Americans naturally assume, right or wrong, that electronic products are probably manufactured somewhere other than within the US. Often, our devices come slapped with a “Made In China” sticker that usually indicates that the foreign country was able to produce the item cheaper and faster than American alternatives would have been able to. It’s not often that [city] consumers or businesses are able to get their hands on many mass-produced electronics and circuits that were made within the Continental US.
US-Built Circuits
But as of November 2014, GE opened a facility to produce the circuit boards needed for LED lighting from within The States. Hendersonville, North Carolina is now the home to a new GE location that will manufacturer 12 different LED products without outsourcing any of the work overseas. As a result, businesses throughout the US and especially right here in [city] will have new access to highly specialized, quality LED products that were made just a short trip away.
Increased Output
According to the Times/News out of Hendersonville, the change marks the difference between individual production of items for LED construction and the ability to automate the creation entirely. Automation has led to a significant increase in quality control for GE, and it has also increased output substantially. Hundreds of employees were brought in to work on the increased output, and the difference in production is substantial. They are able to build thousands of the circuits in just a single day as opposed to the handful they were able to produce when the process required individuals to hand-craft each one.
Recall Requirements
The automation has also enabled cost savings in other areas that GE may not fully realize the value of until later. The new system can reduce the frustration of using newer technology for [city] businesses.
For instance, each circuit that is made, according to the Times/News, has a barcode that is placed upon it during creation. Should there be a large-scale issue with the products at any point, they can determine the serial number range and then scan each product to see if it falls in that range. The ones that do not are safe to continue to use. The ones that are in the affected range can be replaced. The individualized marking of each item makes it so they can avoid recalling thousands of products when they only need to replace a handful.
Precise Improvements
The machines used are both massive and impressive, and they offer a kind of precision that people cannot get by hand. Combine that with the speed that machines are able to achieve, and there is no question that this ability will get the production of LED circuit boards in America more accurately aligned with the demand.
GE’s efforts to bring automation and skilled creation of circuits and LED lighting options to United States manufacturing is a huge jump toward bringing production back stateside. Automation has made it possible to generate incredible output, and the new possibilities will affect users everywhere– including throughout [city].