GE opens first additive manufacturing center in Pittsburgh region

GE (Fairfield, CT) celebrated the grand opening of a new manufacturing facility that will drive innovation and implementation of additive manufacturing across the company. The Center for Additive Technology Advancement (CATA; in Pittsburgh, PA suburb Findlay Township) will be the flagship center for additive manufacturing, and will focus on developing and implementing industrial applications from which all GE businesses and customers can benefit.

The new facility represents a $39 million investment over three years and will result in the creation of 50 high-tech engineering jobs initially, in disciplines ranging from mechanical and electrical to systems and software engineering. This is the company's first multimodal site in the U.S., designed as an innovation hub offering training and development in both design and applications.

In conjunction with the CATA opening, GE launched "The Future Workforce: Advanced Manufacturing’s Impact on the Economy," a white paper detailing advanced manufacturing’s positive impact on jobs and in shaping the future of work. CATA's job creation serves as a proof point for many of the paper’s findings, as advanced manufacturing accounts for 13 percent of all jobs in the U.S. and contributes $3.1 trillion to the economy. In addition, for every advanced manufacturing job created, 3.5 jobs are supported through the supply chain, and the average salary for a technologist in the industry is $95,000.

GE marked the occasion with a program attended by GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt, GE chief productivity officer Philippe Cochet, representatives from America Makes, government officials, and customers.

The new facility reflects the company's belief that the intersection of technology and manufacturing—marrying hardware with software—will change the way we create, iterate, and service products. In line with the company's Brilliant Factory concept, CATA will combine lean manufacturing and optimal productivity with advanced software analytics to improve capabilities and usage of additive manufacturing across the company while advancing materials sciences and inspection technologies.

For more information, please visit www.ge.com.