OREANDA-NEWS. May 4, 2012. GE Energy’s (NYSE: GE) Industrial Solutions business today celebrated the grand opening of a manufacturing facility in Santiago, building on its commitment to provide reliable electrical distribution product and service solutions to its Latin American customers in a more timely, cost-effective manner. The products assembled at the facility – including Industrial Solutions’ low and medium voltage switchgear and motor control centers – are delivered to customers working across a variety of industries in Latin America, particularly the mining, metals and pulp and paper industries.

"With more than 115 years of experience working in the Latin American region, GE successfully delivers reliable technologies and services that help our customers manage, automate and optimize their electrical power,” said Luis Ramнrez, CEO of GE Energy's Industrial Solutions business. “We have established ourselves as a strategic business supplier to many of the largest companies in the mining, metals and pulp and paper industries. Today, we not only celebrate the grand opening of our new facility in Santiago, but also our long-term commitment to the region. We will continue to operate and share knowledge locally to provide employment opportunities and training in high-tech engineering positions for the next generation of Latin Americans."

Recognizing local companies’ need for advanced technology that provides a reliable electrical infrastructure, GE Energy’s Industrial Solutions business opened the manufacturing facility in Santiago to localize operations and therefore cut delivery time and costs for its customers.

“Many of our customers’ mine sites are located in some of the most extreme environments in the world, and we count on Industrial Solutions’ rugged, reliable systems to power our customer’s operations,” said Alfonso Teplizky, general manager of Morgan Industrial South America, one of the region’s leading distributors to mining companies. “By having GE’s global resources and expertise available to us at the local level, we are together able to help our customers find better ways to increase output, improve quality and uphold the highest safety standards while decreasing costs.”

Home to an abundance of copper, silver, nickel, zinc and other metals and minerals in high global demand, the mining industry in Latin America is primed for rapid growth in the coming years. In fact, the Center for Copper and Mining Studies (CESCO) estimates that approximately USD 250 billion will be invested in Latin American mining projects by 2020. Also a driving economic force in the region, the pulp and paper industry has continued to steadily grow, with Brazil finishing as one of the top 10 producers of pulp and paper globally in 2009, according to the Brazilian Association of Pulp and Paper, Bracelpa. The significant number of new mining projects, expansions of numerous pulp and paper plants and increased global investment in the region – especially in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Mexico – mean a wave of new job opportunities and an improved quality of living for its citizens.

GE first entered the region in 1896 and currently has more than 19,700 employees working in 31 countries in Latin America. Understanding the challenges of mining in more remote and deeper locations brought about by increased demand for minerals, GE Energy created GE Mining Solutions to collaboratively develop with clients the advanced technologies needed to continue their success.

Industrial Solutions, a GE heritage business, is leading the future of electrification with advanced technologies that distribute, protect and control. The business provides customers, across various industries, with end-to-end product and service solutions that ensure the reliability and protection of the electrical infrastructure; from the power station to the end point and all the sustainable power technologies in between. Industrial Solutions’ product and service solutions add to GE Energy Management’s broader portfolio of leading technology solutions for the delivery, management conversion and optimization of electrical power for customers across multiple energy-intensive industries.