GE Transportation, a leading maker of rail and transportation products, announced that it intends to open a new locomotive manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to meet accelerating global demand.
GE will invest up to $96 million in the new plant and will create more than 500 new high-tech manufacturing jobs. GE also announced that it will expand its manufacturing workforce at its Erie, Pennsylvania, plant by hiring an additional 250 workers.
GE will build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to manufacture, assemble and remanufacture GE’s leading rail and transportation-related products, including GE’s most fuel-efficient locomotives todate.
Production is scheduled to start by 2012. The 900,000- square-foot facility under consideration is located in Fort Worth, Texas.
“GE Transportation is experiencing strong U.S. and global growth because of its technical leadership and we need to increase our manufacturing capacity and flexibility,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
GE anticipates launching its formal hiring process for both salaried employees and production workers for the Texas facility later this year.
Production workers include welders, assemblers, painters and related skilled labor. GE Transportation will create more than 500 new high-tech manufacturing jobs in Texas by 2012 with the potential of up to 275 additional jobs in subsequent years.
The proposed location in Fort Worth will become final upon conclusion of pending local approval.
The State of Texas will commit up to $4.2 million in incentives toward the project through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF).
