GE Appliance Park's new Competitive Wage Agreement, worked out by the Union and the Company last year, has enabled Building 1 to win the bid as the low-cost, high-quality supplier for a new drive system for washing machines manufactured at the Park. The system features the new GE Genesis motor.
The Competitive Wage Agreement, ironed out by the Union and Company last year, has triggered a chain of events, that have added up to more investment and jobs for Appliance Park. The most recent is the hiring of 50 new employees in Building 1 at Appliance Park's washing machine manufacturing facility.
As a result of the Wage Agreement, which has a lower starting wage structure for new employees, the plant won the bid as the low-cost, high-quality supplier for a new drive system for washers. The new drive system features a mode shifter and the all new electronic Genesis motor, designed and developed at GE Motors.
"Without the Competitive Wage Agreement, we would not have won this bid. It's as simple as that," says Keene Taylor, Operations and Manufacturing Engineering Manager for Building 1.
Genesis motor
"The revolutionary Genesis motor doesn't have or need a transmission," says Keene. "The motor does all the back and forth movement of the basket during wash cycles and all of the spinning motions during the spinning cycles." As a result of winning the bid, the plant will have a new drive subassembly that will feed three assembly lines. It's the largest insourcing project the Park has had in years.
Manufacturing techniques
To produce the more than 100 washer models, all of which will feature the Genesis motor, three sub-assembly lines are being added to feed the main assembly lines. "We had a team of hourly and salaried workers participate in Action Workouts for this project," says Scott Stinnett, Advanced Manufacturing Engineer. "Using the latest manufacturing techniques, they designed the layout and the way we are going to put this drive system together. They also designed the work station setup and the order of assembly."
