Ice Man, Viper, Goose, Hollywood. Any fan of ‘80s movies will recognize the nicknames of the competitive pilots in the movie Top Gun. But those are also the names of four welding robots being programmed by a group of guys who are every bit as competitive, and every bit as supportive, as the pilots in Top Gun.

The group didn’t start out as computer programmers. They were all welders. Stephen Holt had been welding for 20 years when he made the switch to programming. Holt had always considered himself an artisan. “You’re the weld that you put down; that is your signature,” he says. “It’s not something that everybody can do.”

Top and above: The welding that takes place at GE’s manufacturing solutions locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas, requires precision and stamina that make it an ideal task for robots. But training them requires human expertise and brain power. So GE taught a team of welders how to program robots to do the grunt work. Images credit: GE Manufacturing Solutions

But around 2015, at age 41, he began to realize that he might not be able to weld much longer. Holt helps build platforms, the base that the locomotive sits on, at GE’s manufacturing solutions locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas. The platforms are 75 feet long and weigh approximately 120,000 pounds. The welding work on the platforms is physically demanding, requiring welders to bend, lift and twist.

So when the plant offered Holt and his fellow welders the chance to learn to program welding robots, he quickly signed up. “The thought of finding a way to be able to still do welding, but you know maybe still be able to walk or bend over when I’m 60 years old — well, I was all about it,” he laughs. “Plus, having been welding for 20 years, just the thought of new technology and a new way to improve on your craft — I mean, why would you not want to do it?”

Veteran welder Stephen Holt of Fort worth says he jumped at the chance to learn programming. “Having been welding for 20 years, just the thought of new technology and a new way to improve on your craft — I mean, why would you not want to do it?” Image credit: GE Manufacturing Solutions

Holt, and three colleagues — Philip Johnson, Trey Lazarin and Allen Williams — traveled to Wolf Robotics in Fort Collins, Colorado, for a two-week crash course in the complex coding necessary to program the robots. The welders soon realized just how groundbreaking their work was. “The Wolf robotic coding was brand-new, so the teacher was learning it, too,” says Johnson. “But we had books, and we’re pretty smart and fast. By the end, we were outdoing him.”

Back in Fort Worth, it soon became clear that the tendency to compete was going to carry over into the new world of welding programming. In the old days, they had competed to make the best-looking weld or to weld the fastest. Now they were competing together against their own prior work, training machines to weld as well as or better than they could.

But the group also helped one another. In the beginning, Holt says, the welders programmed their machines based on their own tendencies. But they soon began sharing information, helping one another to master the complex welds needed for a locomotive platform. “As a team, when we see that one of us welded a section better than anybody else could have, we all share information,” he says. “I’ve used some of Allen’s ideas, some of Philip’s, some of Trey’s. And they’ve used some of mine.”

“On day one, we could barely even make the thing throw a spark,” says veteran welder Stephen Holt. “But now, we’re almost halfway done with teaching it to weld an entire platform.” Image credit: GE Manufacturing Solutions

In this way, he says, programming the robots is similar to the way he learned to weld from a variety of different welders. “It’s not exactly the same as with hand welding, but it’s the same concept,” he says. “I just went back and changed two work angles today, because I thought the welds looked a little flat. We keep a lot of notes, so we can keep the continuous improvement going.”

After a year and a half of programming robots to weld, Holt is amazed at the progress his team has made. “On day one, we could barely even make the thing throw a spark, but now, we’re almost halfway done with teaching it to weld an entire platform,” he says.

“We’re in the process of producing the most competitive locomotive in North America,” adds Williams. “This not only opens up opportunities for the business but offers employees a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”

Growing up in southern Louisiana, Paula Northern was a girl who liked math and science. When her parents registered her for a summer high school engineering program, she was hooked. “I loved mechanical engineering,” Northern remembers. “I liked that it was tangible.”

Northern, now 42, still loves engineering, but she’s found her perfect fit in “operations” in the oil and gas industry, working behind the scenes with engineers and workers at Baker Hughes, a GE Company, to ensure that the people she supports have the tools they need when and where they need them. “I still love going out on the shop floor and seeing parts being made,” she says.

Northern started at GE in 1994, when as a college student at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana she won a scholarship from the company to intern at the company’s Evendale, Ohio, plant, which makes jet engines. After graduating with a mechanical engineering degree in 1997, she returned to GE in Ohio full-time to participate in their rotational learning program, which allowed her to study manufacturing, quality control, design engineering and sourcing.

Her first Midwestern winter was a shock. When Northern attempted to clear the windshield of her Honda Civic with her employee badge, her bemused coworkers introduced her to the ice scraper. “They eased my transition, not just from Louisiana to Ohio, but also from college to work,” Northern says. “They gave me the tools I needed to succeed.”

After completing the rotation program, Northern decided to focus on sourcing and operations. At her first position in Evendale, she says she initially felt overwhelmed by the fact that she was a young woman in a male-dominated field.

She found help in a senior female vice president who not only treated Northern with kindness and respect, but coached her to see herself as future management material.

“It showed me how important it is for young people to have someone they can connect with, someone who shows them the path forward,” Northern says.

Paula Northern, who got hooked on engineering in high school, found her perfect fit in operations. Today she’s a vice president responsible for the global sourcing for oil and gas at Baker Hughes, a GE Company. “I still love going out on the shop floor and seeing parts being made,” she says. Images credit: Paula Northern

After stints working in various GE sourcing jobs in Atlanta and Shreveport, Louisiana, Northern moved to Texas a decade ago. She focused her work in global supply chain, at first in GE Power and then moving to GE Oil & Gas four years ago. That unit merged with Baker Hughes in July, forming Baker Hughes, a GE Company.

Today, Northern herself is a vice president responsible for the global sourcing strategy, quality, delivery and logistics of components, working with oil and field equipment in Houston. That means that she oversees a team of people who partner with suppliers to provide equipment and services that help with oil extraction all over the world. The factories need material input that includes large fabrications, castings and forgings for GE products, and people in the field need items such as flashlights, hand tools to digital tablets. Northern’s team sources those items to find the best parts at the best prices and quality and establishes good relationships with vendors.

But she still considers it one of her main duties to mentor each new crop of female grads starting at GE so they will have the confidence and the vision to see themselves as people capable of rising up through the executive ranks.

Her first mentor at GE put her on a path to finding other inspiring leaders to work with, through GE groups such as the Women’s Network and the African American Forum. Looking back on her career, Northern says there are several instances she can point to and say, “If someone wasn’t willing to take a chance on me right then,” things would have been different.

For example, in her first executive job after she moved to Houston, Northern says her supervisor set high expectations for her and gave her the space to live up to them. “He taught me to think of myself as a business person, not just someone with one (limited) role,” she says.

Now that she’s managing others, Northern says she emulates her previous bosses’ examples by working as a “situational leader.” She looks at each employee’s strengths and motivations to craft individual solutions or plans. “I tell people all the time, once you have your brand established, and people know you’ll actually do what you say you’ll do, they’re more willing to take a risk on you.”

Northern is particularly focused on encouraging, coaching and cheerleading young women — whether they work for her or not. “As a leader, when you see someone who has potential, who has the eagerness and curiosity, it’s really your responsibility to encourage that,” she says.

At 15, Josh Mook got a job refueling planes and handling bags at a small airport near his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. He’d work eight hours a day after school, then blow his earnings every Saturday taking flying lessons. “I couldn’t even drive myself there,” Mook recalls. “But I was flying solo.”

Mook has been jetting into the unknown ever since. Originally considering a career in industrial design, Mook moved to aerospace engineering because it combined his love of flying with his love of math and science. After graduating from Purdue University in 2005, he joined GE Aviation as an engineer at the GE unit’s headquarters in Cincinnati. His first big success came when he found a clever way to fix a blade durability problem in a jet engine high-pressure compressor. Mook’s solution was so good it took off and found applications inside machines made by other GE divisions, GE Power and GE Oil & Gas, which is now part of Baker Hughes, a GE Company.

Mook’s star kept rising, and in 2011, he won GE Aviation’s young engineer award thanks to his work on the blade and other problems. At the luncheon celebrating his success, Mohammad Ehteshami, then GE Aviation’s head of engineering, offered Mook the opportunity to join the design team trying to 3D print a fuel nozzle for a new jet engine. Never mind that Mook had no experience with combustion or fuel-injection systems or additive manufacturing, which includes 3D printing. “The way to motivate me is to tell me something can’t be done,” he says with a laugh.

Additive manufacturing methods like 3D printing build parts from the ground up, layer by layer, by fusing together metal powder or plastics. The technology is suitable for prototyping and custom production, but GE is also using it to make production parts that would be difficult to manufacture using traditional methods.

Mook and a team of nearly 50 engineers, designers and manufacturing experts set to work. They spent four years designing, prototyping and refining the new fuel nozzle. One of the major challenges with jet fuel injectors is figuring out how to keep the nozzles from melting at temperatures approaching 3,000 degrees F inside a turbine. The new design uses the jet fuel itself for the cooling, making it run through intricate channels printed inside the nozzle. The nozzle is now being used inside engines powering Airbus’s A320neo and Boeing’s 737 MAX planes.

Amazed by additive manufacturing’s potential, Mook soon was itching for a new problem to solve. “When it becomes business as usual, that’s when I get antsy,” the 36-year-old says. Thankfully, the next challenge wasn’t far off.

In 2015, Mook and his team moved into a windowless basement across the road from GE Aviation’s main campus and were given 18 months to see if they could use additive manufacturing to reproduce the CT7 engine that powers helicopters as well as turboprop planes. GE has been making the engine for 30 years, and Ehteshami wanted to know if they could make it lighter and cheaper on a 3D printer.

Josh Mook has been flying airplanes since before he could drive a car. He began his career at GE Aviation, where he showed a penchant for creative problem solving. Top and above: When GE asked him to join the team that was trying to 3D print a fuel nozzle for a new jet engine, he leapt at the opportunity — even though at that point he lacked experience with both fuel injection and 3D printing. “The way to motivate me is to tell me something can’t be done,” he says. Images credit: GE 

Noodling over ideas, they decided to go all in and print large sections of the entire engine by combining 905 parts into just 16 pieces. “We proved you can disrupt the aviation industry with eight people — and a 3D printer,” Mook says.

Mook now works for GE Additive, a new GE business led by Ehteshami. Mook and his colleagues are bringing additive manufacturing to all GE businesses, as well as helping external customers rethink the way they design their products. So far they’ve generated a pipeline of more than 1,000 additive design concepts across all GE business units and a number of projects externally. “This is going to change the way the entire world approaches design and production,” he says. “It’s our job to help them figure out how to use this revolutionary technology.”

Mook sees a parallel between additive manufacturing and the airplanes he still loves to fly solo. “When you’re up in a plane by yourself, you look at things differently,” he says. “That’s what additive manufacturing is. We have to throw out the way manufacturing has always been done and remove the design limitations. It’s a totally new perspective.”

Mook and his team 3D printed large sections of a helicopter engine and combined 905 parts into just 16 pieces. “We proved you can disrupt the aviation industry with eight people — and a 3D printer,” Mook says. Image credit: GE Aviation.

The writer H. L. Mencken quipped that conscience was a mother-in-law who never left. Sam Onukuri can say the same thing about inspiration, and he means it literally.

Onukuri and his team at Johnson & Johnson’s 3D Printing Center of Excellence are developing ways to 3D-print customized surgical tools and implants — including those for patients like his mother-in-law, who had both of her knees replaced. “If there was a customized 3D-printed knee available then, I believe her pain and the recuperation time could have been reduced,” he told a company blog. “Through 3D printing technology, we can print exactly what the patient needs to replace the degraded bone. The implant can be made based on a CT or MRI scan from thousands of miles away.”

Earlier this year, Onukuri, a mechanical engineer specializing in metallurgy, and Joseph Sendra, the global vice president for manufacturing, engineering and technology at J&J, spent time at GE Healthcare’s advanced manufacturing lab in Waukesha, Wisconsin, which is stocked with 3D printers, robots and other advanced technology. The additive manufacturing industry, a catchall term that includes 3D printing, is quickly maturing, and both companies want to stay in the vanguard of the field by sharing insights. “To make products now, we have large factories that require a significant investment,” Sendra says. “With 3D printing, we can potentially move manufacturing to a very small footprint, doing the same thing closer to the customer. That means products do not need to be shipped as far, and there’s a faster turnaround.”

Above: “With 3D printing, we can potentially move manufacturing to a very small footprint, doing the same thing closer to the customer,” says Joe Sendra of Johnson & Johnson. Top: “If there was a customized 3D-printed knee available then, I believe her pain and the recuperation time could have been reduced,” says J&J’s Sam Onukuri. Images credit: Johnson & Johnson.

One of the benefits of additive manufacturing technologies is that they can print customized solutions for patients — say, knees — directly from a computer file, layer by layer. When people have their knees or hips replaced today, Onukuri says, doctors typically have an option of five or six implants of different sizes, and a set of instruments that go with them. “Physicians make every effort to find the implant that fits best,” he says. “But it’s never a perfect match, and the same is true for the tools. As a result, the surgery takes longer — and so can healing and recovery — and the fit may not be perfect.”

3D-printed instruments or implants based on patient scans can achieve an exact fit for the joint. In addition, the specific surgical tools needed for the surgery, which tend to be complex, can be 3D-printed too. “With additive technology we can really transform the whole area,” Onukuri says. “Through our collaborative efforts with companies like GE, we will definitely get there.”

In Waukesha, Onukuri was also working on problems like “bioprinting,” which is using 3D printing to produce tissues that can replace or augment damaged organs. Bioprinted tissues or organs can be also used for drug testing and screening, eliminating the need for humans or animals in clinical trials. “J&J is interested in metals, polymers, ceramics and electronics 3D printing along with bioprinting, so there are a range of opportunities for collaboration,” Onukuri says.

But Onukuri and his counterparts at the GE Healthcare lab are not just changing the manufacturing process. They are also changing minds. “Design for additive manufacturing is different than design for traditional manufacturing,” says J&J’s Sendra. “It gives you the ability to consider many more solutions than you had before. But every engineer can’t think that way, and we have to teach them that there’s a difference. They need to look at the problem from a new point of view.”

Sendra says that 3D printing, though three decades old, is only now beginning to show its full potential. “What’s different now is the convergence of the additive technology and computing power with the science that unlocks capabilities,” he says. “It allows you to envision a reality and a solution that was previously unimaginable.”

A 3D-printed model of a human heart based on an image acquired by a CT scanner. GE engineers are looking for ways to convert data from GE Healthcare’s imaging machines into digital files that can be printed. The models could one day help doctors prepare better for surgery. Images credit: GE Reports.

Justin Eggart and fellow engineers working inside GE Power’s Monitoring and Diagnostics Center in Atlanta were halfway through their shift a few months ago when they noticed something strange. The center, the largest of its kind in the world, looks a lot like a smaller version of NASA’s mission control center. It has banks of computers and a wall-to-wall, colorful LED screen flashing real-time operating conditions inside 5,000 turbines, generators and other equipment churning away at 900 power plants located in 60 countries and serving 350 million people.

Every day, 1 million sensors attached to the machines send 200 billion data points to the cloud and to computers sitting directly on the machines. Eggart and his team slice it and dice the data with sophisticated software and “digital twins” — virtual versions of the power plans — and look for anomalies. “Our algorithms can run analysis on data that to other people appears as noise,” he says. “Within that noise, we can start to see patterns that allow us to make predictions.”

That afternoon, one of the power stations tracked by the center signaled an alert, even though it seemed to operate normally. “The plant never felt it, never heard it, never saw anything,” says Eggart, the general manager for fleet management technology at GE’s Power Services unit. “But we were sure it was there.”

The GE engineers in Atlanta called the power plant operators, who remained incredulous because they didn’t see any issues on their end, and told them to take a close look at a turbine bearing during the next scheduled maintenance session coming in a few weeks. “They came back and said: ‘You know what, you were right,’” Eggart says. “The bearing wasn’t getting the right lube oil feed, and it was going to fail.”

Spotting a problem early can save a utility a lot of money. Power plants get fined $50,000 if they “trip” and abruptly disconnect from the grid in some cases. This expense is in addition to the money they’re not making while the plant is offline. The costs can spiral into millions of dollars in cases like the bum bearing, especially if operators have to dock their plants for days or weeks because they don’t have spares on hand.

The technology Eggart’s team is using is already smart enough to spot hundreds of similar problems every year. But as of this fall, it has a new brain running on Predix, the software platform GE Digital developed for the industrial internet. The brain is GE’s new Asset Performance Management (APM) software application, and it will make the center’s predictive powers even more formidable, by giving customers more advance warning of issues that might trigger an outage. The “brain” also makes it easier for GE engineers and their customers to compare notes in real time and spot problems before they happen. Customers with the software see exactly what GE’s experts see. As a result, they minimize downtime and optimize power plant performance and save utilities money. “In the past, we had to call plant operators or send them an email,” Eggart says. “Now, they can see the same data I see. It allows us to interact on our smartphones, tablets and PCs and be much more collaborative.”

Top GIF: “Our algorithms can run analysis on data that to other people appears as noise,” says GE’s Justin Eggart. “Within that noise, we can start to see patterns that allow us to make predictions.” Above: The M&D center monitors in real-time operating conditions inside 5,000 turbines, generators and other equipment churning away at 900 power plants located in 60 countries and serving 350 million people. GIF credits: GE Power.

GE started remotely monitoring power plants two decades ago and has amassed a treasure trove of unique operations data. Machines made by the company also generate a third of the world’s electricity, giving it detailed insights into how turbines and generators are built and work. This domain knowledge allows the team at the center to also monitor turbines made by Alstom, Mitsubishi, Siemens and other makers. “We believe we have more data than anybody, and we’ve seen more than anyone,” Eggart says. “We also designed a lot of the equipment and know where to look. We can tailor our algorithms right around that knowledge.”

The most powerful Predix algorithms live inside the cloud. Using information about vibrations, pressure, temperature and other factors, the software, in combination with the specific machine’s digital twin, can predict what might happen in the future and recommend the best time for maintenance or the most optimal ways to run the plant.

But another set of algorithms and digital twins lives in computers located directly on the machines in the power plant, or, as GE calls it, on the edge. “The edge tends to be focused on the here and now, and the cloud allows me to think forward,” Eggart says. “The edge is like me putting a finger on the machine and feeling the vibrations and heat right there. The cloud is the brain that helps me figure out what it all means and what I need to do.”

Still, it’s humans who ultimately divine meaning from the data and decide how to respond to it. “You’ve got your edge and your cloud running your predictive software,” Eggart says. “But they inform the people who provide the service. The relationship is collaborative, not competitive. The AI is not taking over.”

Predix can operate in large cloud environments like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Eggart says that this “makes it easy” to grow the system to whatever size he needs. “I can scale at the push of a button,” he says.

This is handy for solutions like the APM software, which can, say, monitor a gas turbine and run diagnostics, but also optimize maintenance strategy, manage safety and environmental compliance, handle reliability, among many other functions. “All of these pieces of software build upon each other,” Eggart says. “Customers can buy a license and choose whatever level of engagement they want to have.”

Right now, the M&D Center, as GE calls it, covers only thermal power plants, meaning those that use coal or gas as fuel to generate electricity. GE also has monitoring centers for renewable energy in places like New York, as well as globally. But in the future, a similar center could cover “the entire energy value network,” Eggart says. “There’s no reason why we cannot monitor transformers, inverters, power lines, batteries and other technology standing between the power plant and the consumer,” he says. “When it comes to Predix and the cloud, the sky is the limit.”

Located near the edge of the fertile Po Valley in northern Italy, the town of Cameri could easily be mistaken for a quiet farming commune. But take a short ride through the green, rolling fields around it and you’ll discover a startling contrast.

Cameri, a town of 11,000 people, is the home of the only final assembly plant outside the United States for Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy jet that can take off and land vertically. And just across from the plant’s runway stands another futuristic manufacturing gem: Avio Aero’s 3D-printing factory, making sleek turbine blades for the GE9X, the world’s largest jet engine, which GE Aviation is developing for Boeing’s next-generation 777X planes. The blades spin 2,500 times per minute inside the jet engine, facing heat as well as titanic forces. “These are big blades,” says Giorgio Abrate, general manager for engineering at Avio Aero. “We ran a lot of experiments to get the job right.”

A blue and gray jewel box of steel and glass, the plant holds 20 black, wardrobe-sized 3D printers, made by Arcam. A single machine can print at same time six turbine blades that are each 40 centimeters long directly from a computer file by using a powerful 3-kilowatt electron beam. The beam “grows” the blades by welding together thin layers of titanium aluminide powder, one after another.

Jet engine designers love this strong, heat-resistant wonder material since it is half the weight of the metal alloys typically used in aviation. But it’s also very brittle. Until 3D printing came along, the only way to shape it involved molding, a dirty process that requires expensive tools. “This factory has helped us understand what the art of the possible is with additive manufacturing,” said David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation.

Above: A blue and gray jewel box of steel and glass, the plant holds 20 black, wardrobe-sized 3D printers, made by Arcam. Top: A worker cleaning a 3D-printed part. Images credit: Yari Bovalino for Avio Aero.

Joyce’s business acquired Avio Aero in 2013. GE also took a majority stake in Arcam last fall, and launched GE Additive, a new business focusing on additive manufacturing technologies like 3D printing. Additive manufacturing is still a young industry, albeit one going through a growth spurt. Mohammad Ehteshami, who runs GE Additive, expects the industry to grow from $7 billion today to $80 billion in a decade.

Avio Aero started exploring 3D printing more than a decade ago. At the time, word got out that GE had used blades from titanium aluminide, known as TiAl, for the first time in the GEnx jet engine it was building for Boeing’s Dreamliner. “For us to step up and bet the engine on this technology is a big deal,” Robert Schafrik, then GE Aviation’s materials and process engineering general manager, told FlightGlobal. “If it has only 50 percent of the weight of the nickel alloys you’ve got to believe this is here to stay.”

The blades GE was using were cast in a foundry. But Avio Aero, which wanted to capture the new market, bet on 3D printing. “We could see how difficult it was to make these blades,” Abrate says. “But we had positive experiences with 3D printing on a military project.”

The company decided to ride the coattails of the nearby Joint Strike Fighter assembly line and set up its additive manufacturing shop in Cameri. “The location was part of our strategy,” Abrate says. “The Lockheed plant made the town become very visible among aerospace companies. We wanted to promote 3D printing to potential customers and they were all coming here.”

Customized Arcam 3D printers fuse layers of TiAl powder with an electron beam several times as powerful as the lasers used in typical 3D printers. Image credit: Yari Bovalino for Avio Aero.

That gamble required 3D printers, which Avio Aero accessed at ProtoCast, an Italian 3D-printing pioneer based in a small workshop nearby. “It was really a garage,” Abrate recalls. “We called it ‘the submarine’ because it was so narrow you couldn’t walk past the people working with the machines.”

But early runs with ProtoCast’s laser-powered printers failed. The blades were cracking when Abrate and the team tried to separate them from the platform on which they were printed.

The submarine, however, had a secret weapon: an Arcam printer that could fuse layers of TiAl powder with an electron beam several times as powerful as the lasers used in typical 3D printers. Abrate reached out to Arcam to tweak the machine’s parameters, make the powder layer thicker and speed up the printing process. Running more experiments, Abrate also learned that preheating the powder before melting it with the electron beam removed much of the residual stress from the parts. “At that point, we knew what to do,” Abrate says.

Avio Aero bought ProtoCast and signed an exclusive agreement with Arcam to supply them modified machines that could print from TiAl. In return for exclusivity, Avio Aero promised Arcam it would buy a set number of printers.

A single machine can print at same time six turbine blades that are each 40 centimeters long directly from a computer file by using a powerful 3-kilowatt electron beam. Image credit: Yari Bovalino for Avio Aero.

When Avio Aero showed GE what it was doing with the wonder metal, the American company quickly grasped the magnitude of the breakthrough. GE Aviation was developing its own 3D printing program near its headquarters in Cincinnati. It was working with Greg Morris, the founder of Morris Technologies and another leading light in the additive movement, on printing a superefficient fuel nozzle for a new jet engine called the LEAP. “They were already convinced,” Abrate says. He say that when GE acquired Avio Aero in 2013, “it was really fortunate because everything accelerated after that.”

The blades from Cameri are already working inside the first GE9X engines, which GE started testing last year. These engines bring the blades together with 3D-printed fuel nozzles developed in Cincinnati. They will help the engine be 10 percent more fuel-efficient than its predecessor, the GE90. That’s a big deal given that fuel accounts for about 19 percent of an airline’s operating costs.

The Cameri plant employs eight specialized hourly workers feeding the machines with powder, removing and cleaning the printing parts, and doing maintenance. There are also nine manufacturing engineers, who select the production strategy for new parts and tweak the production process. They expect to stay busy. Says one engineer, Dario Mantegazza: “There are no limits to complexity.”

There are places in the world that make us feel small and force us to marvel at the skills and ambitions of their architects and engineers. They include cathedrals in Europe, NASA’s Cape Canaveral rocket launch pad or the Panama Canal. GE’s gas turbine plant in Greenville, S.C., may not be on everyone’s list. But it comes close.

The plant’s several manufacturing halls – equivalent in size to nearly 21 football fields – strike most first-time visitors as the playroom of a giant toddler. Massive yellow gantry cranes lift multi-ton rotors and stators gleaming like alien silver sunflowers. They flip them around their axis, and stack them on shafts the diameter and length of tree trunks.

This image shows a series compressor rotors on the left and three turbine rotors on the right.

The place smells of high-grade steel and pulses with an industrial symphony of electrical motors cutting in and out. Computer-guided milling machines larger than delivery trucks use jagged cutting heads drenched in white cooling liquid to shape huge turbine wheels.

The plant, which opened in 1968, even has its own railroad spur and also America’s largest train turntable to move the finished turbines around.

There’s also a natural gas plant that supplies a unique test stand designed to push turbines to the limit and withstand hot wind jetting out of them at 1,100 mph – 10 times faster than a Category 3 hurricane.

The place also has a 70,000-square-foot lab replete with 3D printers and powerful lasers. Engineers use them to develop and test parts for next-generation machines like the air-cooled Harriet 9HA turbine – the world’s largest and most efficient gas turbine. Although the facility is strictly off limits to outsiders, GE Reports recently got a tour. Take a look.

A gas turbine on the half-shell with three turbine rotors near the front and compressor rotors in the back.

Two gas turbine shafts suspended in the air with stacked compressor and turbine rotors.

Building gas turbines involves a touch of rocket science and even their production resembles a space factory. Here three GE gas turbines as getting ready for shipping.

Finished gas turbines are getting ready for shipping.

A gas turbine of the half-shell. This image shows silver compressor blades in the front and turbines blades in the back.

The compressor section and inlet casing.

A worker is inspecting the top shell of a gas turbine.

A series of compressor blades. They are highly polished and their blue color is a light reflection.

The inside of the compressor with stationary compressor vanes.

A gas turbine casing.

These “dovetail joints” hold blades in place.

A gas turbine stator.

Compressor blades.

A detail of cooling holes in turbine blades.

These fuel lines feed one of the test turbine combustors at the testing facility.

A torque converter at the testing facility.

Exhaust vents at the testing facility. The holes are the size of wine barrels and they must withstand multiples of hurricane-force winds.

GE’s latest 9HA air cooled turbine is powering through testing. Engineers and using thousands of sensors to gather data and feet to industrial software for analysis.

Dustin Castor recently announced to a factory full of longtime workers that their jobs were about to be replaced by robots.

At least, that’s what they thought they were hearing.

Castor was only two years into his job as a supervisor at GE Transportation’s engine remanufacturing plant in Grove City, Pennsylvania, when in 2016 he had to tell assembly-line operators with decades of experience that the way they did their jobs was about to change dramatically.

Top: GE Transportation is relying more on automation than ever before. Image credit: GE Manufacturing Solutions. Above: Dustin Castor is helping the company, and his colleagues, adjust to the changes. Having grown up playing with train sets in Grove City, he says it’s exciting to see GE using his factory to prepare for the future of manufacturing. Image credit: Dustin Castor

He explained that they would no longer manually tighten the bolts on a 40,000-pound locomotive diesel engine to an exact value, in a complex memorized sequence — a repetitive process that involved cranking a 3-foot-long hydraulic torque wrench. From now on, a robot would do that work for them while they monitored the progress. “There was a lot of, ‘I’ve been doing it this way for 20 years, and I know how to do it,’” Castor says.

But he knew the change was important for the future of the 240,000-square-foot plant, which employs nearly 400 people. It was one key aspect of GE’s decision to make the plant a “brilliant” factory, which means using Lean as well as digital solutions such as software, sensors and real-time data to help workers do their jobs more effectively. GE opened its first brilliant factory in February 2015, in Pune, India, as part of an initial round of seven brilliant factories worldwide, including new facilities as well as traditional plants such as the Grove City remanufacturing operation. Since then, many more factories around the world have adopted principles of “brilliant manufacturing.”

Castor welcomed the move, knowing it would allow the factory to remain cost competitive and viable for the long term. GE recently invested more than $150 million in its Grove City operations, which include a second factory that builds new engines. “It gives a feeling of job security to know that this is a place that GE wants to see succeed,” Castor says.

Still, he recognized that workers sometimes fear automation. Some believe they won’t be able to adapt to the new systems. Others worry that there will be fewer jobs to go around. While automation has reduced the demand for some jobs, it has increased demand for others. In fact, one study of the U.S. workforce from 1982 to 2012 found that employment grew much faster in fields that relied more on computers.

To ease concerns, Castor held frequent meetings with the teams that worked on each product line, explaining how their daily tasks would change as the factory became more digital. He told the assemblers that automating the torqueing of the bolts would reduce injuries and improve precision. He also pointed out that the “brilliant” factory process isn’t designed to reduce jobs, but rather to make the plant more efficient and flexible so that it can take on a greater variety of products. “Some of those guys would still rather do it the old way,” Castor says. But for the most part, “everybody has really seen that this is so much easier.”

Before the factory processes were digitized, workers would completely tear down and rebuild every engine. Now, armed with information about the engine from hundreds of sensors on each locomotive, sometimes they need to do only light repairs before sending an engine out again.

Jamie Moyer, who has worked at the Grove City plant since 2014, has been part of the team that etches bar codes onto engine parts to make them easier to trace. “It took some time to learn, but it was definitely worth it,” she says. “Since the ‘brilliant’ factory started, it’s been a lot more organized. There’s not so much running around trying to find stuff.”

Castor says his own workdays have become much more productive. “From my desk, I know exactly what’s happening on the shop floor,” he says. Previously, he would spend a lot of time hunting for information — sometimes even combing through boxes to find the paperwork on an engine part. Now, he can look at his computer or at large TV-like screens above stations on the production floor to see whether the factory is meeting its targets and whether any lines need maintenance. He can focus on safety issues and high-priority projects.

As someone who grew up playing with train sets in Grove City and always wanted to stay close to home, Castor says it’s exciting to see GE using his factory to prepare for the future of manufacturing.

To anyone who still has doubts, Castor advises: “I would say to try to embrace the change and know that it really, truly saves a lot of time. That’s a big help throughout my day.”

As part of Manufacturing Week, a celebration of modern manufacturing, GE Reports’ Perspectives invited Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), to talk about the biggest issues facing U.S. manufacturers and what the public may not know about the vital sector.

When asked what people may not know about manufacturing jobs, Timmons discussed higher-than-expected salaries and the “rewarding” nature of careers in the sector.

“The other thing that I think would really surprise folks to know is that within the next 10 years we’re going to have about 3.5 million jobs in manufacturing that are available,” Timmons said.

Timmons also touched on the need for tax reform, infrastructure upgrades and strong U.S. trade engagement as tools that will help American manufactures compete globally and create jobs.

NAM, the largest manufacturing association in the nation, represents small and large manufacturers in every industry sector in all 50 states. The manufacturing sector employs more than 12 million people in the U.S. and contributes $2.17 trillion to the American economy annually, according to the organization.

(Top photo by SpaceX on Unsplash.)

Spores could unlock the next massive reservoir of renewable energy, evolution-inspired software could give jetliners bird-like wings, and gene therapy made blind mice see again. Did you ever see such a sight in your life?

It’s A Bird And A Plane

The team reported that the optimized wings “shows remarkable similarity to naturally occurring bone structures in, for example, bird beaks.” Image credit: Getty Images.

What is it? Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark used software mimicking natural selection and running on a supercomputer to come up with a “more organic” way to design airplane wings.

Why does it matter? The team wrote in Nature that “the optimized full-wing design has unprecedented structural detail at length scales ranging from tens of meters to millimeters and, intriguingly, shows remarkable similarity to naturally occurring bone structures in, for example, bird beaks.” It could shave off 2 to 5 percent of the wing’s mass and save between 40 to 200 tons of jet fuel per year, if used on a Boeing 777.

How does it work? The team started with the optimized outer skin of the wing and then asked the computer to design the inside support structures. The system had to meet all mechanical requirements but also minimize the amount of material the wing used. The approach yielded a design that was different from building wing one part at a time and provided “insights into the optimal distribution of material within a structure that were hitherto unachievable,” the team reported in Nature.

Can You Spare A Spore?

Above: Evaporation from lakes and reservoirs in the United States could generate 325 gigawatts and replace 70 percent of the country’s current power production. Image credit: Getty Images. Top image: Eva is a small “car” powered by water evaporation. Image credit: Ozgur Sahin, Columbia University.

What is it? Researchers at Columbia University have built an “evaporation engine” that allowed them to capture energy from moisture. They also developed Eva, a small “car” powered by water evaporation (see video here).

Why does it matter? The team calculated that evaporation from lakes and reservoirs in the United States could generate 325 gigawatts and replace 70 percent of the country’s current power production. They wrote that unlike with solar or wind energy, we could “in principle” turn on and off evaporation generation on demand. “We have the technology to harness energy from wind, water and the sun, but evaporation is just as powerful,” says the study’s senior author Ozgur Sahin, a biophysicist at Columbia. “We can now put a number on its potential.”

How does it work? The scientists deposited bacterial spores on thin plastic ribbons. The spores contract and expand like a muscle, depending on the moisture in the air. They used the force to generate motion. Eva, which looks like a waterwheel, uses the spore action caused by evaporation to shift dozens of tiny weights located along its perimeter and use the imbalance for propulsion.

These Blind Mice Can See Again

Following experimental gene therapy, the mice “maintained vision” for a year after the procedure and were “able to recognize objects in their environment which indicated a high level of visual perception.” Image credit: Getty Images.

What is it? Scientists at Oxford University say gene therapy lights the way to techniques that could one day reverse a blindness in some people.

Why does it matter? The university reported that “inherited retinal degradations such as retinitis pigmentosa” are the most common cause of blindness in young people. “There are many blind patients in our clinics and the ability to give them some sight back with a relatively simple genetic procedure is very exciting,” said Samantha de Silva, the lead author of the study. “Our next step will be to start a clinical trial to assess this in patients.”

How does it work? The retinas of patients suffering from retinal degeneration contain healthy cells that are not sensitive to light. The team used a modified virus to insert a new gene into these cells and effectively turn them on. In their research, the gene “expressed a light sensitive protein, melanopsin, in the residual retinal cells in mice which were blind from retinitis pigmentosa.” The reported that the mice “maintained vision” for a year after the procedure and were “able to recognize objects in their environment which indicated a high level of visual perception.”

Skin Therapy

Immunofluorescence imaging shows normal skin differentiation and tissue architecture of transplanted skin grafts. Image and caption credit: University of Chicago.

What is it? Gene therapy seems to be on a roll. A team at the University of Chicago used it in a “proof-of-concept” study to make skin transplants that could stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin in people suffering from Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Why does it matter? More than 100 million adults in the U.S. are suffering either from diabetes or prediabetes, and more than 66 percent are overweight. “We think this can provide a long-term safe option for the treatment of many diseases,” said Xiaoyang Wu, assistant professor at the University of Chicago and the author of the study. He said that the approach could be used to treat diabetes and obesity, but also “genetic defect, such as hemophilia. Or it could function as a metabolic sink, removing various toxins.”

How does it work? Like Wu’s colleagues at Oxford, Wu used the gene editing tool CRISPR to insert into skin cells a gene called GLP1 for a hormone that stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin, which removes glucose from the bloodstream. They also included a genetic bit that allowed them to prompt the gene to produce GLP1 when exposed to the antibiotic doxycycline. Next, they grew a “skin-like organoid,” which they grafted onto mice. “When the mice ate food containing minute amounts of doxycycline, they released dose-dependent levels of GLP1 into the blood,” according to UChicago News. “This promptly increased blood-insulin levels and reduced blood-glucose levels.”

Sticky Science

What is it? A team of researchers working in Boston and Sydney developed MeTro, a glue-like substance that “can effectively seal wounds in shape-shifting tissues without the need for common staples or sutures,” according to Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

Why does it matter?“The potential applications are powerful, from treating serious internal wounds at emergency sites such as following car accidents and in war zones, as well as improving hospital surgeries,” said Anthony Weiss, a professor at the University of Sydney. The team successfully used the substance to “effectively seal incisions in arteries and lungs of rats and to repair wounds in the lungs of pigs, all suture and staple-free.”

How does it work? The “glue” is based on elastin, a protein present in elastic tissues like the artery walls, skin and lungs. The team engineered E. coli bacteria to produce a precursor material the body uses to build elastin and then zapped it with UV light to make “a versatile highly elastic hydrogel.” Weiss said the team was “now ready to transfer our research into testing on people. I hope MeTro will soon be used in the clinic, saving human lives.”

Dubai has so many sunny days—more than 300 on average every year—it seems like a no-brainer for the city to use some of those rays to power its many glittering skyscrapers, massive malls and luxurious hotels. But that hasn’t been the case. Until recently, it was still cheaper to generate a kilowatt from oil or natural gas here.

Now the sun seems so be setting on those days. Innovation, among other market dynamics, has made solar competitive with conventional power plants, says Fadi Nassif, the regional commercial sales leader for GE Power Conversion in the United Arab Emirates. “Utilities in sunny regions actually have a real choice if they want to use solar or fossil energy,” he says. “Cost is no longer a differentiator.”

He should know. His business is helping the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) build a massive solar power plant in the desert on southern the edge of the city. The plant, called the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, is a three-stage project. When it’s completed in 2030, it will be the largest such installation in the region, generating up to 5,000 megawatts for people in the UAE.

The second stage of the project, which uses GE technology, will be able to generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity. That should be enough to power more than 30,000 homes and offset 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year, according to the website cleantechies.com.

In 2014, a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian developer ACWA made news when it bid to supply solar power from the second stage for less than $6 cents, then the unsubsidized world record low. The price has since fallen below $3 cents for the next stage of the project. That’s reportedly less than what it costs to generate power from fossil fuels in the region.

ACWA is leading the construction of the second stage as an independent power producer that sells the electricity to DEWA. “With this record low power delivery contract we wanted to open doors for a broader use of solar power,” says Thamer Al Sharhan, Managing Director of ACWA Power. “We live in a region that has an excellent record of irradiation, and with these track record tariff prices, the whole region will benefit and expand its solar energy footprint.”

Top image: Above: The completed phase 1 of the Mohammed bin Rasheed Al Maktoum Solar Park. Image credit: First Solar

GE is supplying the solar farm with a critical piece of technology called the inverter. Inverters convert the direct-current electricity produced by the solar panels into alternating current that can be used in homes and businesses.

One reason solar power has been relatively expensive—even though the fuel is free—is that some of it gets lost in the DC/AC conversions. The GE inverter, called LV5, can do the job extremely efficiently. It’s also liquid-cooled and hardened to withstand the searing desert temperatures and blowing sand.

Nasif said a single LV5 could replace four inverters and save an estimated $6 million in capital costs for a 200-megawatt farm. “The new design allows us to send much more power through the same amount of copper and get big economies of scale,” Nasif said. “You won’t need as many fans, filters, concrete pads and other components for the farm infrastructure. You can change the farm’s architecture.”

Nassif says there are a number of further solar projects planned for the region in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. “We are excited to be part of the region’s solar growth and committed to supporting the energy diversification plans of the local governments,” he says.

Standing on a 10-foot-wide platform 365 feet above the rolling green hills of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Kristen Hough looks tiny. The winds at this height are strong enough to spin a 500,000-pound wind turbine at 14 revolutions per minute. One strong gust could push a person over.

But Hough, 28, also looks unafraid. A wind technician, Hough is part of a team that is responsible for the electrical and mechanical upkeep of 61 turbines here that can produce 185 megawatts of energy — enough to power an entire city. She makes the climb to the top of a wind turbine at least once a day. At that height, Hough is in her element. “Even climbing the turbines [the first few times], it was so exciting that I knew it was what I was supposed to do,” she says.

Hough’s shift typically begins each morning at 7 a.m. when lead technician Mitch Burns assigns Hough and her five teammates to either handle routine maintenance — like tightening bolts and greasing gears — or troubleshoot problems. For instance, if the temperature in the gearbox appears a bit high, Hough needs to figure out why and fix it. Sometimes she can resolve the issue with a few taps on her laptop, but it -often requires hands-on attention instead. That’s when Hough gets out her safety gear and starts the long ascent to the top of the turbine.

“Even climbing the turbines [the first few times], it was so exciting that I knew it was what I was supposed to do,” she says. Image credit: GE Renewables.

Intrigued by a new wind farm on the other side of town, Hough signed up for a wind turbine technician course at the local community college in the winter of 2015. One year later, she had her certification and landed a job with GE to maintain the turbines at Pattern Energy’s Meikle Wind. It was a smart move. Coal prices had crashed, and in 2015, the Tumbler Ridge coal mines were closing down. At the same time, wind farms were cropping up all over the U.S. and Canada, making wind technicians one of the fastest-growing professions in both countries.

Hough was the first female wind technician in western Canada, and few if any women have joined since. The lack of diversity reflects the gender imbalance plaguing many technology sectors. A recent white paper by GE reported that women hold just 13 to 24 percent of the tech-related jobs at major tech companies. As companies like GE launch initiatives to support more women in STEM, the trend should begin to shift, but in the meantime, Hough remains an anomaly or, as she puts it, the lone “girl” at Meikle. That’s not to say Hough feels out of place among her male colleagues. As her team’s environmental health and safety coordinator, she makes sure everyone gets home safely every day.

She’s also excited to be part of Canada’s push into renewable energy. Wind power capacity already meets 6 percent of Canada’s energy needs, enough to power over 3 million homes, according to the Canada Wind Energy Association. To Hough, that shared experience overshadows any gender differences. “It’s nice to feel like a team growing together,” she says.

Hough urges more women to join her burgeoning profession, a job that brought her to new cities like New York City, Dallas and even Quebec, where she spent a month in training. “This is such a new industry that you can do anything you want,” she points out. “You can work overseas or you can work offshore. There are so many options. I haven’t looked back yet.”

Why would she when the view from the wind tower holds so much promise?

Imagine the silvery-white mist of a waterfall, spraying down the side of a cliff face that towers over a quaint Swiss village. Now imagine a different kind of waterfall. One that’s man-made, processes millions of gallons of water and is hidden deep within a mountain.

Oh, and the water also flows backwards.

Meet the massive new hydropower plant in Linthal, Switzerland, which uses a clever hydraulic system that releases water down through enormous pipes to generate electricity before pumping it back up again, to store it for the next use.

The 450-megawatt plant, which will soon be producing an additional 1,000 megawatts of renewable electricity sits in an enormous mountain cavern, 140 meters long and 52 meters tall — so high that the Leaning Tower of Pisa could just about fit inside.

This feat of engineering has taken more than a decade to plan and build, an undertaking made all the more challenging by the logistics of getting scores of engineers and builders up into the Swiss mountains to assemble its intricate machinery. Workers glide up the mountain by cable car, passing over herds of Alpine ibex before finding their way through a labyrinth of tunnels that have been excavated into the rock.

When energy provider Axpo puts it into operation in November, the Linthal plant will become almost as much a part of the landscape as Switzerland’s natural waterfalls. It’ll practically run itself. “When it’s finished, there’s almost nobody there,” says Thomas Kunz, a senior engineering manager at GE Renewable Energy. “It’s fully remote controlled.”

Above: Workers glide up the mountain by cable car, passing over herds of Alpine ibex before finding their way through a labyrinth of tunnels that have been excavated into the rock. Image credit: Tomas Kellner for GE Reports. Top image: The hydroelectric plant uses a clever hydraulic system that releases water down through enormous pipes to generate electricity before pumping it back up again, to store it for the next use. Image credit: GE Renewable Energy.

Kunz and his team of engineers and designers have helped build what is effectively a giant battery that works thanks to the natural power of water and gravity, and GE’s latest variable-speed pumped storage technology.

The plant’s pipes run like veins deep inside the rock face. They connect a lake high up in the mountains, with another a couple thousand feet below. When it needs electricity, Axpo can open the gates to let water from the top lake flow down the pipes to the lake below, driving four GE pump turbines to generate electricity.

When it needs to store excess electricity from the grid, Axpo can do that too. The plant simply spins its quartet of turbines the other way, so that they send water back up to the higher lake.

Filing that higher lake up again is a bit like recharging a giant battery for later use “The stored water is the equivalent of the stored energy,” Kunz says.

Deep inside each of the turbines are variable-speed pumps that act like regulators — not just switches you can turn off or on. This means that each pump can adapt its speed to store the exact same amount of surplus energy that’s available. “We call it a race horse because you can turn it off and on, in more or less 2 minutes,” says Kunz from his office in Birr, Switzerland. Hydropower is “much more flexible” than plants powered by gas turbines or nuclear energy, which can take 15 minutes or several hours to fully switch on, respectively.

Each pump can adapt its speed to store the exact same amount of surplus energy that’s available. “We call it a race horse because you can turn it off and on, in more or less 2 minutes,” says Thomas Kunz from GE Renewable Energy. Image credit: GE Renewable Energy.

And their ability to absorb power comes in handy when demand for electricity dips but wind farms or nuclear power plants are still producing power elsewhere in the grid.

Instead of going to waste, that surplus of power can now be stored in a plant like Linthal to help keep electricity grids more stable and reliable.

With the price of wind energy falling, wind farms are clearly helping Europe reach its pledges on greenhouse gas emissions, but they’re also adding a new element of volatility to electricity grids. Intermittent by nature, their availability might not match demand at all times; there can be too much wind power when demand is low, or not enough when consumers need it.

That’s where hydropower plants like Linthal can help. On especially windy days, power providers can use that extra energy in the grid to pump water from low to high reservoirs; and when wind levels are low, they can release it. The cycle can be repeated over and over again.

“To have such a huge power plant handling and taking away energy within one gigawatt, in about 4 minutes,” says Kunz, “it’s impressive.”

GE’s Drone Week traveled to Linthal earlier this year. Image credit: GE Renewable Energy.

The turquoise, nutrient-rich waters off the coast of the Indonesian island of Lombok are perfect for growing pearls. But when pearl farmer Fauzi Se wanted to take advantage of nature’s bounty and expand production at his jewelry business, he was stymied by a problem only humans can solve — his workshop didn’t have enough electricity to power his machines. “We recently ordered casting equipment to help with our pearl production,” Se says. “But, after the goods had arrived, it turned out we were not ready on the electricity side.”

This is not an unusual problem in Indonesia. The world’s fourth most populous country desperately needs to send more power to its 255 million residents spread across 18,000 islands. But the country’s geography creates a special set of challenges. You can’t just build big power plants and string wires across the sea.

Instead of building a conventional power plant, which can take years, GE Power deployed on Lombok two “fast power” units last year. These truck-mounted mobile gas turbine generators can start producing more than 25 megawatts each in less than a month after delivery.

Top: Only 72 percent of Lombok’s 3.2 million residents have electricity. Above: The Island has a string of high-end beach resorts that limn its pristine, coral-strewn beaches. But the interior is largely rural, quilted with rice paddies, peanut fields and coconut palm groves. Images credit: GE Reports/Tomas Kelner

In Lombok, the units sit at the end of a dirt road surrounded by rice fields, a mountain teeming with monkeys and the sea. The site is so remote that GE had to build a temporary jetty on the island and transport the units on barges from Singapore.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has made upgrading the power in Lombok, and the rest of Indonesia, a central part of his plan to boost the economy. His ambitious goals include increasing power generation capacity by 70 percent over the next three years and bringing electricity to 98 percent of residents. Experts calculate that every 1 percent rise in economic output in Indonesia increases energy demand by 1.8 percent.

To make things even more challenging, Indonesia — which currently uses coal to generate half of its power — also wants to reduce its carbon emissions by 29 percent by 2030.

Only 72 percent of Lombok’s 3.2 million residents have electricity. Those lucky enough to be on the grid can never be sure when the power is about to go out. “In Indonesia, access to reliable electricity is a problem all over the country,” says Tony Anthony, a project manager at GE Power. “Even in Jakarta, blackouts occur, and many major hotels have backup generators.”

The units arrived July 2, 2016 and when GE Reports visited the site three months later, they were already connected to the grid and producing electricity. A team of field engineers working for GE were completing final environmental tests of the units, which can burn both diesel and natural gas. “Because of the archipelago, you need to have lots of microgrids,” says Matt Patterson, an Australian engineer who spent the summer setting up the units in Lombok. “That’s where you see the benefits of fast power.”

Lombok fishermen on a beach at sunset. Image credit: GE Reports

The units’ mobility isn’t their only unusual feature. The machines, which GE calls TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines, are essentially a ground-based version of GE’s popular CF6 jet engine— the same engine that powers many Boeing 747s, including Air Force One. The mobile plants have 50 percent fewer emissions than comparable diesel equipment and can be cranked up to full power in as little as 10 minutes.

In January 2016, Anthony’s team also installed four TM2500 sets on the island of Sulawesi, in Gorontalo province, which are now generating 100 megawatts (MW) of power, enough to supply approximately 800,000 Indonesian homes with consistent electricity.

GE will install eight additional mobile power plants in Indonesia. Together they will generate 500 MW of power, enough to supply about 4 million homes. “Our work is part of the president’s goal to electrify all of Indonesia,” Anthony says.

As for Se, with enough electricity to power his business, the world will finally be his oyster.

A Boeing 767 powered by a pair of GE CF6 jet engine last summer at the Oshkosh EAA AirVentures airshow. Image credit: GE Aviation.

The machines, which GE calls TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines, are essentially a ground-based version of GE’s popular CF6 jet engine. Each can generate 25 megawatts. Image credit: GE Power

San Diego’s newest streetlights might not look all that special — and that’s exactly the point. Designed to blend in with the rest of the city’s outdoor lighting, they’re easy to overlook. Under the surface, though, the LED fixtures are actually data-gathering machines. They will allow San Diego to build the largest municipal internet-of-things network in the world.

San Diego’s digital lighting revolution started as a modest solution to a common problem. “We were broke,” David Graham, San Diego’s deputy chief operating officer, told GE Reports in February. “In the early 2000s, we went through about a decade of fiscal crisis, and we were trying to find ways to be more efficient, save money and reduce energy usage.”

One idea to save money was to replace the yellow glow of the city’s old sodium vapor streetlamps with efficient new LED lights. In addition to providing cleaner, broader-spectrum light, the new fixtures used 60 percent less energy and slashed maintenance needs because of their longer life spans. The city replaced more than 35,000 lights, yielding an estimated $2.2 million in savings per year.

But the new fixtures also brought to light new problems. “We know when a traditional light bulb isn’t working, because it burns out,” says Austin Ashe, general manager of Current, powered by GE’s Intelligent Cities program. “But an LED doesn’t burn out. It just degrades over time.”

As GE replaced the lights, San Diego asked for a better way to monitor the LEDs. The answer, and the first step toward connecting the city’s lighting infrastructure, was LightGrid. This adaptive control program connected streetlights through a wireless network, enabling the city to monitor and manage lights remotely. “Now we know exactly how much energy a streetlight is using,” Graham says. “We know if it’s out. We can brighten or dim it, depending on environmental factors.”

But LightGrid was just the first step. San Diego soon discovered it could reap additional benefits through expanded connectivity. San Diego agreed to be the first city to pilot GE’s intelligent cities platform— enabled by adding nodes holding multiple sensors to streetlights. The nodes connected to Predix, GE’s operating system for the Industrial Internet, to process the metadata collected by the sensors.

Smart lights, big city. Over the next year, San Diego plans to replace 14,000 lights with LED fixtures, and 3,600 will be equipped with new intelligent nodes. Image credit: GE Lighting

The intelligent lighting platform, which can sense sound, light and environmental conditions, offers a host of potential applications. But in the beginning, San Diego started with something really simple: parking. “With sensored street lights, you can have more efficient use of your on-street parking,” Graham says. “You can better sense where cars are, and you can better understand parking and traffic.”

In 2014, the city ran a pilot test of just over 40 intelligent sensor nodes, which it installed downtown and used to monitor traffic. The goal, Graham says, was to enable people to find parking spaces with a minimum of effort. “In a city like San Diego, there are real climate impacts to helping people get to parking quickly and efficiently, without idling or driving around,” he says.

But parking is only the beginning. For instance, one application called ShotSpotter uses the sensors’ sound and light detection capabilities to help law enforcement. “Before they even arrive, first responders know immediately where shots were fired and triangulate where the shooter is, how many shooters there are, which direction they’re shooting in,” Ashe says. “This is highly valuable information to help cities manage and mitigate crime.”

The city is replacing 14,000 lights with LED fixtures, and 3,600 will be equipped with the new intelligent nodes. “The intelligent platform will cover 160 square miles, or half our city,” Graham says. “We’re doing 100 percent deployment in our underserved neighborhoods using community development block grants.”

The LED upgrade and intelligent platform deployment is expected to cost $30 million, and Graham estimates that it will save about $2.5 million worth of electricity per year. It will also further reduce maintenance costs, and the parking and shot spotting applications are likely to translate into cost savings and improved safety. But the major benefits of the new lights, Graham admits, are still unknown. “We’ve created a platform to do things we can’t even imagine today.”

He expects that the most significant new ideas will come from San Diegans. The city plans to make much of the information from the nodes openly available to app developers. “We actually held a block party for streetlights,” Graham says. “We asked the public to tell us what they thought an intelligent city could be and how they thought their streetlights could improve their lives.” It also held a hackathon to teach interested community members how to make their own apps that use the new information.

Ultimately, Graham hopes, the streetlights will become the key to San Diego’s future. “I see streetlights as the platform to transform our communities,” he says. “They can help us connect us to our citizens, to provide a future where we’re able to better understand our neighborhoods and give them the services that they want.”

Genetically engineered hens lay drug-laced eggs, 3D micro organs provide a safe way to test new medications, and the Chinese finger trap inspires an expanding heart valve implant for children. Biology class was never this thrilling.

A Good Egg

Three hens are now laying eggs on a daily basis that contain the drug. Image credit: Getty Images.

What is it? Japanese researchers have genetically engineered hens to lay eggs containing a disease-fighting protein called “interferon beta.”

Why does it matter? This protein is the basis for a high-priced drug that combats diseases including multiple sclerosis and hepatitis. If it can be harvested from eggs, the researchers hope the drug’s cost could be reduced to 10 percent of its current price.

How does it work? Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Osaka “introduc[ed] genes that produce interferon beta into cells which are precursors of chicken sperm.” They fertilized eggs with these cells in order to create hens that inherited these genes. Three hens are now laying eggs on a daily basis that contain the drug, but it may be years before interferon beta derived from hens is on the market.

“This system has the potential for advanced drug screening and also to be used in personalized medicine — to help predict an individual patient’s response to treatment.” Image credit: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Top image credit: Getty Images.

Body On A Chip
What is it? Scientists at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina created a series of 3D micro hearts, lungs and livers. This system, called “body-on-a-chip,” could one day grow into an accurate platform for testing how new pharmaceuticals affect human organs.

Why does it matter? Pharmaceutical companies spend $2 billion on drug development and face 90 percent failure rates. “There is an urgent need for improved systems to accurately predict the effects of drugs, chemicals and biological agents on the human body,” said Anthony Atala, a senior researcher on the project. “This system has the potential for advanced drug screening and also to be used in personalized medicine — to help predict an individual patient’s response to treatment.”

How does it work? The team used 3D printing and other techniques to build micro 3D organs out of “cell types found in native human tissue” and connected them to a monitored platform. This way, the researchers can measure not only a drug’s impact on a specific organ, but also note any effect on other organs within the system. It replicates the multi-organ response a true human body would experience if given a drug.

A decellularized loop of rat small bowel after repopulation, with stem-cell-derived human epithelial cells (green) lining the intestine and endothelial cells (red) lining the blood vessels. Image and caption credits: Kentaro Kitano, MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Guts And Glory
What is it? A research team at Massachusetts General Hospital bioengineered  “functional small intestine segments” that can deliver nutrients when implanted in a rat’s body.

Why does it matter? If replicable in humans, this breakthrough would help people who are on the waitlist for small bowel transplants, for which there is an extreme shortage of organs. These are people whose small intestine may have been removed after suffering from gastrointestinal diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, and who are often destined to a life of intravenous drugs and special diets.

How does it work? Lead researcher Harold Ott and his team first removed the living cells to create a “scaffold” for “stem-cell-derived human epithelial cells lining the intestine and endothelial cells lining the blood vessels.” The result is a graft that, when sutured to a rat’s carotid arteries and jugular veins, pumped nutrition into its bloodstream. “The next steps will be to further mature these grafts and to scale the construct to a human size,” Ott said, “so that someday we may be able to provide a more accessible alternative to small bowel transplantation for patients with short bowel syndrome — ideally growing ‘on-demand’ patient-specific grafts.”

A Surgical Implant That Can Grow

The implant design consists of two components: a degrading, biopolymer core and a braided, tubular sleeve that elongates over time in response to the tensile forces exerted by the surrounding growing tissue,” said Eric Feins, co-first author. Image credit: Getty Images.

What is it? Researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an implant for pediatric heart surgery patients that can grow with the child.

Why does it matter? A single heart surgery is difficult enough for an adult, but when children need to have cardiac valves fixed, they often face additional surgeries over the years to adjust the implants as their bodies grows. “Medical implants and devices are rarely designed with children in mind, and as a result, they almost never accommodate growth,” said Pedro del Nido, co-senior author on the study. The device that del Nido’s team created not only will assist in cardiac repair, but it also has implications for other childhood implant surgeries.

How does it work? The design is based on the Chinese finger trap — an expanding mesh tube. “The implant design consists of two components: a degrading, biopolymer core and a braided, tubular sleeve that elongates over time in response to the tensile forces exerted by the surrounding growing tissue,” said Eric Feins, co-first author. “As the inner biopolymer degrades, the tubular sleeve becomes thinner and elongates in response to native tissue growth.”

Editing Out Disease

In the lab, the scientists were able to eliminate 95 percent of the RNA clusters that cause ALS and Huntington’s disease as well as 95 percent of the myotonic dystrophy patient cells. Image credit: Getty Images.

What is it? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say they figured out a way to use the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to edit RNA molecules and “correct molecular mistakes” that cause deadly diseases such as ALS and Huntington’s.

Why does it matter? “We are really excited about this work because we not only defined a new potential therapeutic mechanism for CRISPR-Cas9, we demonstrated how it could be used to treat an entire class of conditions for which there are no successful treatment options,” said David Nelles, co-first author of the study.

How does it work? Unlike DNA, RNA molecules are typically single-stranded. They transcribe genetic information encoded in DNA and carry it to parts of the cell that use it to make proteins. Building upon an earlier study in which they used the CRSPR-Cas9 gene editing technique to track RNA molecules in live cells, the researchers were able to zero in on the specific RNAs that contain disease-causing sequences. In the lab, the scientists were able to eliminate 95 percent of the RNA clusters that cause ALS and Huntington’s disease as well as 95 percent of the myotonic dystrophy patient cells. Still a long way off from patient testing, the researchers are taking initial steps to move their RCas9 testing into a clinic.

When Mike Norton took over as managing director of real estate at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2015, he took on a weighty responsibility that included finding an efficient and sustainable way to oversee the branding, maintenance, upkeep and design of 6,000 branches and commercial properties around the world. It was a complex task that turned on a simple item: the light bulb.

Some of Chase’s branches already had energy-efficient lights, but many were still using power-hungry incandescent and phosphorous lightbulbs. They were the perfect place to start shrinking the company’s carbon footprint and electricity expenses.

Norton started talking to the energy management company Current, powered by GE. They devised a plan for a system focusing on improving energy efficiency, productivity and sustainability in nearly 4,500 Chase branches across the U.S. In 2016, that proposal turned into a deal for the world’s largest LED lighting installation, a project covering 25 million square feet of real estate that would eventually lead to energy savings equivalent to taking 27,000 cars off the road.

One year later, Current by GE has installed LEDs in 2,500 Chase branches. The original plan estimated that the installation would lead to 12 percent energy savings. But in reality, the savings have ranged from 15 to 50 percent, depending on the branch. “It’s common sense: You take a 100-watt phosphorus light bulb and replace it with a 4-watt LED, and it’s going to lower energy usage by quite a bit,” Norton says.

LED lights have an added benefit. They give off very little heat, which means that branches can turn down their AC and save more power. Their installation is a crucial step for JPMorgan Chase to reach its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2020.

Top and above illustrations: Current by GE has installed LED lights in 2,500 Chase branches, yielding energy savings ranging from 15 to 50 percent. The work is part of the world’s largest LED lighting installation, a project covering 25 million square feet of real estate. Images credit: Getty Images.

After Norton saw the savings from the LED installation, he asked GE to partner with the bank to install a company-wide energy management system that uses sensors, software and lighting controls to give the bank new insights to manage its water, electricity and HVAC systems. “I had a plan in mind and outlined a path, with GE, to get us there,” said Norton.

The new system, previously known as Daintree and powered by Predix, GE’s platform for the industrial internet, can be accessed from anywhere in the world. By moving branches onto Predix, lights can be programmed to dim or turn off when the branches are closed. And if a branch loses an AC unit at 2 a.m., the system automatically alerts a technician so it can be fixed and ready for business the next day.

Current by GE predicts that the new energy system will cut JPMorgan Chase’s total energy consumption by 15 percent and lighting expenses by 50 percent. The LED installation is on track to be completed by the end of 2017, just in time for the new energy system installation to get underway.

The bank is also working with Current by GE’s team to pilot solar technology in branches throughout California. Ultimately, it plans to add solar panels to other locations — helping the company reach its goal of carbon neutrality.

Nick Holonyak built the first practical LED emitting visible red light while working in GE labs in 1962. Image credit. GE Reports.

In the perfect business world, there would be no red ink, no broken machinery and no needless meetings. Many factory managers would also add this to the list: no inventory gathering dust on the shelf.

But the real world is still pretty messy. GE’s 500-plus factories and manufacturing sites, for example, hold billions of dollars’ worth of inventory. Those compressors, propellers, fuses, resistors and other parts take up space in warehouses that must be kept staffed, lit and maintained. All that money could be put to work more productively somewhere else.

One way to measure inventory efficiency involves counting the number of “turns,” the time it takes for a stock to completely turn over. At GE, each turn represents $3 billion tied up in inventory. For Francisco Montecinos, that was a rich target.

Montecinos is vice president of supply chain solutions at GE Digital. Last year he wondered if the company could use an application based on Predix, the software platform GE developed for the industrial internet, to help its businesses reduce turns by three-quarters, a $2.25 billion opportunity. He partnered with supply chain leaders across GE to better understand how to make the process more efficient.

Inventory maintenance is a delicate balance: You need to have parts on hand, but you shouldn’t let them sit around too long. To manage this, factories use planning and forecasting tools. Businesses review and anticipate what they will need for the next cycle and work with suppliers accordingly.

Inventory maintenance is a delicate balance. Top and above images credit: Getty Images.

But as the saying goes, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. A customer calls and says they need a product sooner or later than expected, or the supplier calls with a change of plans, and suddenly parts that you need are not there, or parts are stacking up on shelves. “Everyone we talked to said they needed a better way to manage the material flow,” Montecinos says.

About 12 months ago, Montecinos and a team of supply chain and digital experts set out to improve flow based on a three-step process: First, take information coming from software that factories already use, like enterprise resource planning tools, and stitch it together. Then, use the power of Predix-based analytics to analyze all of that data and offer real-time recommendations. Lastly, present those recommendations in a way that is tailored to each step along the supply chain.

Too often, for example, changes to the schedule do not reach all the right players within the factory on time. To address this and other problems, the team developed an internal application with multiple modules, each targeting a specific “persona” such as a buyer or a plant manager. Each module covers a different area of the supply chain. The modules use data pulled from existing factory software and analyze it with Predix analytics. A planner who schedules production, for example, can use it to make sure production meets customers’ needs or highlight overdue orders. A buyer gets recommendations based on a different set of modules than a plant manager or a scheduler. But all those recommendations are using information that is being gathered across the modules.

“Based on all of the supply chain experience we have at GE, we are able to capitalize on the deep domain expertise across the company, and combine that with the power of digital to provide actionable insights,” Montecinos says.

When the team developed the software, they first tested it at two GE factories. It allowed workers and managers make better decisions and led to a 10 percent decrease in inventory. It now connects more than 80 plants across GE. Raj Thakkar, GE’s vice president of supply chain integration and a champion for the project, says that in a “dynamic environment” like the supply chain “things change all the time. The key is to have a digitized standard of work and seeing actionable signals apart from noise,” he says. “Now we have a better, smarter and simpler solution that enables and advises the materials team to make the right decision at the right time.”

Up next: Montecinos’ team is working on modules that dig deeper into software automation, explore machine learning, and offer more advanced recommendations and actions.

Says Montecinos: “Streamlining inventory is a key part of improving cash flow.”

In 2012, Berlin conservator Katrin Lück brought a tiny, severely corroded lead scroll to GE’s Technical Solutions Center in the town of Wunstorf in northern Germany.

Lück believed that the precious, 1,600-year-old artifact, which measured just 3.6 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters wide, contained scriptures in Mandaic — the language of an ancient gnostic religion dating back to Christ’s birth. She wanted to read the verse, but unrolling the scroll would destroy it.

So she turned to technology. At the center, the company’s largest facility exploring industrial uses of computed tomography (CT), she used an industrial-grade CT scanner to help virtually “unroll” the scroll and decipher the characters contained in 41 lines of Mandaic writing.

Top image:Karen Lück with the Mandaic scroll in front of an industrial-grade GE CT scanner. Image credit: Baker Hughes, a GE company. Above: After using the CT scanner and software from Volume Graphics to create a virtual image of the scroll, Lück “unwrapped” it inside the computer and decrypted the text. (See also video below.) Image credit: Volume Graphics GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.

Ordinary medical CT scanners typically use low-energy X-rays to see inside the body. They enable doctors to image organs from several angles to create detailed 3D visualizations. But the industrial CT scanners built in Wunstorf are more powerful. GE originally developed them to examine and measure aerospace and automotive parts, and CT customers use them to peer through metal and hunt for defects in turbine blades, 3D-printed parts and other high-tech components.

Unlike CT scanners found in hospitals, the industrial version can get close to the studied specimen and reconstruct it in three dimensions in much greater resolution. Industrial X-ray tubes also generate more penetration power for dense or metal objects. As a result, GE’s industrial CT machines can see details up to several hundred times smaller than medical CT scanners can detect, says Dirk Neuber, a spokesperson for Baker Hughes, a GE company.

Lück believed that the precious, 1,600-year-old artifact, which measured just 3.6 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters wide, contained scriptures in Mandaic — the language of an ancient gnostic religion dating back to Christ’s birth. Image credit: Baker Hughes, a GE company.

This ability has made it a favorite tool for any modern-day Indiana Jones. In 2011, for example, a team of German construction workers were leveling a field for the development of new homes in Visbek, a small town in northern Germany known for an ancient abbey that helped spread Christianity throughout the surrounding Saxon lands.

The routine job turned into an adventure when they uncovered an ancient burial plot. Amid the remains was a remnant of what appeared to be a rusty weapon, possibly a sword. Archaeologists dug out the block of soil surrounding the piece of metal and coated it in plaster to save it in situ for examination and conservation.

Next, they took the find to Wunstorf, where scans revealed a 2.5-foot-long medieval sword with ornamental rivets dating to the eighth century. The sword probably had belonged to a wealthy Saxon.

Archaeologists dug out the block of soil surrounding the piece of metal and coated it in plaster to save it in situ for examination and conservation. Image credit: Baker Hughes, a GE company.

Scientists have used medical CT scanners and X-ray machines to learn the secrets of Egyptian mummies for decades. But industrial CT technology promises a whole new level of much more detailed discovery. Says Neuber: “They’ve seen things no archaeologist has ever seen before.”

A complete CT scan of the Visbek sword. Image credit: Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage, Hannover, Germany.

The Industrial Internet is about to get the Apple treatment.

GE and Apple announced today they will bring Predix, GE’s software platform for the Industrial Internet, to Apple’s iPhone smartphones and iPad tablets, used by 700 million people around the world.

The new Predix-iOS software development kit, which the companies will release at GE’s Minds + Machines event on Oct. 26, will include tools that software developers can use to write industrial apps that will run on Apple’s iOS operating system.

The new partnership means that a wind turbine mechanic in Oklahoma and engineers in New York City can use their iPhones to collaborate on fixing a problem that normally would require a trip back to headquarters — by launching, say, Apple’s FaceTime video chat — and make real-time decisions with instant visuals. “We are really taking these very complex industrial scenarios and bringing them together with the simplicity of the iOS experience,” explains Kevin Ichhpurani,  GE Digital’s executive vice president and corporate officer who leads the unit’s ecosystem and channels.

The new applications will make it easier for factory workers and engineers to collaborate no matter where they are. Ichhpurani says that colleagues can look remotely at a machine and analyze the last action taken, study notes and look at images. Instant communication can help industrial companies avoid expensive unplanned outages and utilize workers better.

GE has already developed an iOS app called Asset Performance Management Cases. The app tracks data streaming from sensors inside a power plant and helps operators determine whether a machine part — a bearing, for example — can remain in service and when it needs to be replaced. GE employees and customers can download it through the Apple app store.

As part of the partnership, GE will make iPhones and iPads the preferred mobile devices for their workers around the world and offer Macs as an option. Apple will also use Predix as its analytics platform.

The partnership is a sign of the worldwide growth of the industrial internet of things (IoT) — which connects machines with embedded devices. The IoT is projected to add $15 trillion to the global GDP by 2030, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study. Last year, GE Digital predicted that in the next five years the Industrial Internet could break the zettabyte barrier, making it roughly twice the size the World Wide Web was in 2009.