[but Smart Grid technology that will allow]
[the new energy to move quickly]
[from one place to another around the country.]
[We are moving through energy policy]
[and new energy legislation that will make it even more exciting]
[to have this technology here in Michigan. ]
[So let me just say, to quote Thomas Edison, he said, ]
["Always, America has emerged from times like these]
[stronger and more prosperous."]
[It's a partner that I'm excited to see happen.]
[is going to be very prosperous and strong for the future. ]
[So, thank you, Jeff, for coming. >>Thanks, Senator. [applause]]
[Let me now turn the microphone over to a great]
[Lieutenant Governor, who I had a chance to work with as my]
[senate leader when I was in the state senate and somebody who's dogged.]
[We talk all the time about jobs.]
[We plot and plan all the time. ]
[I'm just so pleased that John Cherry is here today.]
[Lieutenant Governor, John Cherry. [applause]]
[Well, thank you so very much, Senator Stabenow. ]
[As the Governor has said and the Senator has said, this]
[is an exciting announcement because it's a great]
[But what is so exciting for me is to see]
[what a critical role and how it reaffirms]
[the very important position that Michigan's educational]
[system, particularly our higher educational system, ]
[plays in our efforts to build a strong]
[economic future in Michigan.]
[But it has a two-way street.]
[Not only do our universities become a ]
[major economic driver, but it's]
[announcements like this, then, that provide]
[the jobs for our young graduates that]
[allow them to stay here in Michigan]
[and build Michigan's future. ]
[So, again it's my pleasure to be part of this.]
[Every successful project involves]
[an important local partner. ]
[And so we have with us today the county executive, Bob Ficano.]
[and this is all very much a part of ]
[Bob's vision for the county and Aerotropolis.]
[First and foremost I want to say thank you.]
[You could have chosen any place in the world. ]
[We know how big your company is, certainly, ]
[and you have chosen Michigan and you have chosen,]
[It is really a public/private partnership]
[that has helped put this together, and you're smack dab]
[in the middle of what we are calling an Aerotropolis. ]
[Meaning that we're going to turn that airport into an economic engine. ]
[Just like Hewlitt Packard was one of the]
[keystones of Silicon Valley, you're going to be one of the keystones]
[to the Aerotropolis that is going to be here in Wayne County]
[in southeast Michigan and we appreciate it. ]
[We're going to continue to work with you,]
[and it's going to be in conjunction with the airport--meaning]
[What we're competing against is not Chicago, New York.]
[We're competing against Dubai, Beijing, and the rest.]
[What we want to do in government is to set up an environment for you]
[to not only be able to act quickly, but to]
[do whatever you want in there very quickly.]
[[Robert Ficano, Wayne County Executive] I think within 21 days of all the site ]
[plans being approved you're going to be able to ]
[break ground and to do what you want]
[to Visteon Village to have it set up.]
[So I just want to congratulate all the partners that have]
[worked together here to make this possible.]
[The mantra is business goes where it's welcome]
[and stays where it's wanted. ]
[You're certainly welcome here and we're going to do everything]
[possible to make sure you want to stay here in what we're doing. [applause]]
[I want to give Ed Montgomery,]
[who's here on behalf of the President]
[It's great to be here at this wedding. ]
[As a friend of the family, I hope to see the matchmaker--]
[You are a friend of the family. ]
[--and the dowry come to fruition, and hopefully a long-lasting marriage]
[that will have GE here, which will grow. ]
[Many children. Exactly, many children. ]
[This is exactly the kind of public/private partnership ]
[that the President has been trying to build,]
[trying to emphasize as part of his economic strategy.]
[He has been working closely with Jeff and very much appreciates his service]
[on the Economic Recovery Advisory board. ]
[You've been a real leader on that and he wants to thank you for your service there. ]
[Obviously we want to thank the governor, who's]
[just been an absolute leader in terms of putting together an economic plan for ]
[the state, the kind of vision which marries up exactly]
[with the use of education, use of green technology.]
[Going forward, this is exactly the kind of vision the President]
[shares with you and applauds you for your leadership.]
[Obviously the Senator has been a constant companion,]
[an ally, with us in the efforts to get the Recovery Act going and ]
[provide the incentives to grow, the Lieutenant Governor, as well. ]
[This kind of model that you're building here in Michigan is ]
[exactly the kind of thing the President is trying to ]
[[Ed Montgomery, Director of Recovery Auto Communities and Workers] We look forward to ]
[playing in the future as you build this operation.]
[R & D inevitably leads to additional manufacturing, leads to additional operations.]
[We look forward to finding ways that we can make sure that the resources]
[of the federal government and the incentives that we're providing are]
[available to you, to Michigan, to create additional]
[jobs, so this thing grows and grows and has a momentum]
[that brings us through the recovery. ]
[Just earlier this week, obviously, the energy department announced]
[the availability of close to 6 million dollars for retooling]
[for Ford as part of that effort.]
[Last week we announced about 2 billion dollars]
[to attract new companies in terms of recovery bonds to the state,]
[which Michigan got the most of those of any state in the union]
[because we see what the hard-working, ]
[talented people in Michigan are going through.]
[The President is committed to standing behind them.]
[That's why he put into place the White House Council on Automotive Communities,]
[which has every single agency]
[tasked to make sure that their resources are made available]
[to autoworkers and auto communities, not only]
[today to help them manage the current crisis, but to build for the future.]
[So, again, I'm happy to be at this wedding.]
[I applaud you. Thank you very much. ]
[We're happy to take some questions just for the press corps.]
[We would request that the questions--I know there's a lot going ]
[on today--so the questions should be]
[focused out of respect for Mr. Immelt on this project. ]
[[off camera speaker] Lots of local engineers]
[are already asking us where do they send their resumes?]
[[laughter] Well, I think we'll probably have]
[a website up by next week and have people be able to]
[Like I said, I think speed is what it's all about.]
[We've kind of looked at this downturn as a way to ]
[launch more investment faster and]
[better position our company for the future,]
[so we'll have ways for people to access it very quickly. ]
[Let me just say that--I don't know if this was brought up, but these are]
[jobs that will pay around 100,000 dollars a year,]
[so these are high-paying jobs.]
[And as I was saying to Mr. Immelt earlier--]
[and he knows this, otherwise he wouldn't have selected this area--]
[we've got more engineering talent that's hungry and ready to go than ]
[anywhere in the world, and you can't have found]
[a better place to be able to make it a success and quickly.]
[How much of the manufacturing process work site ]
[will be focused on the renewable energy portfolio of GE--]
[specifically wind technology?]
[There will definitely be components of wind that go into this operation. ]
[What the eventual percentage is--whether it's a third or a half,]
[I can't really answer that right now. ]
[[Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman & CEO GE] But we're a big renewable player, both solar and ]
[wind, and we envision that the design]
[and equipment making and things like that that have to ]
[do with the supply chain around wind manufacturing will]
[have a very prominent place in this facility. ]
[[off-camera speaker] Could you give some specifics about the dowry?]
[How much are we paying? [laughter]]
[Well, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority]
[approved tax incentives pursuant]
[That 12-year agreement will mean incentives totaling]
[over the course of the agreement about 74 million dollars.]
[General Electric has to meet certain requirements]
[in order to take advantage of all of that. ]
[But the return on that investment for the state]
[So we will see, as a result of that 74 million dollar investment over 12 years, ]
[on increased income taxes, etc,. that come back to the state. ]
[[off-camera speaker] You said 1200 jobs, to start hiring this year.]
[Is that going to be the total number]
[The way I would describe it is we envision, plant ]
[a seed, make a commitment, 1200. ]
[Then, ultimately, these things grow over time.]
[Again, I think we're used to operating bigger.]
[So I think as we think of more things--we've got other engineering centers]
[and places like that--but I think it could grow over time. ]
[The other thing we would point out is that companies like GE]
[We bring other suppliers and tend ]
[to bring other people with us, so that's 1200 GE jobs, ]
[but that brings other jobs in the supply chain that come with us. ]
[So at the end of the day, 1100 or 1200 ]
[jobs from GE would equal probably another ]
[couple thousand jobs that are suppliers and builders and things like that. ]
[I think the net effect is going to be substantial. ]
[And of course at the end of the day the federal government is going to be passing]
[a climate change bill which will create demand for]
[the other products that General Electric manufactures,]
[such as wind turbines or solar panels,]
[and we'll be having further conversations with Mr. Immelt, ]
[assuming that he feels warmth and welcomed here,]
[for the manufacture of wind turbines]
[We hope that this is the beginning of a longer conversation. ]
[Mr. Immelt, congratulations, first of all. ]
[This is great news for Michigan. ]
[You mentioned in your three-point discussion that you'd be co-locating]
[some of the IT services into this facility. ]
[Are they Michigan based or are they based all over the U.S.?]
[These will all be new Michigan-based jobs. ]
[So where the people get hired from I can't say, universities, ]
[but these will be people that are living here]
[that are hired new to the company. ]
[And one of the things we're also going to do is put--]
[we have a training program for information technology.]
[That's going to be headquartered here in ]
[So I think that's a nice touch, if you will, ]
[to just make it a more robust process. ]
[These 1200 jobs, what's the breakdown as far as]
[existing jobs being moved to the facility and new jobs being created?]
[I think these are--the way to think about these are primarily net new jobs. ]
[worth talking about in software and IT]
[and particularly in some of the manufacturing technology, ]
[these support new products that are in our pipeline or new applications,]
[so the way I would think about these are kind of net new jobs. ]
[Could you speak a little bit about who specifically spoke with you ]
[in Washington and what they said to attract you to Michigan?]
[The governor and I probably met at a ]
[governor's conference a year or so ago. ]
[As you can tell she's not a bad sales person, ]
[Senator Stabenow, I met with this winter to have]
[Inside the administration there's clearly]
[But all that being said, this facility]
[will be open long after the President's gone. ]
[In other words, we don't think in terms of ]
[We think in terms of long-term investment. ]
[So, if we weren't comfortable in the competitiveness of the state, if we ]
[weren't comfortable that we could sustain this over the long-term, we wouldn't be here right now. ]
[So, I would say I spoke to a lot of people, but in the end this is]
[a GE decision, based on a person-to-person]
[partnership that we've struck ]
[with the people in Michigan, Governor Granholm and her team.]
[We shake hands, we've done a deal,]
[now we're going to make it happen. ]
[We do that in other states, we do that in other countries, and we've done it here. ]
[[off-camera speaker] Mr. Immelt, with the ]
[troubles Michigan's had with the auto industry in recent years]
[outside of Michigan that you think that the state is sort of for sale right now--]
[that you can get into the state with ]
[a good price on investment and take advantage ]
[of a lot of the talent that's here, that's underutilized?]
[I can't speak for other people, I can only speak for us.]
[I started my career at GE in our plastics business]
[selling plastic that went into instrument panels,]
[working with engineers at Ford,]
[I know that there's a lot of good technical people here right now. ]
[I know that there's a tremendous capability]
[I mean, I'm not here to give a specific commercial]
[for Michigan, but I would say smart business people]
[The time to be buying is when other people are selling. ]
[And have we got a deal for you.]
[That's what I want to say. [laughter]]
[That's true in almost everything, and I have deep ]
[respect because I've seen it work.]
[I know that there's great engineering schools in this state--]
[that there's great talent in this state--and we've got needs for that.]
[All right, we'll go with the last one, I think. ]
[relation to the total number of jobs lost in the state this year, ]
[Does this show just how much farther we've got to go or--]
[[Governor Granholm] Who are you asking?]
[We clearly have a long path ahead of us. ]
[I don't think anybody can sugar-coat that. ]
[But the whole thing is that for 100 years we've been the proud]
[automotive capital, and we have needed to diversify. ]
[You cannot have a healthy economy that's balanced on one leg]
[So these jobs, and the jobs that ]
[General Motors is announcing today, and the jobs]
[related to batteries, and the jobs related to film,]
[and the jobs related to wind turbines,]
[all of that is part of the strategy to diversify]
[Michigan's economy and move in a broader way.]
[So this summer's going to be tough. ]
[We know because of the bankruptcies and because of the suppliers]
[in particular that this is going to be a tough period of time. ]
[strategic and make key investments at the right time,]
[we will emerge leaner, meaner, stronger, greener. ]
[And for Michigan, that's a good thing. ]
[Smart jobs. New economy. Michigan 2.0.]
[That's what we're all about. ]
