Introduction
The history of the facility at Nantgarw can be traced back to original ownership by British Airways, then in 1939 with World War II Luftwaffe raids causing threat, the entire operation was moved from London to Filton in Bristol. The move to Bristol was only temporary while factories were prepared on the Treforest Industrial Estate, and in June 1940 the final move brought the engine facility to the safety of South Wales valleys where it remains.
In 1990, the secretary of state for Wales opened on of the latest phases of development, which cost £40 million and included the most up-to-date computerised test bed. A further development in 1998/99 was another new test bed and a preparation for test shop for the new GE90 engine.
In December 1991, the site at Wales was sold to General Electric of the USA for £273 Million. The company thereafter operated under the name of EMMS, until in January 1995 the name GE Aircraft Engine Services Limited was introduced in an initiative to reinforce the identity of the company as part of the global structure of GE.
The parent company General Electric (GE) is one of the largest company’s in the world that employs over 300, 000 people in around 100 countries around the world. Its history can be traced back to the famous inventor Thomas Edision who started the company back in the 1890’s.
GE is split into businesses units ranging from financial, aircraft engines, energy, rail, water, plastics and obviously lighting and has been named the 4th most valuable brand after coca-cola, Microsoft and IBM and continues to be rated as the ‘Worlds Most Respected company’ by the Financial Times.
GEAES Wales employs nearly a 1000 people and overhauls (services) around 360 engines a year. Overhaul is term used to describe the maintenance activities undertaken on an engine, these include the strip, clean, inspect, repair, build and finally test the engines, and each of these maintenance stages has a specific area and workforce on the site and because of their size the engines are split down to be worked into more manageable ‘Modules’.
The main types of engines currently worked fall into 3 groups, also highlighted are the aircraft they are used on.
- Rolls Royce RB211 Boeing 747, 757, 767
- CFM56 Boeing 737 and Airbus Industry A320
- GE90 Boeing 777
** GE Wales will also shortly begin work on the GP7000 engine which will power the new A380 superjumbo.
As well as having people employed to work on the engines directly, like many organisations there are other departments that support the maintenance activities eg, HR, Quality, Health & Safety and IT.
Quality and Safety are two of the most important considerations for anyone working within the Aero Industry especially as there are no ‘lay-bys’ in the sky!! So all activities undertaken on aircraft/engines must be done professionally and importantly correctly.
The cost of all aircraft parts are very expensive because of the safety aspects, and the materials used in parts must be of the highest quality. A GE90 engine would cost you $20 million to buy and $5million to service.
GE Wales is one of the largest facilities of this type in the world and engines are brought to Nantgarw from all over the world, and not only from Europe, some of the main customers include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Continental and Ryan Air |
