GE Aviation Improves Manufacturing Productivity by Enabling a Smarter Factory

GE Aviation in Cheltenham, UK manufactures power management systems for 777 aircrafts. These power management systems control everything from the heated cockpit seats to entertainment systems and navigation lights.

Combatting siloed manufacturing

GE Aviation was operating six different manufacturing cells in silos, making it very difficult to track where a particular unit or units are. This caused variation across its manufacturing sites. The company also had a very paper heavy factory floor, making build instructions and drawings hard to manage.

Manufacturing software for Aviation in action

Better control of factory floor operations

By leveraging GE Digital’s Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), GE Aviation is now able to accurately lay out its manufacturing processes and have better control over what’s happening on the shop floor. The company has also automated many of its manual processes, including directly delivering operator instructions in real-time.