For the 2015 Annual Report, each GE business leader wrote a letter explaining how they are leading the Digital Industrial revolution. Here is President & CEO, David Joyce’s views on how digital will change the GE Aviation business. For GE’s full Annual Report, click here.

 AVIATION: DAVID JOYCE

Industry Need

In aviation, operating the finest engines, components and systems made anywhere in the world can be improved—by the use of data and analytics.  A generation ago, a GE Aviation engineer would have been on the cutting edge of technology using small sets of data gathered after each flight to enhance the performance of our equipment in service.  This was the limitation of the technology at the time, and the inherent limitation in learning. Today, digital connectivity is removing that barrier.

 Our Solution

 Our ability to harness large streams of data from aviation products provides incredible insights and real operational value for our customers.  Together, we are unlocking opportunities to generate greater productivity beyond our traditional services, creating industry standards for cloud computing and strengthening our collaboration as we work on solving their toughest challenges.   We are creating a new digital skill set focused on our customers’ competitiveness, speed and efficiency while differentiating our products, services and relationships.

 We are applying data analytics and new digital technologies to advance our own operations. Digital design tools, additive manufacturing, advanced automated machining and advanced inspection, all are enabling our operations, partners and suppliers to dramatically reduce cycle time while improving quality. For example, our most sophisticated turbine blade design concepts are now on test in two weeks, not the nine months it once required, thanks to rapid prototyping and 3D printing.

 In both our avionics and electric power businesses, we have reduced our software development cycle time by 60%, utilizing new intelligent modeling tools developed with GE Global Research. These tools analyze, learn and adapt software from requirements to code enabling our engineers to focus on speed to market. 

 Changing Our Culture

A digital industrial GE Aviation business moves at a much faster pace, with the confidence and speed enabled by a new reality where physics meets analytics, and our customers and shareholders win. Where our employees learning is paced not by the availability of information, but rather by their own ability to collectively solve the challenges of this generation, and we are creating a stronger culture where speed and simplification are synonymous with quality and innovation. 

 Only GE can leverage the innovative technologies of our global businesses through the GE Store, learning collectively from the opportunities each business faces, and put those solutions to work for our Aviation customers around the world. 

Recently, GE Aviation announced the formation of a Digital business to be led by GE Aviation Vice President, Jim Daily. Click here for the press release.