The General Electric design and manufacturing plant on Electric Road in Salem is 60 years old. They held a celebration in May to mark that occasion, complete with remarks from local elected officials, tours of the plant and lunch for invitees. GE-Salem is part of the Industrial Controls Division, designing and producing systems that work with wind turbine technology, for example.
Plant manager Craig Strong – who returned in April for a second stint at the plant – called the 60th celebration “a fantastic landmark. If you look around the valley we might be hard pressed to find a lot of businesses that are still operating [for that long] or have not moved from the valley.”
Strong said the plant designs and produces integrated control systems, including circuit boards, software and logic devices – products he said are “deployed around the world” by power producers. “Our equipment helps them operate … smarter, more efficiently and more reliably. We pride ourselves on being a leader in control technology.”
About 700 people now work at GE-Salem, which at its peak saw as many as 2000 employees on the payroll. “We’ve continue to evolve over the years, embracing change as needed in technology and manufacturing processes to stay competitive,” said Strong. Current employees and retirees were invited back for the 60th anniversary event.
By Gene Marrano
