GE has opened its newly expanded oil and gas facility in Fót, Hungary. The GE Oil & Gas manufacturing plant has been substantially enlarged with the addition of a new 8,000 square meter manufacturing facility and a new office building of 3,000 square meters.
The new manufacturing base will provide central unit control panels (UCPs) for pipelines, LNG production facilities and other oil and gas applications. The increased capacity adds more than 100 jobs, including 40 engineering positions, an employment increase of more than 80 percent.
“GE is proud to open this facility, which will enable us to meet the increasing demand for our customers locally and globally,” said Davide Marrani, global supply chain leader for Turbomachinery Solutions, GE Oil & Gas. “This opening is an important step in strengthening GE’s presence in the oil and gas sector and in Hungary. Importantly, the construction was completed in less than 8 months from our July 2013 expansion announcement. The new complex provides a total 11,000 additional square meters of manufacturing and office space for our highly talented and motivated workforce.”
The Fót investment is the result of the cooperation between GE and the Hungary’s government that contributes to the competitiveness of both the company and the country by strengthening Hungary’s manufacturing base and expanding jobs.
Unit Control Panels for the oil and gas industry are designed for the specific customer needs. These are flexible control systems for multiple applications that incorporate a variety of sub systems such as safe operation of machinery, vibrations monitoring, control of unit speed and load, auxiliaries systems, and overall plant control. Panels are designed to enable local or remote operations.
Bringing production of these critical control panels to Fót, Hungary, supports GE’s efforts to align its production to new customer needs and to extend its technology capability locally and globally. The Fót facility will also supply its advanced products and solutions to GE customers globally.
GE is the largest U.S. investor in Hungary with 12,500 employees. The company has 12 manufacturing plants, three technology centers and three regional headquarters in the country.
GE in Hungary
Today, Hungary plays a key role in GE’s mutual growth strategy with the CEE region called Phase 2, adding innovation to the established manufacturing core.
GE has been operating in Hungary since the end of 1989, when it made a strategic investment in the Hungarian lamp manufacturer Tungsram, acquiring its 50% + 1 shares. The majority of the shares (49.65%) were bought from foreign banks that owned Tungsram at that time. Building on its positive experiences, GE continued to invest in its operations in Hungary, and today all of its businesses are active in the country.
GE is the largest U.S. investor and employer, and the 3rd biggest exporter in Hungary, according to Figyel? Top 200 2013 edition. As a customer, it has a strong supplier base. GE signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Hungarian Government in 2011. Joerg Bauer was announced as President of GE Hungary on October 1, 2013.
