General Electric Company:Unveil High Tech Engineering Center in Waukesha

Joined by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and local economic development leaders, GE (NYSE: GE) today publicly unveiled a $3.1 million innovative engineering center at GE's Waukesha gas engines facility and announced the hiring of 115 employees in Waukesha in the last 18 months. Renovation of the 22,000 square-foot engineering center is GE's largest investment in the Waukesha facility since its acquisition of the Waukesha gas engines business in February 2011. After helping cut the ribbon on the modernized engineering center, Gov. Walker met with employees and toured the Waukesha gas engines manufacturing operation. The tour included a 4,800 horsepower engine destined for an oversea oilfield and a Waukesha engine that provided standby electrical power to the World Trade Center in the midst of the tragedy on September 11, 2001.
"Developing best-in-class products requires a very creative approach to technology," said Brian White, president of GE's Waukesha gas engines. "We need to attract and retain the best and brightest talent to have a competitive advantage, and we believe that our work environment should encourage the creativity and collaboration that is part of the product development process." Engines produced by GE's Waukesha facility are used in all stages of natural gas production, helping to meet the global need for cleaner, lower-carbon fuels. The Waukesha gas engines business, which has been in Waukesha, Wis., for more than 100 years, was acquired by GE to complement the company's high-efficiency Jenbacher gas engines that are used for power generation.At present, GE's Waukesha facility employs about 680 people--about 100 of them in engineering. Since the acquisition, GE also has invested approximately $1.8 million in employee health and safety projects at Waukesha.
Backed by more than a century of innovation and engine-building expertise, GE's Waukesha gas engines are designed and built to perform reliably in isolated, mission-critical and demanding applications in oil and gas fields, factories and utilities worldwide. Waukesha gas engines, from 160 to 4,835 horsepower, drive compressors used in natural gas production, transmission and storage; electrical generators that provide oilfield power; and air compressors, cooling systems, blowers and pumps that are used in a wide range of industrial and utility applications. Waukesha gas engines feature extended maintenance intervals, fuel flexibility and rich-burn as well as lean-burn alternatives for optimal fuel efficiency at varying emissions-compliance levels.