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For GE Aviation Bromont in Bromont, Que., the past quarter-century at the plant has been nothing short of revolutionary.

“I started here in 1989 and the change is unbelievable,” says Alain Ouellette, director of operations. “We’ve migrated from a totally manual operation making 800,000 aircraft engine parts per year, to a highly automated advanced manufacturing and finishing plant producing almost three million parts per year — the most productive plant in the GE Aviation supply chain. The difference is new technology and our willingness to adapt to it.”

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The plant’s current output ranges from components for the CFM56 engines for the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 aircraft, to components for the GEnx engines for the Boeing 787 and Boeing 747-8.

The evolution from manual tasks to advanced manufacturing began in the early 1990s.

“People had the normal reaction,” says Ouellette. “The idea of introducing automated processes to the workplace raised concerns about workers being replaced. We sat down with our workers and convinced them that if we didn’t evolve and employ state-of-the-art technology, they might keep their jobs over the short term, but lose them to a global market. It was the faith of those workers who introduced a whole new era of productivity at the plant.”