GEnx engine
Flip the Script: GEnx Program Caps Off Big Year With LATAM Airlines Deal
Nearly 20 years ago, GE Aerospace lost out in a competition to power part of LATAM Airlines’ passenger air fleet. But what goes around sometimes eventually does come around. Case in point: This month, LATAM announced it is ordering five additional Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, all of which it plans to switch from competitor engines to GEnx-1B engines, making Chile-based LATAM the first airline in Latin America to utilize the GEnx.
It’s the kind of news you like to hear anytime, but for GEnx it amounts to icing on the cake.
Gas Turbines
Powering Up: This Venerable Turbine Repair Shop in Singapore Is Preparing for the Global Stage
On the western tip of Singapore, there’s a sprawling facility that began life in the 1970s as a shipyard for tugboats and drill ships exploring the turquoise deeps of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. But the site’s days as a local repair shop are no longer. GE’s Global Repair Solutions Singapore (GRSS) is now a global hub for fixing the key components in the world’s fastest-growing fleet of H-class heavy-duty gas turbines.
Lean Management
‘Once You Do It, You Can Fly’: How GE Gas Power’s Marketing Team Pioneered a New Approach to Lean Management
A few years ago, Meg Chapman attended a training program for GE senior leaders on how to implement the management philosophy known as lean. Larry Culp, who had recently joined GE as chairman and CEO, had placed lean — the idea of cutting waste and working more efficiently — at the heart of GE’s turnaround. It has since been implemented at a wide variety of manufacturing plants, where it’s streamlined production processes, improved safety, and resulted in millions of dollars in savings.
Categories
Gas Turbines
Picture Perfect: A Lean, Digital Approach to Gas Turbine Maintenance Heads to Europe and the Middle East
There are about 7,000 GE gas turbines distributed throughout the world. Each one needs regular maintenance — a few weeks every several years in which a power plant is taken offline for service, repairs, and potential upgrades. This involves a great deal of planning to prepare for the outage. It’s meticulous in nature, due to the complexity of the technology and the environment. All this work requires an encyclopedic amount of documentation to support the activities, including technical specs, equipment lists, safety protocols, diagrams, data sheets, and quality control forms.
lean
Clearwater Revival: How a Florida Plant Embraced Lean to Boost Productivity and Enhance Safety
Every day, the world’s power grids are adapting to bridge the gap between the fossil fuel era and the renewables age. Instrumental in building that bridge are the 700 operators and managers who work at GE’s Grid Solutions Advanced Manufacturing Facility in Clearwater, Florida, and produce thousands of components such as capacitors and power sensors, which help the grid absorb wind and solar generation smoothly and safely.
decarbonization
Advanced Thinking: Federal Funding Aims To Boost Gas Turbine Efficiency And Bring More Hydrogen Into The Mix
Utilities around the world have been using turbines fueled by natural gas to generate electricity for decades. Power companies have long been drawn to their greater efficiency over earlier forms of electric generation, and their ability to power homes with fewer carbon emissions.
Farnborough Airshow
Gaining Altitude: Airbus A380 To Test CFM’s Open-Fan Architecture In Flight
With the summer holiday season underway, air travel has bounced back from its lockdown doldrums. But so has the awareness of commercial aviation’s impact on the climate.
Airlines and aircraft and engine manufacturers want to be part of the conversation.
Renewable energy
Gaining An Edge: GE’s Lifespan Software Gives Renewable Energy A Digital Boost
You could say that renewables are blowing up in North America. According to the Department of Energy, a third of U.S. states now get at least 10% of their in-state electricity generation from renewables, and in the case of Iowa, 57% of the state’s energy comes from wind. These numbers are projected to grow as the United States moves toward a goal of 100% carbon-free energy generation by 2035.
Transformation: Change in the Energy Ecosystem (Part 1)
The global energy ecosystem is changing. That is an ecosystem where collectively the world spends over US$6 trillion annually. That amounts to roughly 6% of global GDP.
