News

GE Aviation will build Mississippi plant

June 1, 2007 — GE Aviation, a division of General Electric Company, will break ground this summer on a 200,000-square-foot plant in Batesville-Panola County, Mississippi. The plant will produce advanced components for jet engines.

GE expects to begin hiring more than 100 high tech workers in 2008, and the plant should become operational by early 2009. Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association, a distributor of TVA power, will serve the plant.

"Support throughout the state of Mississippi for this new operation has been critical and very gratifying," said Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of GE Aviation, in a prepared statement.

The plant will produce fan platforms for the next-generation jet engines to be launched by GE Aviation in 2008 for use on the new Boeing 787, Donnelly said at a meeting in Batesville. Growing demand for the GEnx engine stems partly from the use of advanced composite materials, which produce a lighter engine and improved fuel efficiency. Donnelly predicted that the Batesville plant will continue to grow beyond its original employment numbers to meet the demand.

GE chose Batesville because of its proximity to community colleges, the University of Mississippi, and Mississippi State, Donnelly said. A team from GE Aviation and MSU's College of Engineering carried out a project in 2006 to demonstrate the production of composite jet engine components.

Donnelly also cited the community’s reputation for a “good, strong work ethic.”

“These jobs are the high-paying, high-skilled jobs of the future,” Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said. He described the manufacturing of jet engine components as GE's “most advanced manufacturing they do anywhere in the world.”

Besides Tallahatchie Valley EPA, other partners assisting GE in their site location include the Mississippi Development Authority, North Mississippi Industrial Development Association, city and county leaders, and TVA.