GE’s Jenbacher and Unison to Jointly Develop Gas Engine Spark Plugs

GE’s Jenbacher and GE Aviation Systems’ Unison business met last week at the GE facility in Jenbach, Austria to enter into a 7-year agreement for the development and production of long-life spark plugs for GE Jenbacher's high efficiency reciprocating gas engines.

The new design will be jointly developed by the technical teams from the businesses and produced at the Unison manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, FL. The spark plug is an important contributor to the engine’s extremely high efficiency, low emissions, and high product value.

"The real winners today are GE’s customers,” said Nate Manning, Unison president. "This new product is critical to enabling the Jenbacher engine to operate at higher pressures and efficiencies, resulting in fuel savings for the operators and lower emissions. This is what GE is about: bringing together people and technology from across the businesses to deliver a great solution for our customers. We are looking forward to working on this and several new opportunities with the great team here at Jenbacher.”

The agreement includes the development of current and future generation spark plugs aligned with and supporting GE Jenbacher technology and new product introduction plans.

"We have a great opportunity here at Jenbacher with very aggressive growth plans and we are pleased to be partnering with a business that can grow with us at the pace we are moving,” said Stefan Walmueller, general manager of controls and electronics at GE Jenbacher.

"We are pleased to have forged a new relationship with our GE Energy business and believe this is a foundation for mutual growth,” said Tim Humphrey, Unison product line manager. "This is a key market for us and both businesses see this as a stepping stone to many new opportunities for advanced products.”

The design and development effort will begin immediately with prototype units to be delivered in first quarter 2011 for a long and comprehensive engine performance test. Start of production will follow in 2012.

About GE’s Jenbacher

GE’s Jenbacher gas engine division is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of gas-fueled reciprocating engines, packaged generator sets and cogeneration units for power generation. It is one of the only companies in the world focusing exclusively on gas engine technology. A broad range of commercial, industrial, and municipal customers use Jenbacher products for on-site generation of power, heat, and cooling. GE’s Jenbacher product team has its headquarters, main production facilities, and 1,400 of its about 1,800 worldwide employees in Jenbach, Austria. GE also operates two regional gas engine assembly facilities in Hangzhou, China, and in Veresegyház, Hungary.

About Unison

Unison, comprised of Unison Industries and Unison Engine Components, a GE Aviation System's affiliate, offers customers a global breadth of capability, with 4,000 employees and locations in the UK and North America, as well as facilities in China, Mexico, Poland and Romania. Major product lines include turbine ignition systems, electric power generation systems, wiring systems, sensors and switches, metal tubes, ducts, manifolds, rings, fabrications, and complex machined components. Unison is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.