GE Aviation to Build Unique Materials Factories in Huntsville, Create 300 New Jobs

Silicon Carbide Ceramic Fiber Plant is First in the U.S.

MONTGOMERY—Governor Robert Bentley on Tuesday announced GE Aviation is investing more than $200 million to create adjacent factories in Huntsville to mass-produce silicon carbide (SiC) materials used to manufacture ceramic matrix composite components (CMCs) for jet engines and land-based gas turbines. When the factories are operational later this decade, they are expected to employ up to 300 people.

“We are honored that GE Aviation has chosen Huntsville for an advanced technology manufacturing operation to produce silicon carbide materials for commercial and military engines,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “Today’s announcement is important because Alabama is expanding our partnership with a global aviation leader.  We have prioritized advanced manufacturing in aerospace and aviation, and I appreciate the investment by GE Aviation in this new Huntsville operation.”

GE Aviation Vice President Sanjay Correa joined Governor Bentley and other state and local leaders at the Alabama State Capital to make the announcement.

“Establishing the new GE factories in Alabama is a very significant step in developing the supply chain we need in order to produce CMC components in large volume,” Sanjay Correa, Vice President, CMC Program at GE Aviation said.

One plant will produce silicon carbide ceramic fiber.  It will be the first such operation in the United States.  Today, the only large-scale SiC ceramic fiber factory in the world is operated by NGS Advanced Fibers in Japan, which is a joint company of Nippon Carbon, GE, and Safran of France.  The adjacent GE factory will use the SiC ceramic fiber to produce the unidirectional CMC tape necessary to fabricate CMC components.

Construction of the two plants will begin at about mid-2016, with full completion by the first half of 2018.  Production begins in 2018.  GE has already begun hiring the technical team that will transfer to the Huntsville operation.  GE expects to begin hiring the hourly workforce in late 2016.

Tuesday’s announcement represents GE Aviation’s second significant factory investment in Alabama in recent years.  Since 2013, GE Aviation has also invested more than $100 million in a 300,000-square-foot factory in Auburn where the company is engaged in jet engine component manufacturing (super-alloy machined parts) as well as establishing the world’s highest-volume additive manufacturing center.

Over the past year, the Auburn plant has been installing and qualifying additive manufacturing capability, including more than a dozen laser melting machines. Fuel nozzles will be the first components to be built using additive processes for the best-selling LEAP engine by CFM International.  It marks the first time such a complex component will be manufactured using additive technology.