It has been confirmed that GE Power is suffering from major design and/or quality flaws in their current H and possibly F Class Gas Turbine fleets. The combustion system is failing at multiple customer sites. Customers do not want the risk so they are selecting GE's competitors for their gas turbine purchases. This problem could not have come at a worse time for GE as they have already reported major cost and cash flow problems prior to this discovery. If you work for GE Power understand that top leaders are short timers and the elimination of your salary will increase their exit bonus. The first round of layoffs happened in March 2017. Phase 2 is unavoidable so be prepared, The US will be hit this year. Europe will be hit massively next year. Neither hourly or salaried is safe. You have been warned !!!!
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Congrats to Mitsubishi for taking 63% market share in the Americas. And this market share was achieved BEFORE GE's new gas turbine fleet was proven to be a piece of crap. Makes me question the data GE published from their testing program. GE's lack of integrity is unbelievable.
GE has been sued before because they tried to conceal known defects in the gas turbine fleet. Integrity does not exist in the way they treat employees or customers. GE thinks they are so big they can do as they please. This is the beginning of the end!
Greenville defect rate has gone through the roof. Nobody gives a crap. Coworkers are leaving early everyday and taking excessive days off. Nobody is tracking. Persmissve time off should be called excessive time off. My tolerance level has been exceeded. As soon as I find a job, I'm OUT!!!!
The story of the detention in Pakistan is real. Now none of the engineers are willing to go look at the parts. Double whammy.
They're worried about losing their jobs, but also worried that GE will abandon them if Pakistan tries to detain them as well. The guy who got detained just barely got out, no thanks to "leadership."
Another poster claims another new gas turbine has failed prior to the first 100 hours. The poster claims Pakistan detained a GE employee and temporarily prevented him from leaving the country due to the failure. Not good for business.
A MUST READ ARTICLE - This is the latter part of the Forbes article written June 12, 2017 by Forbes contributor Adam Hartung... "As Immelt Leaves, GE Investors and Employees Have Little To Cheer"
......" GE's website says Mr. Immelt wanted to create a "simpler, more valuable industrial company." Mr. Immelt is definitely leaving behind a simpler, much smaller and weaker company. The brand is gone from consumer products, and severely tarnished in commercial products. GE lacks a great product pipeline, and even a strong development pipeline due to the rampant divestitures. When Mr. Flannery takes over as CEO he will not inherit a powerhouse company. He will inherit a company that is shrinking and rudderless, and disconnected from most growth markets with almost no product, technology or brand advantages. And he will report to the Chairman that created this mess, Mr. Immelt."
The most likely outcome is that Mr. Peltz and his firm, Trian Partners, will buy more GE shares and seek directorships on the board. Then, in a move not unlike the deaths of DuPont and Dow, there will be a massive cost cutting effort to bring expenses in-line with the shrunken GE business. R&D will be discontinued, as will product development. Support groups will be shredded. Customer service will be downsized. Then the remaining pieces will be sold off to buyers, or taken public, leaving GE a dismantled piece of history.
While that may work for the capital markets, and some short-term investors will share in the higher valuation, what about the people? People who dedicated their careers to GE, and are pensioners or current employees? What about cities and counties where GE has been a major employer, and civic contributor? What about customers that bought GE industrial products, only to see those products dropped due to low profitability, or little growth opportunity? What about suppliers that invested in developing new technologies or products for GE to take to market? What will happen to the people who once relied on GE as America's largest diversified industrial company?
These people all have an axe to grind with the very wealthy, and now departing, CEO Immelt. He inherited what may well have been the most successful company on earth. He leaves behind a far weaker company that may not survive.
GE's competitors are capitalizing on this and are laughing all the way to the bank. Our sales will plummet. Customers were already pissed just because of our arrogant and hard to work with culture. Nothing to stress about. All we have to do is get another job.
Ok then how in the blue hell do you have massive combustion failures? When you got a test lab that is testing all the time it makes no sense. This 7H unit ran great on Stand 7 what happened? If the new combustion is the problem go back to old until you get this cluster f--- straightened out. I know myself and countless others don't want to have to worry when is my last day.
Read this:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2017/06/12/as-immelt-leaves-ge-investors-and-employees-have-little-to-cheer/#328b7540390a
Summary - "The most likely outcome is that Mr. Peltz and his firm, Trian Partners, will buy more GE shares and seek directorships on the board. Then, in a move not unlike the deaths of DuPont and Dow, there will be a massive cost cutting effort to bring expenses in-line with the shrunken GE business. R&D will be discontinued, as will product development. Support groups will be shredded. Customer service will be downsized. Then the remaining pieces will be sold off to buyers, or taken public, leaving GE a dismantled piece of history."
No doubt, rough waters ahead.
More Siemens success stories in GE's backyard:
- Duke selected Siemens in Anderson, SC:
http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/siemens-in-south-carolina/
The arrogance and ignorance of GE Leadership is obvious. They still think they can beat their chest and say I'm big GE. The rest of the world is laughing at them.
Meanwhile, in GE's backyard, near Gaffney...
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/12/duke-energy-siemens-to-combine-on-first-of-its.html
Siemens is working with Duke to develop their next gen gas turbine with on grid validation rather than test stand imagination tests. What really stands out in this article is that Siemens has promised Duke that if their hot new machine doesn't perform as promised, Siemens will replace it with two current technology turbines FOR FREE. GE can't make that kind of promise to any customer, let alone a fleet leader, because they know it would be financial seppuku.
Who would be dumb enough to make a $Multi-Million investment in a major liability?
I'm surprised GE sales any gas turbines after this disaster.
FailFast = FastLayoffs
FastWorks, Ha!
FailFast is more accurate!!!
We all expect more GE Power Layoffs. When is it going to happen?
Doesn't GE Greenville Test Combustion Systems on an almost daily basis? That has got to be very expensive to run Combustion Test almost constantly. Even more expensive that after all that testing serious problems are not resolved. Customers can't afford this kind on unreliability. Neither can GE.
No fix in sight for the combustion failures. More gas turbines have shipped with probably the same problems. Horrible situation but much deserved to all the arrogant know-it-all PowerPoint readers.
All the new young/cheap engineers need more "work-life balance" and their Google-Like bean bags to sit on. When problems like this happen they need their quiet safe space to retreat to. The old timers pushed out the door are in disbelief of the insanity. Spend money on this crap while ruining hard working people's careers that were actually being effective.
I just read an article where Mitsubishi took over the gas turbine market share. Congrats to all the ex-GE employees that helped make that happen.
Nous savons que nos emplois se termineront l'année prochaine. Une entreprise horrible.
Usually the end is near when bean counters (sourcing professionals) are placed in leadership positions over manufacturing operations. Their brains are wired differently and make bad operational decisions because they can't escape the tunnel vision from their sourcing world. If you have an ex-sourcing leader as the plant manager, get out while you can. The place will rapidly decline until there is no return.
There are definetly good people working for GE through MAU. The problem is GE is not making a commitment to these people and therefore the commitment to GE doesn't exist in return. Lack of commitment is a two way sword. GE leaders are not smart enough to measure this impact. They will have to discover the hard way. LOL....
They also laid off contractors in Greenville before chopping salaried heads but not many. Many of the contractors are still in Greenville even after the GE employees were laid off.
They laid off contractors (many not all) before laying off salaried in Schenectady
I think the goal is to replace all GE employees with MAU (or equivalent) over time. The Greenville Plant Manager has stated "Zero Labor" as being the GOAL with automation and technology being utilized to meet that goal as close as feasible. Maybe contractors don't count as GE Labor.
MAU employees are viewed as a contractors and are not counted as GE layoff numbers. If head count reduction demands are given to executives it will be GE employees.
On the hourly basis doesn't MAU leave before GE employees?
The job market in Greenville is good now. Depends on how specialized your experience is. I agree with the other poster that it's better to find work while your still employed. Anyone know when the layoff will be executed? Most everybody agrees that layoffs are coming. We just aren't sure when. I'm guessing that notifications will be issued in late June to those impacted and final employment date will be July. I'm only guessing as I do not have confirmation on GE's layoff schedule.
The economy Is horrible in Schenectady . because of how many ge laid off it is extremely hard to find a job in engineering. Maybe it's better in bigger cities....
It's harder also once you are laid off as they think you did something wrong.
My advice would be to leave GE while the job market is strong. Most other companies are thriving and are having trouble hiring because the jobless rate is so low. Leave the BS and DO NOT LOOK BACK.
Not sure their plan this time. In March they simply sent a "Confidential Discussion" meeting requirement. This was usually in a managers office with the manager and HR representative. They handed you a folder with your walking papers and end of employment details. When you get this you have two choices. 1) Take Lump Sum severance and severe ties with GE or 2) Take weekly partial payments with unemployment from your state. Option 2 gives you one year of "protected status". Take the Lump Sum and severe ties with this horrible company. You are watching the destruction of GE. It is no longer a company you want to work for.
And what site is the h.r room reserving at ?
I've worked for GE Power-Greenville for over 20 years and have never seen things get this bad this quick. We've been through tough times before but it almost seems as if our leaders asked for this. We have been shaking our heads in disbelief about their decisions. This is on the shoulders of leadership. They should be the ones impacted by the layoff.
Our HR representative has reserved the guest office in our group's space for a couple of weeks now. I expect she will be calling in the affected employees very soon!