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$90 million expansion coming to Peebles GE plant
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By WENDY MITCHEL
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PEEBLES, Ohio -- Meeting the demand for airline jet engines, General Electric Aviation Test Operation in Peebles is undergoing a $90 million facilities expansion at the 7,000 acre Adams County site.
According to GE headquarters, new engine assembly and testing sites are being constructed at Peebles to handle expanded production and development activities.
Included in the expansion is the addition of a new large-engine production building, completed in May, which will house final engine assembly, preparation for testing and preparation for shipment activities. Final assembly includes attachment of front fan components to 165 GE90 engines and final assembly for GEnx, a new engine under development.
Planned to be in operation by the end of 2007, the expansion also includes a new outdoor test stand, described by company officials as an "exotic, one-of-a-kind structure that will enable testing of the new GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program."
Next year, construction will begin on an enclosed test facility for GEnx and GE90 engines.
"GE Aviation is going great guns, with production rates for our airline jet engines growing by more than 50 percent between 2006 and 2009," said Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of GE Aviation. "Peebles is critical to our production strategy."
GE's Peebles plant employs more than 250 people.
"We are very excited about this," said Elaine Collins, of Adams County Industrial Development Authority. "GE is a dream company to have in the county. It brings a lot of skilled and good paying jobs here and once local residents get jobs there they can make a career of it. It is all for the better, for the county to have them here."
The property was purchased in 1954 to test rocket engines. Each year about 1,250 engines manufactured by GE are put through final testing at Peebles. Testing on engines includes real life conditions and extremes like hail, ice storms, typhoon strength winds of nearly 100 piles per hour, structural failures and even simulated bird strikes to meet the demands of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and agencies that regulate commercial air service, officials said.
For information on Peebles go to http://www.hometownlocator.com
For more area news, go to http://www.westunion-online.com
Contact Wendy Mitchell at wendy.mitchell@lee.net or call 564-9091, ext. 276.
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