GE Innovation comes to life in Hai Phong Brilliant Factory

“GE’s long history of innovation started in the 1800s with the creation of the first electric light bulb. In fact, the filament Thomas Edison used was from a bamboo in Kyoto, Japan, which made the bulb last more than 1,000 hours. Over the years, GE continued to innovate in many fields, such as inventing the first US jet engine for commercial aviation in 1946 – developed the axial flow compressor, which is being used in every modern jet engine and gas turbine today.

Then in 1976, GE made a breakthrough in healthcare technology as the invention of a “rotate-only” CT scanner was introduced, making it the world’s first.

In recent times, GE made significant developments in technology, such as Vscan, a pocket-sized ultrasound designed for primary healthcare workers in low-resource regions, Predix, the first-ever operating platform for industrial data and analytics, and the highly-efficient HA Gas turbines, which recently won a Guinness World Record for efficiency. And the list of GE’s remarkable advancements goes on,” according to Wouter van Wersch, President & CEO of GE Asia Pacific at a briefing for media visiting from Vietnam and the region.

“Among these notable innovations is the Haiphong Factory, tagged as one of the world’s Brilliant Factories with its advance manufacturing technology and digital efficiency,” he continues.

Today, and after almost 10 years of operations, GE’s Hai Phong multimodal factory has produced and exported more than 6000 units of generator system to date and reached more than $1 billion annual exports.

Located in Vietnam, GE’s Haiphong factory is strategically positioned to export around the world primarily wind-turbine generators and electrical-control-systems components. The site counts today about 1000 employees and is expanding its local and well-trained workforce to more than 1500 employees in response to the growing global demand for renewable energies globally.

“It is a long and challenging journey to transform and develop a Brilliant Factory,” said Trang Vu, General Manager of GE’s Hai Phong Factory. “We have very strong targets in terms of product and service quality, implementing advanced manufacturing technologies and a sustainable improvement culture.”

By optimizing its manufacturing processes, the Hai Phong Brilliant Factory will save up to 50% of the product lead time and reduce inventory by about 20% while the productivity will be boosted by up to 20%.

The site implements GE’s high global standards for quality and performance and is built around 4 pillars including lean manufacturing, digital maturity, advanced manufacturing and additive manufacturing.

“The Hai Phong Brilliant Factory is an example of how GE’s innovations can help us unlock goals that previously were impossible. With world’s most effective machines, advanced technologies and extensive solutions, GE affirms its position as the global leader in innovation, contributing greatly to the transformational impact on the economy and people’s life not only of Vietnam but also in the Asia Pacific and all around the world", said Wouter van Wersch, President & CEO of GE Asia Pacific.