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AM to Enhance GE Stock?

When one of the oldest and most gigantic corporations, with revenues in 2009 greater than the GDP of New Zealand and fingers in every industrial pot from healthcare to drilling for oil,  throws its weight behind 3D printing, it’s a clear sign that additive manufacturing is the real deal. Along with retail companies like UPS, Staples, Best Buy, eBay, Amazon, GE has declared a full embrace of the technology, announcing that it will leverage its purchase of Morris Technology to produce fuel nozzles for its LEAP jet engines.

LEAP jet enginesCurrently, as described in an interview between Joris Peels and Prabhjot Singh, manager of the GE Additive Manufacturing Lab at GE Global Research, the division furthest along in the use of 3D printing is their aviation wing. GE has begun to use 3D printing to produce key metal components of their LEAP engines, which will be used in Boeing, Airbus and Comac planes by 2016. By using 3D printed fuel nozzles with streamlined geometries, it is hoped that the LEAP engine will use 15% less gas than in current jet engines.

Writers from The Motley Fool, Blake Bos and Rex Moore, visited the annual AUVSI[1] conference in Washington DC, where they checked out GE’s Additive Development Center’s booth, attesting to the company’s push for AM.  Mike Cloran, the division’s marketing manager, described where he saw the future of 3D printing at GE, as outlined in the video below:

And, with the 2012 acquisition of Morris Technology and its sister company, Rapid Quality Manufacturing, originally contracted by GE Aviation to create the LEAP components, the conglomerate is initiating a change in the manufacturing industry that may cause other manufacturers to follow suit, if they want to keep pace.  Indicative of this change is the stock market’s reaction to 3DP stocks.

According to a few different online stock analysts, GE’s 3DP push may cause its stock to follow the trend of other bullish 3D printing stocks.  Greg Peterson of the NYSE Post, for instance, notes that its share price has increased from its year low of $19.87/share to a dollar amount that floats around $23/share.  Rahul Sharma, at Basics Media, believes that “a piece of equipment which makes 3-D printing possible, in addition to a LEAP engine used in Boeing 737-MAX airplane, will go a long way in boosting General Electric’s sales, profits and make it possible for the company to reward its investors accordingly.” 

I’m not sure why a company that holds $108 billion dollars in profits overseas and that paid $0.00 in taxes to the US-government in 2010 needs to increase the value of its stock, but, it seems that investing in 3D printing might do the trick.  When the stock does go up, investors may be wary, however.  Not only has GE misled investors in the past, with the SEC fining them $50 million for accounting fraud, but it was also bailed out to the tune of $1 billion by US taxpayers in 2009. Perhaps, GE’s pursuit of AM is an attempt to revamp the giant’s production process, to keep them ahead of the game. If GE’s LEAP engines do take off, 3D printing across the manufacturing sector could skyrocket, carrying GE and its image with it.

Source: The Motley Fool


[1] AUVSI stands for Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (aka “Don’t Call Them Drones”) International, which was formed after the use of target drones during the Vietnam War