GE chief executive Jeff Immelt emphasises GE's future role as a technology, services and finance company

GE chief executive Jeff Immelt emphasises GE's future role as a technology, services and finance company

GE Plastics will be consolidated into a wider GE Advanced Materials division from the beginning of next year, under a reorganisation announced to GE staff by chief executive Jeff Immelt. Silicones and quartz products will also be included in the new Advanced Materials business to be headed by John Krenicki, currently head of GEP, and headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Each has similar business models, technologies and complementary customer bases, GE said.

Immelt told employees that he wanted to emphasise GE’s future role as a technology, services and finance company. The group is divided into growth engines – such as energy, transportation, healthcare and NBC-Universal – and cash generators comprising advanced materials, consumer and industrial, insurance and equipment services. The latter, Immelt said in his letter, “would provide the foundation and resources for growth by producing cash flow strongly in excess of earnings”.

He added: “With the major acquisition and disposition moves we’ve announced in the last two months, the GE business portfolio is fundamentally set.” A GE spokesman added that the reorganisation would eliminate job duplication and reduce costs.