Next week,General Electric (GE)’s launch new advanced technology center in southeast Michigan and create new 1,200 Jobs. The center, called the Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center, will be about 25 miles outside Detroit in Van Buren Township. G.E.’s plan is to hire engineers and scientists in the region who have been put out of work by the shrinkage in the auto industry.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced at a news conference in Birmingham on Friday that his company would create 1,200 jobs this year and there would be more to come at its new $100-million center for advanced manufacturing technology and software in Van Buren Township.
Immelt said GE would set up a Web site for that purpose perhaps as early as next week. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, standing by Immelt’s side at the news conference, said the jobs would pay in the range of $100,000 per year. The presence of skilled local talent was one reason Immelt cited for GE’s choice of Michigan for a center that could have gone anywhere.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority has approved $74 million in potential tax credits for GE over 12 years. The estimated return to the state during that period from increased tax collections would be $146 million, she said.