Additive technology has radically changed the way the world thinks about design, materials, processes and manufacturing — and GE is leading the way. GE Additive’s machines build parts layer-by-layer, enabling geometric freedom and previously unheard-of design possibilities.

In our next installment of Quick Six, The Bike Shop sat down with Maria Giuseppina Motta, a GE Programs Director at Avio Aero in Italy. 

Avio Aero's engine test cells that once housed the likes of the GE J79 or LM2500, can now host a concentration of next generation aeronautical technology: the power transmissions of the TP400 engine for the Airbus A400M and the new GE Catalyst engine, destined for the Cessna Denali.

Over the coming months, any visitors to Avio Aero's Brindisi plant will be struck by a 1,000 square meter new construction site. The site in Apulia is about to host a second Cameri, the modern plant inaugurated in 2013 and dedicated to additive manufacturing.

"The supply chain for the GE9X engine has a wide global footprint, stretching from our facilities in Canada, Italy, Poland and the US to our international participants located in Belgium, France, Germany and Japan," said Ted Ingling, general manager of the GE9X engine program at GE Aviation. "Several sites, such as Peebles, Durham, Batesville and Avio Aero's Pomigliano, had to make significant changes to accommodate the engine's large size."

Along a stretch of the Italian coast between two of the most popular destinations of the Dolce Vita, sit two of the largest shipyards in Italy. It's here where Avio Aero, GE Marine and Fincantieri partner to construct vessels for Italy and foreign naval fleets.

It took an investment of 55 million euros to build the largest Cold Flow test facility, located in Poland, and the efforts of a team of engineers, led by Robert Boroch. “Polonia Aero became officially operational at the beginning of 2016 and is the most modern plant of its kind in the world. We are proud to begin the first real development test with the GE9X, the new generation of engines for the Boeing 777-X”.

Additive technology helped reduce 855 conventional components to just 12 on the Advanced Turboprop, GE’s clean-sheet engine that will power the new Cessna Denali from Textron Aviation. Among these 3D-printed components, the heat exchanger carries a high level of engineering complexity. 

There are a number of collaborations and preparations carried out for helicopters that are assembled at Leonardo Elicotteri's facility in Tessera, Italy. “In fact, along with the whole team of Brindisi technicians, Avio Aero also works at the military bases of the customer end user, or at airports around the world,” explained Claudio Stefanelli, a lead technical services specialist at Avio Aero, a GE Aviation business.