Hungarian suppliers of the SME sector play an important role in enabling GE to join infrastructure and industrial projects, where significant capacity extension is expected in the future.
Amongst others Tungsram initially invests $1.5 million to create a new shop operation in its Kisvárda plant in Hungary for maintenance of aircraft engine components for GE Aviation. Following close cooperation within the framework of GE’s Supplier Program over the last 12 months, Tungsram has won the opportunity to further extend its supply network with GE in Hungary.
The development of SME’s competitiveness and capabilities is a priority of global companies such as GE, as the company aims to procure goods and services for several million dollars from Hungarian suppliers in the future.
„We need a strong and competitive SME sector to support our infrastructure and industrial projects across the globe, therefore we put great emphasis on our supplier development initiative in the region, aiming to create future-safe, strong SMEs able to become suppliers of global companies, like GE. ” - said Endre Ascsillán, Vice President of GE Hungary. „We are proud to see how quickly and effectively Tungsram integrated into GE’s supply chain by transforming and upgrading its already existing processes and by also creating new capabilities in Kisvárda.
Joerg Bauer and Casey Ott (photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry)
Hungarian suppliers of the SME sector play an important role in enabling GE to join infrastructure and industrial projects, where significant capacity extension is expected in the future. Tungsram has a well-established cooperation with the supply chain for Veresegyhaz, one of the company‘s largest Power sites in Europe and now the company is about to invests $1.5 million to create a new shop operation in its Kisvárda plant in Hungary for maintenance of aircraft engine parts for GE Aviation. Following close cooperation over the last 12 months Tungsram and utilizing the framework of GE’s Supplier Development Program has won the opportunity to extend its operations with GE to become also a supplier for GE Aviation.
Róbert Ésik, President of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, also welcomed the announcement: “We are glad to see Tungsram strengthening its ties with GE, creating high added value jobs in Kisvárda for an innovative industry. Strong partnerships like this bring us a step closer to create an ecosystem, where SME’s, such as the ones identified in last year’s successful, country-wide GE-HIPA Supplier Roadshow can integrate into global value chains, further increasing Hungary’s competitiveness.”
For this new activity to meet the industry requirements, Tungsram will be audited by the European Union Aviation’s Safety Agency (EASA) and also the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US.
„Today is a big milestone for Tungsram for three reasons” said President & CEO of the Tungsram Group, Joerg Bauer. „The first is, that the cooperation with Kisvarda allows us to enter a new growth industry. It also proves successfully our strategy of deploying the deep supply chain capabilities of Tungsram together with industry market leaders, like GE Aviation and GE Power and thereby creating new solid pillars next to our Core Lighting activities. Thirdly, this is great news for our team in Kisvárda, where the new business unit will be located, and the respective investments and training of our existing staff are already underway.”
Joerg also added: „Tungsram expresses its gratitude to whole of GE for the great cooperation of the last 365 days and looks forward to a similarly bright future working together”. Tungsram is currently one of the biggest suppliers of GE in Hungary, providing approximately 25% of Tungsram Groups revenue.
„GE Aviation Hungary works competitively to secure volume and build capabilities to better serve our customers. Our goal is to grow repair capability locally in Veresegyház and through partnerships in this region” – added Casey Ott, Managing Director of GE Aviation Hungary Kft., located in Veresegyház. “GE Aviation has a rapidly growing portfolio of commercial engine products, all of which have long lifecycles – our need for global repair and maintenance capacity is always a priority, which is a key driver of our collaboration with Tungsram. In addition to work scope already performed on shroud products, a complete reconditioning of the engine pipes will gradually be transition to them in 2019. I’m excited to formalize this long-term cooperation with Tungsram today!”
Joerg Bauer and Casey Ott (photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry)
