GE Aviation breaks ground on plant in Auburn

GE Aviation broke ground Monday on a $50 million plant in Auburn that will manufacture jet engine parts and is expected to bring hundreds jobs to the area during the next decade.

The 300,000-square-foot facility will be located in Auburn’s Technology Park West and is expected to employ between 300 and 400 workers when it is fully ramped up, according to GE officials. The facility is scheduled to begin operation in late 2012, initially producing alloy jet engine components for commercial and military aircraft.

Gov. Robert Bentley and other state and local officials predicted the company would find a friendly, pro-business community in East Alabama.

“You will find the best workers in the U.S. right here in Alabama,” Bentley said.

Bentley added GE Aviation, one of 177 aerospace companies located in the state, was part of an ongoing effort to recruit diverse industries to Alabama.

The GE plant was the second ground breaking Bentley attended locally Monday, which also saw vitamin maker Pharmavite begin construction in Opelika.

“I wish I could spend every day outside of Montgomery welcoming new jobs,” Bentley said.

State Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard echoed Bentley’s pro-business message to GE executives.

“You have a friend in the Alabama Legislature,” Hubbard said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers said he envisions the GE plant as part of a technology corridor in the state along U.S. Interstate 85.

“I’d like to see it as a defense technology corridor,” said Rogers, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Colleen Athans, vice president and general manager of the GE Aviation supply chain division, said the Auburn plant was part of the company’s reinvestment in the U.S. economy.

“We call it an American renewal,” Athans said. “And today, it is happening in Auburn.”

The Auburn facility is the company’s third in the state, with sister sites in Decatur and Huntsville, she said.

When the plant was announced in December 2010, it was scheduled to produce advanced environmental coatings to enhance the performance of jet engine components as part of the F-35 fighter program, a multi-role aircraft intended to replace the U.S. military’s current fleet of fighters. The advanced fighter program was suspended as part of federal budget cutting earlier this year, according to Athans and Rogers. The F-35 fighter production was scheduled to begin in 2013.

“Our commitment to Auburn does not change,” Athans said. “GE is breaking ground, and we are here to stay.”

Rick Kennedy, manager of media relations for GE Aviation, said the company decided change to production to parts for commercial and military aircraft about four months ago in the wake of the budget cuts. With the switch, the company also decided to increase the facility’s size from 200,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet. Kennedy said the company’s commercial engine sales are healthy.

“The volume is way up,” Kennedy said.

Athans said the plant will make parts for the initial production of jet engines and then make spares for the expected 30- to 50-year service lives of the power plants.

The GE officials say while the joint-fighter has been scuttled, there are efforts to keep the program alive.

Kennedy said the company is awaiting a decision by Congress whether the company can continue developing an engine for the fighter under a self-funding proposal. 

“We have had a bump in the road, but we are going to keep working on it,” Rogers said.