GE and the Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit (GMIS) have announced a partnership to explore the role of digitization, lean manufacturing, and workplace safety to support the transformation of manufacturing and economic regeneration both in the United Arab Emirates and globally.

#GMIS2021 will take place on November 22-27 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Through joint thought leadership and knowledge sharing activities, GE will collaborate with the Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit to support manufacturers in deploying digitization, lean processes, and safety protocols to improve efficiencies, eliminate waste, lower costs, increase productivity and uptime, and enhance employee satisfaction. 

The fourth edition of the Summit (#GMIS2021) offers a unique international platform to share lessons and explore opportunities around these three crucial enablers, as leaders from the global manufacturing and technology communities engage in discussion and debate to shape the future of manufacturing and industrialization. 

In 2010, GE’s Hai Phong factory manufacturing wind turbine generators and components were put into operation. Up to 2020, this factory has exported more than 6,000 wind generator systems, creating an annual export value of one hundred million US dollars. 

GE Power has its Dung Quat (GEDQ), which is one of two GE factories in the world specializing in manufacturing heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) technology systems. The facility plays a vital role in its global supply chain by helping to meet the growing demand for combined-cycle power plant solutions and providing added scale, global manufacturing footprint, and technology for the global company. 

In a total area of 159,000 square meters, GEDQ houses 340 skilled workers and 200 professional contractors working to help global customers boost engineering productivity power output while increasing domestic values by locally sourcing 50% of direct input materials. 

“We will share learnings from its deployment of digitization, its ongoing implementation of lean manufacturing principles, and its clear prioritizing of safety, as well as how this support sustained manufacturing excellence for us, our partners, and our customers,” said Nabil Habayeb, Senior Vice President, GE and President & CEO of GE International Markets.

Nabil Habayeb, Senior Vice President, GE and President & CEO of GE International Markets. Photo: GE

#GMIS2021 will position industrialization at the center of the global dialogue, reinforcing the sector’s important role in driving economic growth and global prosperity.

The Summit will explore the importance of data intelligence and connectivity, and the evolving mechanisms of interaction between humans and machines in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. It creates important opportunities to ensure digitization, lean manufacturing, and workplace safety are integrated into the future of industrialization. 

Badr Al-Olama, Head of the GMIS Organising Committee, said: “Together, GMIS and GE will leverage their network and expertise to drive digitization, industrialization, and thought-leadership to deliver insights and support to the global manufacturing community across every line of business - from factory floors to the deployment of fourth industrial revolution technologies. 

As manufacturers across the world move towards the next level of industrialization by tapping into advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things, Blockchain, and other transformative innovations, this partnership will be a key enabler in shaping the future of the global manufacturing industry.” 

The US company leverages the digital transformation to help customers connect factory machines and sensors to a secure cloud, with data collection and analytics used to help a connected workforce accelerate and sustain improvements across the production value chain for greater productivity and efficiency, the lower total cost of ownership, and increased profitability.  

The lean methodology has been championed at GE by company Chairman and CEO Larry Culp, who has prioritized lean across the organization as a way to foster continuous process improvement. In manufacturing, the lean approach identifies systems and activities that do not add value for customers. By eliminating these unproductive elements and streamlining operations, manufacturing teams can reduce costs, improve quality, shrink turnaround times, and deliver better value. 

At GE Haiphong, lean best practices have helped to drive a 60% increase in year-over-year revenue in 2019. At Dung Quat, lean practices help to identify more than 100 innovative ideas that help the site operate more efficiently, with a 40% increase in capacity, a 25% reduction in the production cycle, creating a safe, high-quality, and lean working environment.

Safety, the third manufacturing enabler, is GE’s number one priority. “Our employees are our most important assets,” said Habayeb, “so we are very clear about this one simple focus: keeping our people safe.”

Through continually revised best-practice processes, procedures, training, data, tracking, reviews, standards, and other tools, a commitment to safety not only protects employees but also reinforces excellence in all processes and operations.