The GE Brief: May 2nd, 2022

GE Reports Q1 Results

?Reporting GE’s first-quarter results, GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp said, “This quarter, the GE team improved services, orders and cash while scaling lean in all businesses to drive margin expansion. Our continuous operational improvements set us up to reinvest in innovation across GE, and our businesses remain focused on growth, supported by continued recovery at Aviation and strong demand at Healthcare.” Read about GE’s first-quarter results?here.

Nuts For Bolts

Workers at GE Aviation’s Lafayette, Indiana, jet engine-manufacturing plant were facing a problem. They had to hand-start 48 nuts in a tedious process that forced technicians to use repetitive wrist and hand movements. The cross-functional team used lean management to come up with a creative solution, one that is now receiving acclaim from the Applied Ergonomics Society. The GE team recently?won?the society’s prestigious 2022 Ergo Cup in the competition’s largest category, Team-Driven Workplace Solutions with Internal Competitions. The new nut assembly tool eliminates 16 ergonomic risk factors. It could generate an estimated injury prevention savings of $77,000 and result in an annual operational savings of $2,641. “Really small changes to your tool or work station can make significant improvements to your daily work life,” said Kelsey Barnett, a technician at the factory. Read the story?here.

Continuous Improvement

Lean management has helped many companies improve their operations. It’s been GE’s turn ever since Larry Culp joined the company as chairman and CEO in October 2018 and placed lean management — a system of continuous improvement — at the heart of GE’s turnaround.?Here’s a listicle?of recent examples of what lean looks like at GE.

?—?Quote Of The Day?—

?“Overall, services are recovering in all our businesses, our total orders are strong and our cash generation continues to improve.”

?—?Larry Culp,?GE chairman and CEO