EVENDALE, OHIO - GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) has created within its Engine Services organization a new business, GE Inspection Technologies, to provide advanced state-of-the-art inspection equipment and sophisticated, world-class inspection services to the aerospace industry as well as to a broad range of other industries in which precision and high quality evaluation of manufactured goods are critical.

GE Inspection Technologies will sell the equipment and provide training in its use. Or, if the customer prefers, GE Inspection Technologies will perform comprehensive inspection of customer materials and goods, either at a GE Engine Services site, using in-house equipment, or at the customer's facility, using equipment specifically developed for field use.

"Inspection Technologies capitalizes on the considerable technical expertise of GEAE, other GE businesses and GE Corporate Research and Development to develop its products," said George Oliver, president and CEO of GE Engine Services. "GE Medical Systems, for example, recently introduced the GE Revolution^TM flat-panel, digital X-ray detector, developed at a cost of nearly $500 million and the subject of more than 100 patents. GE Inspection Technologies is employing the GE Revolution detector in its Radiographic Digital X-ray System, which offers industrial firms unprecedented digital inspection capabilities, without the need for film or chemicals and the associated environmental concerns."

Other benefits of Inspection Technologies' Radiographic Digital X-ray System include high reliability, lower operating costs, reduced cycle time and increased productivity.

"Using GE's digital X-ray system, we expect to reduce parts inspection time by more than 50 percent in some cases and provide real-time results directly to our customers and our own engineers," said Oliver.

Additional nondestructive inspection solutions currently offered by GE Inspection Technologies include X-ray Computed Tomography, a type of 3-dimensional imaging technology, and eddy current processes, such as Eddy Current Array, which employs a flexible probe to inspect areas of complex geometry and/or limited accessibility. Other initiatives under development include: Transient Infrared Thermography, a low-cost alternative to many surface and subsurface inspection techniques; Phased Array Ultrasound, which simultaneously scans objects at multiple depths; and Pulsed Eddy Current for rapid surface and multilayer inspection of large areas.

"GE Inspection Technologies offers unparalleled inspection products and services today for a huge segment of industry," said Oliver. "But we are only at the threshold of what GE Inspection Technologies will be. We look forward to significant growth in the near future as the result of further technological advances throughout GE, as well as through acquisitions and joint ventures over the coming years."

 GE Revolution is a registered trademark of General Electric Company.