GE Aviation acquires Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality ManufacturingGE Aviation acquires Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing

   
According to a release from GE Aviation, the acquisition allows GE Aviation to expand its engineering and manufacturing capabilities to meet its growing jet engine production rates over the next five years. In addition to acquiring these manufacturing processes, GE Aviation will open two new production plants in the U.S. next year.
   
“Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing are parts of our investment in emerging manufacturing technologies,” said Colleen Athans, vp and general manager of the Supply Chain Division at GE Aviation, in a prepared statement. “Our ability to develop state-of-the-art manufacturing processes for emerging materials and complex design geometry is critical to our future. We are so fortunate to have Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing just minutes from our headquarters. We know them well.”
   
Founded by Cincinnati natives Greg Morris, Wendell Morris, and Bill Noack in 1994, Morris Technologies (Sharonville, OH) and Rapid Quality Manufacturing (West Chester, OH) have supplied parts to GE Aviation for several years, as well as to GE Power Systems and GE’s Global Research Center. The companies have made everything from lightweight parts for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the U.S. military to hip replacement prototypes for the medical field, said GE Aviation’s release.
   
Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing have already been contracted by GE Aviation to produce components for the best-selling LEAP jet engine being developed by DFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (SAFRAN) of France. The LEAP engine, which is scheduled to enter service in the middle of this decade on three different narrow-body aircraft, has already received more than 4000 engine orders before the first full engine had even gone to test.
   
Morris Technologies provides additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping services to the aerospace, energy, oil and gas, and medical industries through a variety of additive manufacturing processes including SLA and DMLS.
   
PlasticsToday has written a number of articles on Morris Technologies over the past decade, and the success of that company’s additive manufacturing business.