By Swati Ketkar
Global aviation industry was completely abuzz with the GE Aerospace spin-off all through the first week of April 2024, little did anyone expect what’s in store for India. Right after its launch as a standalone company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, GE Aerospace announced an investment of a whooping INR 240 crore (~USD 30 million) to expand and upgrade its manufacturing facility in Pune.
The INR 240 crore investment
GE Aerospace’s cutting-edge Multi-Modal facility in Pune has come a long way since its inception in 2015. The facility was established with an investment of $200 million to produce components for different GE Aerospace and partner engine platforms including LEAP and GE9X.
As a part of the investment, the facility will add new projects and manufacturing processes by acquiring machines, equipment, and specialized tools along with capacity enhancement of existing products.
Delighted to witness the expansion of the Pune site, Mike Kauffman, vice president, Global Supply Chain at GE Aerospace praised his team by saying that the team at Pune has a strong focus on safety, quality and delivering for our customers. “This site has already become a strong contributor to our global supply chain of aircraft engine components,” Kauffman adds
India is a growing market in terms of aviation and aerospace engines and components and this investment will provide GE Aerospace with the bandwidth required for growth and expansion to meet the customer demands. Echoing this sentiment, Amol Nagar, the managing director of GE’s Pune facility says that this investment will give us the resources that we need to meet the increasing demand.
About the facility
The 67-acre facility with the potential to scale to 1 million square feet is based in Chakan-II industrial area of Pune. The facility was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in February 2015 as a part of the Prime Minister’s ambitious Make-in-India initiative. The factory mainly produces components for commercial jet engines that are supplied to GE Aerospace’s global factories where they are used to assemble G90, GEnx, GE 9X (the world’s most powerful commercial jet engine) and the LEAP engines by CFM, (GE and Safran joint venture).
So far, the facility has been successful in creating a strong local talent pool of over 5000 recruits in the last nine years specializing in aerospace precision manufacturing processes. We can safely say that GE has stayed on its word of developing and training local aerospace manufacturing talent.
The plant is among the first flexible factories, where different products for multiple businesses are built using shared infrastructure, equipment, and people under the same roof
The facility is certified under ISO14001 & ISO45001 and is well-known for its sustainable quotient.
- The facility uses almost 30% of its power consumption from renewable sources.
- The facility has zero liquid discharge
- It recycles and reuses 100 million liters of water every year
- It recycles 20 metric tons of plastic
As of now, the Pune facility and 13 local India partners are part of GE’s global supply chain.
GE Aerospace and India
GE Aerospace shares a long-term relationship with India spanning almost four decades. GE has since played an integral part in India’s aviation landscape right from supplying cutting-edge propulsion technologies to both military and commercial aircraft to manufacturing vital engine components locally.
The CF6-50C2 engine on an Air India Airbus aircraft in 1982 was the beginning of GE-India relations. Today, over 700 engines, equipped with GE Aerospace and partner technology, are deployed across Indian carriers, with another 2,000 on the horizon.
GE engines are fitted across various Indian operators like Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo for commercial engines, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Indian Airforce, and Indian Navy for defence engine technology.
Looking at the engineering side, GE Aerospace approached India in 1999 with an engineering analysis center of excellence in a joint venture with Tata Consultancy Services. Later in 2003, GE acquired the entire stake and the team moved over to India Technology Centre, or the John F Welch Technology Centre, Bengaluru which was already started in 2000.
Since then, GE has invested over $200 million in its Bengaluru center and created over 4000 patents for the company. As of now, over 1200 engineers are working at the center creating technology for flights like the Leap engine for narrowbody, the GEnx in the widebody and the next generation Rise platform for the narrowbody aircraft along with working on building some of the latest aviation technologies.
GE and Defence India
Currently GE Aerospace is in the final stages of its F414 turbofan engine technology transfer and development for the Tejas combat aircraft. In June 2023, GE inked a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to co-produce GE’s F414 engines in India to power the Tejas fighter jets and the Mk2 version of the Light Combat Aircraft, and initial batches of the AMCA.
The deal cost less than $1 billion and includes an 80% technology transfer, including crystal blades, laser drilling technology, and a special coating to avoid corrosion, thus aiding India overcome a technology gap, and laying the foundation for indigenous development of bigger jet engines.
Besides, GE supplies F404IN20 engines for the Light Combat Aircraft-Tejas Mk-1. In 2010, the F414-INS6 engines were selected to power the MKII version of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. GE’s CT7-8 engines power the Indian Air Force’s VVIP squadron of AW101, while CFM56 engines power the Indian Navy’s P-8I
Going ahead, each of India’s indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft LCA Mk-II fighter jets will be powered by a single GE F414-INS6 jet engine. Beyond that, GE is supporting India’s defence modernization through reliable and proven solutions for indigenous aircraft programs. They are a leading supplier of integrated systems and technologies for combat aircraft, military transport, helicopters, land vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles. GE’s systems have been deployed on various Indian platforms including the Hawk Mk 132, SEPECAT Jaguar (Shamsher), P-8I, C130J and HJT-36 Sitara.
In addition to HAL, GE has partnerships with the Tata Group via Tata Advanced Systems (TASL), Mahindra Aerostructure, Godrej & Boyce and others, which contribute to aircraft component exports. In November 2022, GE Aerospace and TASL extended an agreement for the Tata company to continue to produce and supply several commercial aircraft engine components to GE’s global engine manufacturing factories.
The multi-year contract was valued at more than $1 billion. As a part of the deal, the engine parts are made at the Tata Centre of Excellence for Aero Engines in Hyderabad.
GE and Air India
Just last month GE Aerospace signed flight operations software contract with Air India, making Air India the first Indian operator to adopt GE’s FlightPulse pilot app along with “Safety and Fuel Insight,” for the entire group.
Safety Insight will provide Air India with access to advanced analytics and real-time data monitoring to enhance safety and ensure optimal performance across its fleet. Fuel Insight will provide Air India with comprehensive fuel efficiency solutions, enabling the group to optimize journeys for more efficient fuel management.
MRO Solutions provided by GE
GE provides OnPointSM solution agreements to its customers for the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of their engines at its overseas facilities. These facilities provide comprehensive material support, training and assistance on overhaul work scopes to Air India for the GE90 engine. GE also provides technical support to Air India for MRO services on their 787 GEnx-1B engines placing Air India among a select group of MROs capable of undertaking GEnx overhauls. Such an agreement also helps GEnx customers in the region save costs. Also, CFM has established a training school in the city of Hyderabad to provide localized engine training solutions to its airline customers in the region.
GE Aerospace and the World
The news of the spin-off was first heard in November 2021 and finally, on April 2, 2023, GE launched an independent GE Aerospace, listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol GE. To mark the occasion in a unique way, GE organized a unique drone show over the Hudson River telling the tale of GE’s business and its growth prospects.
GE Aerospace, now an independent company has a strong workforce of over 49,000 employees all over the world.
As a part of its next growth chapter just last month, GE announced plans to invest $650 million in its manufacturing facilities and supply chain this year to increase production and strengthen quality to better support its commercial and defence customers. Of the $650 million, about $450 million will go to new machines, inspection equipment, building upgrades, and new test cells and safety enhancements in the United States with an additional $100 million going to supplier partners in the US.
All-in-all this latest investment by GE has clearly cemented India’s position as one of the leading FDI destinations. Looking at the larger picture, India has Safran building its latest LEAP MRO in Hyderabad, Pratt & Whitney invested in a new India Digital Capability Centre (IDCC) and is rumoured to come out with an engine MRO soon followed by Rolls-Royce and Thales. On the defence side, Saab has announced plans to build a new missile facility in the country. India is already positioned itself as the third largest aviation market in the world, with OEMs queueing up to invest in India, the country is sure to soar to newer heights in coming years.
Swati Ketkar is an aviation journalist and writer, currently freelancing for various domestic and international publications. Although she covers stories across the aviation spectrum her main focus and area of expertise is MRO.
