GE Consumer & Industrial is a subsidiary of General Electric headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky at Appliance Park. GE Consumer & Industrial is one of the largest suppliers of appliances in the world. It was created in January 2004 when GE Consumer Products merged with GE Industrial Systems.
In 1951 construction began in Louisville, Kentucky on Appliance Park, the 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) manufacturing facility that would eventually employ 25,000 full-time employees.
Appliance Park Building 1 (AP1) - was opened by late 1951 with Laundry Care being manufactured in the 10-acre (40,000 m2) building, which included washers and dryers. AP1 was the location of the world's first non-government used computer that was stored in what is today the GE Industrial Data Center. From 1951–1953 Appliance Park Building 2 (AP2) - Appliance Park Building 6 (AP6) were finished bringing production full steam at Appliance Park.
Appliance Park Building 2 (AP2) made Ranges until 2000 when GE moved production to Mexico. Currently AP2 runs approximately 65 employees to support Appliance Park Building 3's (AP3) dishwasher operations.
Appliance Park Building 3 (AP3) currently makes dishwashers and plans for portable dishwashers have been approved to start in early 2007. AP3 makes up the largest percentage of Appliance Park employees, with over 1,000. Hotpoint, GE Profile, and GE Monogram models are all made here.
Appliance Park Building 4 (AP4) utilizes empty space to support AP3's dishwasher operations. AP4 is also the Information Technology headquarters for GE Industrial.
Appliance Park Building 5 (AP5) is where the Refrigerators are put together with parts made from other locations. Until the 1980s AP5 was the largest building in terms of employees, production, and production space.
Appliance Park Building 6 (AP6) contained Room Air until the division was sold in 1982 after its most profitable year. Since then, AP6 has been leased out to vendors and suppliers for GE and other companies. AP6 is also the new location for various electrical systems engineering teams, moved from Connecticut in 2005.
A shaky economy, recession fears and higher costs for many everyday products and services-is there any good news when it comes to consumer savings? Fortunately, there is. Employee discount programs continue to be a viable employee benefit in the corporate perk lineup. To beef up recruitment and retention, nearly 20 percent of employers say they will offer more comprehensive benefits in the year ahead, according to a hiring trends forecast by online job site CareerBuilder.com. And 1 in 10 employers plan to offer more special perks. These include discounts that offer employees savings on items such as entertainment tickets, cell phones, computers, fitness centers, hotels and car rentals.
While employee discount programs are an obvious win for employees by helping them to save on a variety of purchases, the vendor-client relationship for those partnering in the program reaps benefits, too. Jamie Badgett is a director of account management for major markets for Stored Valued Solutions, a Ceridian company that manufactures gift cards for clients. He explains, "As a service provider, your differentiation in the marketplace is paramount. One way you can define yourself is that of a vendor or as a partner. You develop a partnership when there is mutual gain beyond the contractual services. An employee discount program that includes the client's services is a perfect example of partnership building. The employee wins with the discount, the client wins with added traffic of a receptive audience and the company wins because it is a great recruiting and retention tool for both employees and clients."
-4 plus years of relevant communications experience in Public Relations / Marketing / Internal Communications
-Minimum Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Advertising, Mass Communications, PR, Marketing from an accredited university or college
Desired Characteristics
o Excellent communication skills with the ability to write articles and think creatively
o Exposure to various facets of internal communications
o Knowledge and understanding of various communication vehicles (intranet/website, events, multimedia, posters, advertising, printed material etc) and how they can be developed and implemented for effective engagement
o Awareness and knowledge about critical communication ingredients - key messaging, tone of voice and brand personality
o Should have owned and led, concept to execution in doing events – employee facing, at campuses and symposia
o Broad knowledge of print, video and web-production technologies
o Technical aptitude and a bias for curiosity
The AAF began as a meager gathering of African-Americans wishing to support each other, network and explore strategies for obtaining key managerial positions in the company. says the seeds of the initiative were planted with a letter from an African-American executive, Mike Shinn, then a program manager for Recruiting & University Development, to Jack Welch, chairman and CEO, in December 1990. Employees first gathered in 1991, expressing their concerns about advancement in the company, asking if they were valued and if their work was being recognized, and wanting to do something to stir the pot. Welch issued a challenge to the 90 to 100 African-Americans assembled: “What are you going to do about cultural diversity in GE?”
Reportedly, Welch went back to his all white executive board and berated them for lying to him when they said there were no qualified Blacks for key positions, because he had just left a room full of them. The story goes that he challenged the white executives to go out and engage the Blacks in the company and identify who can step into leadership positions.
The AAF, meanwhile, set about planning an initiative for GE. They studied best practices and like initiatives at other companies, such as Xerox and AT&T. At a follow-up meeting that year, the AAF was born. By November, an interim structure was instituted. By 1993, AAF was a reality, with the full support of Welch and all GE executives. Its mission was to “strengthen African-American employees at GE through professional development, career management, mentoring, exposure and networking [that] will enable retention and growth.”
The mission statement also expresses the Forum’s a commitment to community and the neighborhoods where employees live, to encouraging youth to excel in science and math and to heightening the profile of GE as an employer of choice. “I think what is distinctive about General Electric’s approach to diversity is that it is very practical and it’s very hands-on and it’s very focused on getting individuals trained to be leaders of the company,” says Pamela Thomas-Graham, president and CEO of CNBC and a leader in the AAF.
The first diversity symposium, hosted in Washington, D.C., in 1993 under the theme, “AAF: Coming Together to Share and Learn,” set the stage for this very successful protocol. Today, African-American men head two of the 11 businesses comprising GE. Several senior executive positions are also held by African-American women, including Thomas-Graham and Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC, the second largest television station in the NBC family. KNBC is located in California, one of the top five television markets in the country.
GE’s Consumer & Industrial division announced today that it will make its energy efficient hybrid electric water heaters in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Company’s Appliance Park facility — creating about 400 jobs. The new hybrid patented technology will make GE the first manufacturer to introduce a water heater that will meet the new 2009 Department of Energy ENERGY STAR standards for heat pump hot water heaters, putting GE well ahead of the competition.
The decision to locate production in Louisville came as a result of cooperative efforts, investments and incentives involving GE, the union, and state and local officials. GE’s planned manufacturing facility also has the potential to create 1,600 incremental “green” jobs over time for suppliers and contract partners and generate other positive financial impacts in Louisville and across the U.S.
“We made the decision to build these products in Louisville because of the strong support from our state and local governments and the cooperative spirit of our Union leadership and our employees at Appliance Park. This clearly indicates GE’s vote of confidence in this facility and our employees as a place where we can invest in our future, continuing our 50+ year history,” said GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO James Campbell. “Leadership from Governor Steve Beshear, Mayor Jerry Abramson, IUE-CWA President Jerry Carney and many others will help rebuild America’s manufacturing base, create jobs and enable innovative, energy-efficient American-made products to be competitive in the marketplace.”
Conventional water heaters are the second largest energy user in the home and all home appliances make up about 85% of the home’s energy consumption. The new GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is designed to use only about half the energy of conventional water heaters. Based on the standard 50-gallon tank water heater that uses approximately 4800 kWh per year, GE’s heater is designed to use only about 2300 kWh per year — a savings of approximately 2500 kWh per year. It will also save approximately $250 per year – that’s $2,500 savings in energy costs over a 10-year period based on 10 cents per kWh.
According to the Department of Energy, if just 10% of the nation’s 4.8 million electric water heater shipments were heat pump water heaters with an Energy Factor of 2.0 instead of conventional models with an Energy Factor at the Federal standard, the aggregate energy savings would amount to nearly 1.3 billion kWh per year.
The GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater combines energy-saving heat-pump technology with traditional electric heating systems used in most conventional water heaters on the market today, without sacrificing the amount of hot water it can deliver.
This hybrid technology is designed to absorb heat in ambient air and transfer it into the water. Since this requires much less energy than the energy used to generate radiant heat — as used in a conventional electric water heater — the GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is more economical to operate.
In the battle to win over consumers during difficult economic times, marketers are sending their employees to the front lines. The trend seems to be accelerating. Last week, Zappos introduced a new pitch with puppets fronting actual recordings of employee customer service calls. Last month, Lowe’s launched a campaign with store associates advising cash-strapped DIY consumers.
Those campaigns come after several others celebrating the rank and file. Over the past year or so, Southwest Airlines, Ford, Domino’s, Bank of America, General Electric, Exxon Mobile and Verizon have featured staffers or actors playing them.
The use of workers to humanize corporate entities has been a time-honored marketing tradition, of course. But in an era of Web 2.0 transparency, their visibility takes on greater meaning, signaling the higher importance of customer service in the marketing mix. More subliminally, as America’s battered consumers have lost faith in the institutions they hold responsible for the current economic mess—and anger toward corporations behind massive layoffs—staffers offer a kind of peer credibility as corporate advocates.
Companies whose images had taken a public flogging often made use of the tactic. Bank of America used associates in blunt, no-frills ads with the unscripted spots addressing “stressed” consumers, those who had lost their jobs and others just trying to survive. “We weren’t there to sell to them, but just to let them know we were trying to work with them,” explained Meredith Verdone, BofA brand and advertising executive. “The reaction we got was how it humanized the bank, which was important to rebuilding trust.”
Last summer, General Electric employees personified CEO Jeff Immelt’s public remarks about the imperative for American manufacturing renewal. In commercials like “Wrench,” GE staffers from its aircraft, engine, healthcare and energy businesses participated in a relay toss of a wrench around their respective units, with a voiceover describing GE as a company creating “innovation today for America’s tomorrow.” Said Judy Hu, GE global executive director, advertising and branding: “We focused on the idea that we innovate with technological solutions to solve the world’s toughest challenges, but what we do everyday is just as important.”
In 1951 construction began in Louisville, Kentucky on Appliance Park, the 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) manufacturing facility that would eventually employ 25,000 full-time employees.
Appliance Park Building 1 (AP1) - was opened by late 1951 with Laundry Care being manufactured in the 10-acre (40,000 m2) building, which included washers and dryers. AP1 was the location of the world's first non-government used computer that was stored in what is today the GE Industrial Data Center. From 1951–1953 Appliance Park Building 2 (AP2) - Appliance Park Building 6 (AP6) were finished bringing production full steam at Appliance Park.
Appliance Park Building 2 (AP2) made Ranges until 2000 when GE moved production to Mexico. Currently AP2 runs approximately 65 employees to support Appliance Park Building 3's (AP3) dishwasher operations.
Appliance Park Building 3 (AP3) currently makes dishwashers and plans for portable dishwashers have been approved to start in early 2007. AP3 makes up the largest percentage of Appliance Park employees, with over 1,000. Hotpoint, GE Profile, and GE Monogram models are all made here.
Appliance Park Building 4 (AP4) utilizes empty space to support AP3's dishwasher operations. AP4 is also the Information Technology headquarters for GE Industrial.
Appliance Park Building 5 (AP5) is where the Refrigerators are put together with parts made from other locations. Until the 1980s AP5 was the largest building in terms of employees, production, and production space.
Appliance Park Building 6 (AP6) contained Room Air until the division was sold in 1982 after its most profitable year. Since then, AP6 has been leased out to vendors and suppliers for GE and other companies. AP6 is also the new location for various electrical systems engineering teams, moved from Connecticut in 2005.
A shaky economy, recession fears and higher costs for many everyday products and services-is there any good news when it comes to consumer savings? Fortunately, there is. Employee discount programs continue to be a viable employee benefit in the corporate perk lineup. To beef up recruitment and retention, nearly 20 percent of employers say they will offer more comprehensive benefits in the year ahead, according to a hiring trends forecast by online job site CareerBuilder.com. And 1 in 10 employers plan to offer more special perks. These include discounts that offer employees savings on items such as entertainment tickets, cell phones, computers, fitness centers, hotels and car rentals.
While employee discount programs are an obvious win for employees by helping them to save on a variety of purchases, the vendor-client relationship for those partnering in the program reaps benefits, too. Jamie Badgett is a director of account management for major markets for Stored Valued Solutions, a Ceridian company that manufactures gift cards for clients. He explains, "As a service provider, your differentiation in the marketplace is paramount. One way you can define yourself is that of a vendor or as a partner. You develop a partnership when there is mutual gain beyond the contractual services. An employee discount program that includes the client's services is a perfect example of partnership building. The employee wins with the discount, the client wins with added traffic of a receptive audience and the company wins because it is a great recruiting and retention tool for both employees and clients."
-4 plus years of relevant communications experience in Public Relations / Marketing / Internal Communications
-Minimum Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Advertising, Mass Communications, PR, Marketing from an accredited university or college
Desired Characteristics
o Excellent communication skills with the ability to write articles and think creatively
o Exposure to various facets of internal communications
o Knowledge and understanding of various communication vehicles (intranet/website, events, multimedia, posters, advertising, printed material etc) and how they can be developed and implemented for effective engagement
o Awareness and knowledge about critical communication ingredients - key messaging, tone of voice and brand personality
o Should have owned and led, concept to execution in doing events – employee facing, at campuses and symposia
o Broad knowledge of print, video and web-production technologies
o Technical aptitude and a bias for curiosity
The AAF began as a meager gathering of African-Americans wishing to support each other, network and explore strategies for obtaining key managerial positions in the company. says the seeds of the initiative were planted with a letter from an African-American executive, Mike Shinn, then a program manager for Recruiting & University Development, to Jack Welch, chairman and CEO, in December 1990. Employees first gathered in 1991, expressing their concerns about advancement in the company, asking if they were valued and if their work was being recognized, and wanting to do something to stir the pot. Welch issued a challenge to the 90 to 100 African-Americans assembled: “What are you going to do about cultural diversity in GE?”
Reportedly, Welch went back to his all white executive board and berated them for lying to him when they said there were no qualified Blacks for key positions, because he had just left a room full of them. The story goes that he challenged the white executives to go out and engage the Blacks in the company and identify who can step into leadership positions.
The AAF, meanwhile, set about planning an initiative for GE. They studied best practices and like initiatives at other companies, such as Xerox and AT&T. At a follow-up meeting that year, the AAF was born. By November, an interim structure was instituted. By 1993, AAF was a reality, with the full support of Welch and all GE executives. Its mission was to “strengthen African-American employees at GE through professional development, career management, mentoring, exposure and networking [that] will enable retention and growth.”
The mission statement also expresses the Forum’s a commitment to community and the neighborhoods where employees live, to encouraging youth to excel in science and math and to heightening the profile of GE as an employer of choice. “I think what is distinctive about General Electric’s approach to diversity is that it is very practical and it’s very hands-on and it’s very focused on getting individuals trained to be leaders of the company,” says Pamela Thomas-Graham, president and CEO of CNBC and a leader in the AAF.
The first diversity symposium, hosted in Washington, D.C., in 1993 under the theme, “AAF: Coming Together to Share and Learn,” set the stage for this very successful protocol. Today, African-American men head two of the 11 businesses comprising GE. Several senior executive positions are also held by African-American women, including Thomas-Graham and Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC, the second largest television station in the NBC family. KNBC is located in California, one of the top five television markets in the country.
GE’s Consumer & Industrial division announced today that it will make its energy efficient hybrid electric water heaters in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Company’s Appliance Park facility — creating about 400 jobs. The new hybrid patented technology will make GE the first manufacturer to introduce a water heater that will meet the new 2009 Department of Energy ENERGY STAR standards for heat pump hot water heaters, putting GE well ahead of the competition.
The decision to locate production in Louisville came as a result of cooperative efforts, investments and incentives involving GE, the union, and state and local officials. GE’s planned manufacturing facility also has the potential to create 1,600 incremental “green” jobs over time for suppliers and contract partners and generate other positive financial impacts in Louisville and across the U.S.
“We made the decision to build these products in Louisville because of the strong support from our state and local governments and the cooperative spirit of our Union leadership and our employees at Appliance Park. This clearly indicates GE’s vote of confidence in this facility and our employees as a place where we can invest in our future, continuing our 50+ year history,” said GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO James Campbell. “Leadership from Governor Steve Beshear, Mayor Jerry Abramson, IUE-CWA President Jerry Carney and many others will help rebuild America’s manufacturing base, create jobs and enable innovative, energy-efficient American-made products to be competitive in the marketplace.”
Conventional water heaters are the second largest energy user in the home and all home appliances make up about 85% of the home’s energy consumption. The new GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is designed to use only about half the energy of conventional water heaters. Based on the standard 50-gallon tank water heater that uses approximately 4800 kWh per year, GE’s heater is designed to use only about 2300 kWh per year — a savings of approximately 2500 kWh per year. It will also save approximately $250 per year – that’s $2,500 savings in energy costs over a 10-year period based on 10 cents per kWh.
According to the Department of Energy, if just 10% of the nation’s 4.8 million electric water heater shipments were heat pump water heaters with an Energy Factor of 2.0 instead of conventional models with an Energy Factor at the Federal standard, the aggregate energy savings would amount to nearly 1.3 billion kWh per year.
The GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater combines energy-saving heat-pump technology with traditional electric heating systems used in most conventional water heaters on the market today, without sacrificing the amount of hot water it can deliver.
This hybrid technology is designed to absorb heat in ambient air and transfer it into the water. Since this requires much less energy than the energy used to generate radiant heat — as used in a conventional electric water heater — the GE Hybrid Electric Water Heater is more economical to operate.
In the battle to win over consumers during difficult economic times, marketers are sending their employees to the front lines. The trend seems to be accelerating. Last week, Zappos introduced a new pitch with puppets fronting actual recordings of employee customer service calls. Last month, Lowe’s launched a campaign with store associates advising cash-strapped DIY consumers.
Those campaigns come after several others celebrating the rank and file. Over the past year or so, Southwest Airlines, Ford, Domino’s, Bank of America, General Electric, Exxon Mobile and Verizon have featured staffers or actors playing them.
The use of workers to humanize corporate entities has been a time-honored marketing tradition, of course. But in an era of Web 2.0 transparency, their visibility takes on greater meaning, signaling the higher importance of customer service in the marketing mix. More subliminally, as America’s battered consumers have lost faith in the institutions they hold responsible for the current economic mess—and anger toward corporations behind massive layoffs—staffers offer a kind of peer credibility as corporate advocates.
Companies whose images had taken a public flogging often made use of the tactic. Bank of America used associates in blunt, no-frills ads with the unscripted spots addressing “stressed” consumers, those who had lost their jobs and others just trying to survive. “We weren’t there to sell to them, but just to let them know we were trying to work with them,” explained Meredith Verdone, BofA brand and advertising executive. “The reaction we got was how it humanized the bank, which was important to rebuilding trust.”
Last summer, General Electric employees personified CEO Jeff Immelt’s public remarks about the imperative for American manufacturing renewal. In commercials like “Wrench,” GE staffers from its aircraft, engine, healthcare and energy businesses participated in a relay toss of a wrench around their respective units, with a voiceover describing GE as a company creating “innovation today for America’s tomorrow.” Said Judy Hu, GE global executive director, advertising and branding: “We focused on the idea that we innovate with technological solutions to solve the world’s toughest challenges, but what we do everyday is just as important.”
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