GE moving X-ray business to China Bloomberg News / July 26, 2011
General Electric Co.’s health care unit, the world’s biggest maker of medical imaging machines, is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing.
“A handful’’ of top managers will move to the Chinese capital and there won’t be any job cuts, said Anne LeGrand, general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare. The headquarters will move from Wisconsin amid a broader plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six “customer innovation’’ and development centers.
The division should have “double-digit’’ growth rates as the country converts from film and analog to digital X-ray technology, LeGrand said.
GE Healthcare, also the world’s biggest maker of magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac tomography scanners, got about $1.1 billion of its $16.9 billion in sales from China last year.
The X-ray business, whose financial results aren’t reported separately by GE, will hire 65 new engineers and support staff at a new Chengdu facility, the company said. GE has hired “a large number’’ of engineers who are in training, LeGrand said. GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., also has a global research center in Shanghai.
“Over the next five years, China will be GE Healthcare’s most important growth market,’’ said Rachel Duan, the China unit’s chief executive.
About 60,000 people work at GE Healthcare globally.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
In a move designed to appease business leaders who have soured on the administration, President Barack Obama appointed General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt to lead a newly created Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
The move may make business leaders happy, but average workers should be less than excited. Immelt has consistently supported the same failed trade policies that have cost America millions of jobs. As the leader of one of the world’s largest companies, he has been at the forefront of the outsourcing movement.
“You would have difficulty finding a company that has outsourced more jobs and closed more American factories than GE,” Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing writes. “While they have slashed their American workforce to fewer than 150,000, GE has dramatically expanded its global presence, now employing over 300,000 workers worldwide.” In the past, Immelt was a vocal supporter for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization. He also spoke out against the proposed “buy American” provision.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
GB, with all respect, how is Obama to blame for this? Don't you think it is Corporate greed and investor's demands for higher dividends that are driving these moves? The RICH need to get richer!!! What happened to penalties and loss of Gov contracts for companies that moved off shore? I remember Sentors and such touting how they were going to prevent the bleed off of Corporate America by introducing legislature that would penalize/discourage this kind of move.....guess the lobbyist money and Government graft won out over the needs of the American people and financial stability of Americas future!!
Mark my words, America is on the fast track to be the third world conuntry of the future. All these companies moving technology and processes to China are going to find themjselves on the losing end of the future....they wil lbe expelled from China and the Chinese government wil take over all their possessions, technology, intellectual property and more........CHINA is the powerhouse of the future, and THAT IS SCARY AS HELL!!!!
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
Joebxr, I believe that everyone in all government levels are the ones to blame for this. I won't just put this on the President, I would also put this on Congress (both Houses), and the state, both Governor and the houses, as well as local governments. The more and more you raise taxes on companies, the less and less they are going to keep their businesses here. They are always going to look for a tax loophole. This is the case for this, as the Federal, State, County, City and Town governments have done NOTHING to reduce taxes and continue to give away free money to their own friends and families networks.
The fact is, there should be no penalty for keeping your business here. The idea of taxes would have actually originally gone to do the exact oposite. The original Constitution would have provided taxes only on imports, which the products of GE will now be when they are produced overseas. Instead, it's now cheaper for them to make them there and ship them over than it would be for them to produce here. We may be changing into a 3rd world country, but at the same time, we're making sure that the actual 3rd world countries won't stay that way.
In my opinion, I don't see either left or right solutions working.
The left, for decades, have created social entitlement program after social entitlement programs with no positive results! The poor are still poor, the rich are still rich and there are still no jobs!
The right, for decades have lowered corporate taxes with no positive results! The poor are still poor, the rich are still rich and there are still no jobs!
It is clearly time for a drastic but realistic change............RON PAUL!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How do we blame Obama for this? He has the GE CEO on his jobs task force. He gives GE the largest corporate tax break. No wonder incompetent Obama comes to the GE Schenectady Main Plant for a backdrop.
When are you going to wake up to the fact that Obama exploded his deficit by $4 TRILLION, every one of his economic/stimulus plans has backfired and now our credit rating is in jeopardy. Why should I care? Watch mortgage rates, credit card rates and mortgage rates explode because of Obama's pathetic "leadership".
I am trying to say that it is not all Obama...as Kevin has pointed out, there is enough equal blame to go around. Let's not forget that there are also 'union" issues that drive some of this activity, it's not all political blame...and do not forget the "rich" shareholders (not us average shareholders) that control enough stock to push compoanies the way they do to incease profits so the rich get richer (but we sholdn't ask them to pay mnore tax...or their fair share??.
As for developing the 3rd world countries, I'm all for that...as long as it is done equitably and not at our expense. But to move products, technologies and processes to coutnries like China that have no positive human rights track record and are proudly know for knockoffs and total disregard for the legal foundations that are in-place (patents, trademarks, etc.)....it's all for greed, and that greed is gong to bite them in the a**. I have suppliers that already have been bitten. There are documented reports of companies that haven't moved there becuase they cannot get assurances of intellectual property protection. I read an article abotu a year ago of a pharmacutical company that moved to China, discovered that their proprietary formula had been cloned and knockoffs were being marketed; complained to the Government and their crys fell on deaf ears....so they closed up shop and moved out. I could go on and on, but I think people can read enough articles all over that speak to all of this....and because China owns us (we borrowed most of our debt from them), the US Government doesn't want to rock the boat.
WE ARE DOOMED and we need to wake up and turn things around...DEMOCRAPS; REPUBLICANTS; TEA-TOTALERS; whomever....we are a divided nation that doesn't work together becuase of own personal agnedas. Is this really want our founders intended for us!!!!
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
How do we blame Obama for this? He has the GE CEO on his jobs task force. He gives GE the largest corporate tax break. No wonder incompetent Obama comes to the GE Schenectady Main Plant for a backdrop.
When are you going to wake up to the fact that Obama exploded his deficit by $4 TRILLION, every one of his economic/stimulus plans has backfired and now our credit rating is in jeopardy. Why should I care? Watch mortgage rates, credit card rates and mortgage rates explode because of Obama's pathetic "leadership".
It appears that obama is just following what decades of administrations have done as common practice. Dem or rep....they are clearly all the same!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I read in your paper [July 26 article] that GE is moving its X-ray global headquarters to China. What is wrong with this company? Did they forget where they got started? Our people are starving, and they take jobs away from our people and send it somewhere else. This country seems to go more backwards every day.
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How do we blame Obama for this? He has the GE CEO on his jobs task force. He gives GE the largest corporate tax break. No wonder incompetent Obama comes to the GE Schenectady Main Plant for a backdrop. 
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