New GE Aviation Plant Seeks to Narrow Manufacturing Skills Gap
GE’s Lafayette operation, which opened in 2015, is in the throes of the fastest production ramp-up for a commercial jet engine since jetliners were first introduced in the 1950s.
After creating eight factories across the U.S. over the past decade, GE Aviation is working to narrow the “skills gap” facing many young Americans seeking jobs in today’s advanced manufacturing plants. GE Aviation collaborates with universities, community colleges, and public schools on job training programs in communities where it operates plants. Nowhere is it more critical than at GE’s jet engine assembly plant in Lafayette, Ind. This is because GE’s Lafayette operation, which opened in 2015, is in the throes of the fastest production ramp-up for a commercial jet engine since jetliners were first introduced in the 1950s. In addition, Lafayette needs shop-floor technicians holding a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) powerplant license to perform the diverse technical tasks on sophisticated equipment inside the new facility.
GE’s Lafayette factory produces the LEAP engine for CFM International, the successfully 50/50 joint company of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. More than 14,000 LEAP engines are on back order to power three popular twin-engine airplanes: the Airbus Industrie A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and China’s COMAC C919. The Airbus and Boeing airplanes are now in airline service.