General Electric’s first brilliant factory investment in Turkey in the MENAT region

GE makes its first brilliant factory investment in Turkey in the MENAT region

• The leading digital industry company General Electric (GE) is transforming its Power Transformers factory in Gebze, Turkey into a brilliant facility
• Aiming to reinforce local innovation, GE will deploy the most capable and advanced test lab in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) region, allowing tests for transformers up to 800 kV
• GE’s Power Transformers factory in Turkey aims to contribute $1B worth of exports by 2020

Sinan Oymacı Note: There was a positive energy at the meeting on GE’s Power Transformers Factory Gebze Turkey. That positive energy was due to General Electric (GE) team.

The confident attitude of Canan M. Özsoy, President & CEO, GE Turkey was again felt like every meeting she attended.

Especially when the questions session has started, as you’ll note below, global GE chose Turkey’s Gebze facility as one of the first ten sites for its ‘brilliant factory’ investment. The experience acquired here will be used in other plants.

GE Network Solutions Global CEO Reinaldo A. Garcia stated that ‘Turkey has 3 Advantages’:

1. Innovation
2. Very Strong Entrepreneurship
3. Very good performance

Also,Canan M. Özsoy, President & CEO, GE Turkey, GE Power Transformers Product Group Global General Manager Hakan Karadoğan and GE Turkey team’s presence was also a significant factor in the choice of Gebze as the  ‘brilliant factory’ investment place.

In 2040 more than 50% of energy production in the world will be met from renewable energies. That brings many challenges to the power grid. Now, the energy generated in one place is transmitted to many locations in the existing power grid. In the near future, however, the energy produced in many places with renewable energy production will be transferred to many locations. This network management would require ‘Smart Digital Substations’.

In the meantime, solar and wind power is being addressed renewable energy sources. Natural gas and coal projects are having difficulties obtaining finance.

When the small transformer line project in the Gebze factory is completed, incremental annual revenue of 80 million dollars is expected.

As a final note, let’s add that GE is using ‘Industrial Internet Age’ instead of  ‘Industrial 4.0’.

Now the details:

General Electric (GE) contributing to Turkey’s economic growth through localization and local innovation, today announced that it will transform its Power Transformers factory in Gebze into the first brilliant factory in the region. The factory transformation was announced by Fatih Metin, Deputy Minister of Economy, GE executives and government officials during a special ceremony, which also marked the inauguration of the largest power transformer test lab in the MENAT region, which will be located within the Power Transformers factory.  The $20M total value of investment in the Gebze factory will also increase its manufacturing capacity.

Operating in Turkey for 50 years, GE’s Power Transformers Factory has been a primary investment as one of GE’s largest power transformer facilities in the world. GE’s Power Transformers factory exports 85% of the total production, which made it the Turkish export champion in its field with around $250M worth of export in 2015.

Last year, GE chose Turkey’s Gebze facility as one of the first ten sites for its ‘brilliant factory’ investment, furthering GE’s journey to become the world’s largest digital industrial company. The Gebze site will become the first in the region to embrace manufacturing digitization, using sensor-enabled equipment to communicate real-time information through the Industrial Internet. Design, engineering, supply chain and service networks are linked to achieve optimum production in a “Brilliant Factory”.

By transforming GE’s Power Transformers factory into a brilliant facility, the site forecasts a 25 percent improvement in production time, 20 percent improvement in inventory management, 3 percent increase in production efficiency and 5 percent increase in delivery time. A total increase in efficiency is forecasted to reach up to 30 percent in the following years.

The most capable and advanced test lab of the region in Turkey

The test laboratory is a crucial addition for improving the manufacturing of power transformers and is the most important factor for the facility’s capacity growth. As a result of the newly inaugurated test lab, GE increased its production capacity as well as the power and voltage of its transformers. Despite the maximum voltage of 380 kV in the Turkish grid, transformers of up to 800 kV can be tested by a team of competent engineers through the utilization of special equipment in this laboratory.

Dedication to local manufacturing and innovation

Delivering a speech at the inauguration of Power Transformers factory Test Lab, Canan M. Özsoy, President & CEO, GE Turkey emphasized GE’s role in adding value to the Turkish economy by supporting local manufacturing, export and job growth in Turkey for 68 years. Özsoy said, “We have tripled the number of our employees in Turkey since 2012. Today, we are proud to operate in our country’s primary business areas with more than 2,000 employees in eight different locations, and to contribute to local manufacturing, innovation, export and employment.  We have focused on the development of local innovation in industries including renewable energy, smart grids, LED, healthcare and life sciences through our GE Turkey Innovation Center launched last year. Today, we have not only invested in an exemplary brilliant factory, but we will also increase our contribution to the industry and Turkish economy.”

Reinaldo A. Garcia, CEO, GE Energy Connections’ Grid Solutions business highlighted GE’s ongoing transformation process to be the world’s leading digital industrial company and how his business is connecting people to energy. Garcia said, “Our world depends on electricity to power people’s lives. Our customers worldwide are looking to us to be at the forefront of technology in the energy market. I am proud to be here today to celebrate GE’s Power Transformers Factory in Gebze, which will be the world’s first brilliant power transformer facility, both a national and global example in terms of production efficiency. Turkey will leap forward if it manages to ensure digital transformation in the industry by acting fast and making necessary investments.”

Contribution to Turkey’s renewable energy goals

GE’s Brilliant Power Transformers factory will produce medium voltage power transformers as well as current high voltage power transformers, which will accelerate Turkey’s progress towards its renewable energy targets by aiding wind energy demand.

GE Power Transformers Product Line Global General Manager Hakan Karadoğan emphasized how the new test lab, medium voltage power transformers and increased production capacity will contribute to local innovation saying, “As our production capacity increases, we will be able to receive even more orders from our main markets. Furthermore, this investment will pave the way to new markets for larger transformers in line with higher voltage and power demands from the industry. We are proud to not only increase our employment and export volume but also contribute to our national economy.”

Engineers committed to developing technology for the world

Another key feature of GE’s Power Transformers factory is to share knowledge obtained by local R&D engineers to facilities worldwide. Thanks to an R&D team of about 80 engineers, the facility is positioned as GE’s center of excellence for the production of special transformers. Various solutions can be tested for different environments and diverse climate conditions in GE’s Power Transformers factory, enabling GE Turkey to lead the way in designing factories of the future by adding speed to innovation.

About GE

With more than 330,000 people operating in 175 countries, GE is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge that we call the GE Store. It’s through the GE Store that each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. At GE, each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. For more information, follow us on: http://geturkiyeblog.com

About GE Energy Connections

GE Energy Connections designs and deploys industry-leading technologies that turn the world on. We transport, convert, automate and optimize energy to ensure we provide safe, efficient and reliable electrical power. Uniting all the resources and scale of the world’s first digital industrial company, we connect brilliant machines, grids, and systems to power utility, oil & gas, marine, mining and renewables customers, that keep our world running.  www.geenergyconnections.com

About GE’s Grid Solutions

Grid Solutions, a GE and Alstom joint venture, equips 90% of power utilities worldwide to bring power from the point of generation to end power consumers.  With over 200 years combined experience in providing advanced energy solutions, our products and services enable more resilient, efficient and reliable power systems.  Over 20,000 employees in 80 countries work to satisfy our customers globally.  For more information, visit www.GEGridSolutions.com