GUESS WHO is Moving from Wisconsin

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Reader: GUESS WHO is Moving from Wisconsin

Posted By: Susoni [Send E-Mail]
Date: Thursday, 2-Aug-2012 14:46:42

This is a repost but many have not seen it yet. Thanks to reader I for the information! Susoni *************************** General Electric Co. (GE)’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 to tap growth in China. Top managers will move to the Chinese capital. Anne LeGrand, vice president and general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare, said in an interview. The headquarters will move from Waukesha, Wisconsin, amid a broader parent-company plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six “customer innovation” and development centers. Employees at the General Electric Co. healthcare unit's production facility work to assemble medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices in Beijing. Employees at the General Electric Co. healthcare unit's production facility work to assemble medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices in Beijing. Employees at the General Electric Co. healthcare unit's production facility work to assemble medical X-ray devices in Beijing. Employees at the General Electric Co. healthcare unit's production facility work to assemble medical X-ray devices in Beijing. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg Enlarge image GE Healthcare Moves X-Ray Base to China; No Job Cuts Planned A General Electric Co. healthcare unit medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device awaits testing at the company's production facility in Beijing. A General Electric Co. healthcare unit medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device awaits testing at the company's production facility in Beijing. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg The move follows the introduction earlier this year of GE Healthcare’s “Spring Wind” initiative to develop and distribute medical products and services in China, GE said in a statement today. More than 20 percent of the X-ray unit’s new products will be developed in China, LeGrand said. The division should have “double-digit” growth rates as the country converts from film and analog to digital X-ray technology, LeGrand said. “When you look at a market like China, it’s primarily analog. So we feel this will also bring digital technology at an appropriate price-point.” 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. Health-care device markets are forecast to more than double this year, according to researcher Epsicom. ‘Intense Competition’ GE’s increasing focus on the Chinese market will heighten competition for local suppliers, such as Shenzhen-based Mindray Medical International Ltd. (MR), according to Johnson Sun, a health- care analyst at Guotai Junan Securities HK Ltd. in Hong Kong. “This will mean more intense competition for Mindray in China especially at the lower-end, primary-care market where growth potential is strong because of government reforms,” Sun said in a telephone interview. That part of the market is attracting interest from foreign companies such as GE and Siemens AG (SIE), he said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-25/ge-healthcare-moves-x-ray-base-to-china-no-job-cuts-planned.html