Business is expanding its resources worldwide
ATLANTA, GEORGIA (January 31, 2003) --- Launching a major expansion of its global resources, GE Energy Rentals is building on its growth in the Americas and is poised to serve the promising rental equipment and services industry worldwide.
New service centers in strategic locations and new alliances with companies in key markets around the globe are part of the total globalization effort, said Luis Ramírez, president and general manager of GE Energy Rentals, a unit of GE Power Systems.
"We are opening new Centers of Excellence in Singapore and Brazil that will be the focal point of our operations in those two critical regions," said Ramírez. "The Singapore center will increase our capabilities to serve customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region, where we see opportunities for double digit growth over the next three years. The Brazil center in Campinas will be the core of our operations for the South America region where we also expect a high level of activity. The oil and gas sector in Brazil is especially promising, as well as in the Africa-Middle East region. We are also expanding our presence in the Mexico, where significant growth opportunities exist for our business"
GE Energy Rentals also views southern Europe as an area of opportunity. The business is expanding in Italy, already is active with large power plant and industrial projects in Spain, and is ramping up its cell tower business in the U.K.
Ireland has been a center of significant entertainment rental activity for GE Energy Rentals. Last summer, the business provided site power for several major concerts in the country including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Diamond, Elton John and Tom Jones; and also supplied site power for four international golf tournaments including the World Golf Championships in Mount Juliet. Currently, GE Energy Rentals has approximately 80 generators in service supplying power for mobile phone towers across the country, and also has provided power for a leading Irish brewing company.
Ramírez believes there are signs of recovery in the North American region, and the rentals business is forming new alliances and expanding existing ones in Canada. "GE Energy Rentals in Canada is leveraging its North American agreement with Hertz to serve the Canadian rentals market," he said. "In addition, the Canadian entertainment market is poised for strong growth and GE Energy Rentals Canada is implementing formal relationships to meet the unique demands of this market quickly and cost effectively."
As the cornerstone of its globalization effort, GE Energy Rentals is expanding its sales force worldwide and is moving more of the business's decision-making functions into its regional bases of operation. "We are putting headquarters-type functions directly into our regional centers, closer to the customers we serve in those areas," explained Ramírez.
GE Energy Rentals' customer call center, now in its second year of operation in Atlanta, Georgia is being transformed in a global center. "We're expanding our 24 x 7 coverage and are aligning our efforts with our people in Singapore, Brazil, Europe and other locations to provide services in the local languages."
Since its formation in 1999, GE Energy Rentals has largely experienced "organic growth," said Ramírez. "We have only had a couple of fairly small acquisitions in the entertainment area. For the next 2-3 years, our thrust will be on globalization, increasing our presence around the world to better serve our expanding and diverse base of customers."
GE Energy Rentals, based in Atlanta, was formed by GE Power Systems to offer rental equipment for temporary distributed power and climate control applications in the commercial, industrial, utility, oil and gas and special events industries. GE Energy Rentals has developed a broad family of rental products including natural gas-fired engines, diesel generators ranging from five kilowatts to 1.9 megawatts, a portable power plant with an output of nearly 23 megawatts, air conditions as large as 50 tons and water-cooled chillers up to 1,000 tons.
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