GE begins Assembly of LED lamps

GE launched its first production of items in LED in Latin America on your unit of Taubaté, São Paulo, and already has the capacity to around 50 1000 luminaires per year. In an interview with the President of the Current Value, powered by GE, Rodrigo Martins, said that the company''s expectation is to reach a capacity of 150 1000 luminaires per year to the end of 2016.
The unit of Taubaté became from GE after she bought the business of Alstom Power, at the end of last year. The factory is a structure with modular production system. So, the adaptation to the system mounts the LED lamps can be made in a short period of time.
"For being a multimodal factory, GE can add production lines as the demand increase. We have immense flexibility, which reduces dependence on United States factory, "said Malik.
The company tries to seize the moment of expansion of public lighting projects in South America. According to GE, the LED should reach 80% of the market of Latin America until 2025.
Initially, the factory is doing the mounting of lighting fixtures, importing parts and components. "In a few months, we will produce with local supply chain," he said. The idea is to nationalize the maximum items to meet local content rules of BNDES is to have access to any bank financing.
Led, however, will continue to be imported. "To be economically viable manufacturing, he needs a scale that Brazil and Latin America does not have. It typically comes from China, our factories or joint ventures, "said Malik.
The manufacture in Brazil, GE will reduce the delivery time of products ordered. In addition, there will be a "natural hedge" of costs, since the cost and revenue are denominated in the same currency. "There are several advantages involved," he said.
The final cost of production will not suffer significant drop, at least right now. Despite the lower transport costs and taxes, the components in Brazil are a little more expensive. "The more we scale, lower the cost of production," said Malik.
Over time, the idea is to expand the production, doing also other LED equipment such as industrial lighting and indoor lighting. The lamps will continue to be imported.
The company''s plan is to use the unit production to meet the demand in Brazil and in South American countries. Already there are contracts for the supply of the lamps made here for export to illumination of municipalities in countries such as Chile and Argentina.
The factory was also responsible for the lighting fixtures that will be donated by GE for the city of Rio de Janeiro, due to the Olympic Games. According to Malik, are still negotiated contracts to provide the lighting fixtures for other Brazilian cities. "There are more than 80 PPPs [public-private partnerships] open. We had always planned to bring the plant to Brazil, "said the Executive, completing the Taubaté plant is" very well located. The company has the possibility of expanding the production if necessary in a short period of time, the modular characteristic of the plant.