GE expected to announce hundreds of new jobs

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GE spokesman Mark Reilly on Wednesday declined to discuss the announcement, but Gov. Mark Sanford's office said Sanford would be appearing at GE's complex in Greenville for an announcement involving "hundreds of new jobs."

The state Commerce Department said GE would be announcing "knowledge-based" jobs — a term that refers to high-tech, high-paying endeavors such as engineering or computing.

The promise of new jobs at GE tempers two years of tough times for the flagship of Greenville County's manufacturing base. When the market for gas turbines tanked in 2002, GE announced job cuts affecting one-third of its work force.

Phyllis Henderson, chairman of Greenville County Council, said the announcement has to do with turbine blades for aircraft engines, a line of business not now at GE's Garlington Road complex.

"It's a very similar technology to what they're doing now," Henderson said. "It's a natural fit for them."

Similar blades are used in the multi-ton gas turbines that GE has manufactured in Greenville for more than 30 years. GE currently makes aircraft engine blades at a plant in Madisonville, Ky., according to the company.

Henderson said today's announcement will mark a "significant boost" to GE's "investment and employment in Greenville County."

"We are thrilled to have had General Electric as a partner here in Greenville County for several decades," she said. "They were one of the first multi-national companies to come here. We're excited that they're continuing to invest in Greenville County and South Carolina."

The announcement is scheduled for GE's Gas Turbines Technology Center, which the company launched in 2000 at a time when its gas turbine business was booming. In 2001, GE announced a $50 million laboratory at the turbine technology center that would house 575 engineers to design and test turbine parts.

Then the market for gas turbines collapsed. In 2002, GE cut 1,000 jobs in Greenville, and this past October announced another 600 job cuts. Later it reversed 400 job cuts, citing increases in its turbine service business and the potential for new turbine orders from China and Iraq.

Currently, the plant employs 2,050, down from 3,150 at the height of the boom, Reilly said.