Page 70: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2015)

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

Standing on Guard(eon)

Preventing the ‘Arc Flash’ Casualty

Industrial Solu- the time from idea to – even by Mr.

As GE celebrates the tions CEO Bob market product rollout Orwell himself.

Gilligan told GE by half. According to Nevertheless, grand opening of its Me-

GE employees, dis- Gilligan, FastWorks in 2015, the bane Customer Experience tributors, and state and local politi- eliminates “the silos” grand opening cians that ultimately, the ? rm’s energy that can slow product of GE’s Mebane

Center and a multi-million management business would more than development. As that Customer Ex- double to $13 billion annually as GE evolves, its Mebane, perience Center dollar manufacturing fa- moves to recapture the lead in that mar- N.C. facility will be at the promises improved ket space. spearhead of that effort. technologies, safer and cility renovation, Maritime

Gilligan also predicts that once this At the heart of the $6 million more ef? cient ships, and

Reporter & Engineering sea change has been completed, GE will Mebane facility renovation is GE’s Cus- the advent of predictive diagnostics; all then be earning as much as 90% of its tomer Experience Center, and the grand brought to market at twice the speed of

News gets an advance look revenues from the industrial side of the opening of that facility underscores typical innovation – something GE bills ledger. No doubt he likes what he sees in GE’s commitment to the marine and oil as FastWorks – where the ‘design’ and at a new product line that the marine market, a pool of more than and gas industries. Beyond that, said ‘build’ functions come together as one. 100,000 vessels of all types that all need Gilligan, the Mebane facility will serve In today’s high tech world of multi- could save marine and oil ? rst rate energy management solutions. as a place for GE customers to meet and billion dollar equipment, sophisticated & gas customers millions

At GE Industrial Solutions’ Cary, collaborate on future products and in- electronics and the legal and ? nancial

N.C., of? ces and at its newly renovated dustry needs. rami? cations of a business interruption, of dollars in lost time and

Mebane, N.C., production facilities, the the failure of a simple circuit breaker to ? rm served notice that it is ramping up 1984 & Today perform its intended task – what GE de- equipment damage. both its manufacturing capabilities as In 1984, some of the things that George scribes as an ‘arc-? ash’ event – can be well as the speed at which will respond to Orwell foretold about that mystical year devastating. Also according to GE, it market requirements. With its build and simply did not come true. Sure, we had can also cost you as much as $15 mil- design groups now under one roof and some cool technology, but the PC in lion, once all the variables of lost time at

By Joseph Keefe collaborating on the production ? oor, every home was still a few years away sea, ruined downstream equipment and the utilization of GE’s FastWorks meth- and much of the technology we take for all the rest of it are factored. In response, odology can – according to GE – reduce granted today couldn’t be envisioned GE has expedited the development of a new, predictive Low-Voltage Molded

Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB) Line.

GuardEon

GuardEon MCCB performs calcu- lations to determine the health of the breaker, particularly how much contact wear has occurred. Every time a circuit is opened or closed, part of the breaker’s contacts are burned away. This can cause a breaker to overheat and fail unexpect- edly – and a failed breaker can lead to an array of problems in heavy industrial applications. In addition, GE’s Guar-

The demonstration room at GE’s Mebane, N.C., production facilities.

70 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2015

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