After considering a sale or spin-off of its Louisville, Ky.-based Consumer & Industrial division, General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn., changed course and realigned some of the units to better position them for growth. The changes began to take effect Jan. 1.
GE Lighting remains in Louisville and now falls under a new business called GE Home & Business Solutions, led by GE Senior Vice President Charlene Begley, who reports directly to GE Chairman Jeff Immelt. The business unit includes both the appliances and lighting businesses — operating under the name GE Appliances and Lighting. GE Home & Business Solutions also will include GE Security and GE Intelligent Platforms. Jim Campbell, president and chief executive of C&I, will continue to lead GE Appliances and Lighting and its 27,000 employees worldwide.
The company subsequently announced that it would combine its solid-state lighting unit, Lumination, based at GE Lighting world headquarters in the Cleveland area, with GE Lighting Systems, its commercial and industrial lighting fixture business based in Hendersonville, N.C. Together the businesses will be called GE Lighting Solutions.
David Elien, previously president and CEO of Lumination, now serves as president and CEO of GE Lighting Solutions, while Paul Morse, formerly president of GE Lighting Systems, leads commercial efforts as vice president of sales and Hendersonville site leader.
“We're building on the investment GE has made in our business and the reshaping that's been underway for a period of years,” says Michael B. Petras, Jr., president and CEO of GE Lighting. “This change reflects our strategy to serve as an industry-leading solutions provider for the rapidly growing indoor and outdoor lighting fixture segments that use LED systems and other energy-efficient lighting technologies.”
The company's industrial gear business will combine with GE Energy's Industrial Services operation to form a new unit called GE Industrial Solutions. GE Industrial Solutions will be based in Plainville, Conn., and will now report to GE Energy in Atlanta. Combined, the new business will seek to offer a more complete package of product and services to industrial and commercial customers with much greater global reach, the company said.
“This move is consistent with GE's strategy of aligning its businesses into an organizational structure that simplifies the company and positions businesses for growth and efficiency,” Freeman said. “The Industrial operation brings to Energy a strong array of low- and medium-voltage products, strong customer relationships and an expanding global reach.”
GE Industrial Solutions has approximately 11,000 global employees in 43 plants and distribution centers.