GE seeks to narrow manufacturing skills gap in Lafayette

After creating eight factories across the U.S. over the past decade, GE Aviation is working to narrow the “skills gap” facing many young Americans seeking jobs in today’s advanced manufacturing plants.
More than ever, GE Aviation collaborates with universities, technical colleges and public schools on job training programs in communities where it operates plants. Nowhere is it more critical than at GE’s jet engine assembly plant in Lafayette, Indiana, in the shadow of storied Purdue University.
This is because GE’s Lafayette operation, which opened in 2015, is in the throes of the fastest production ramp-up for a commercial jet engine since jetliners were first introduced in the 1950s. Also, Lafayette needs shop-floor technicians holding a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airframe and powerplant license to perform the diverse technical tasks on sophisticated equipment inside the new facility. GE’s Lafayette factory produces the “LEAP” engine for CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. More than 14,000 LEAP engines are on back order to power three popular twin-engine airplanes: the Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and China’s COMAC C919.