GE selected Chicago to be a core hub of its growing digital ecosystem and the company says it will provide deep investments to further advance its digital strategy.
Chicago will be the lead office for GE Transportation's Digital Solutions business where the company will create 160 new jobs focused solely on digital advancements in transportation, as well as healthcare. The company says these strategic investments continue to accelerate GE's transformation as the world's digital industrial company, and will make GE's presence even stronger, with more than 2,000 employees in the area and 3,000 across the state.
"These investments are evidence of Chicago's talent depth, innovation and growing digital ecosystem," said President and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Miller, GE Transportation. "Chicago's global business community, research universities, and strong depth in the transportation sector make it an ideal location for continuing to cultivate a diverse and dynamic digital workforce."
"Illinois is at the center of our nation's rail system, and the only state with all seven of the country's Class I railroads. As a transportation nexus with a rapidly developing tech sector, Illinois is the perfect home for GE Transportation's Digital Solutions business," Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said. "Illinois' location and innovative tech companies also motivated GE Healthcare to move their headquarters to Chicago to be part of our world-class healthcare and life sciences cluster. We welcome GE Transportation's and GE Healthcare's growing footprint in Illinois with the addition of these important jobs to the greater Chicago region."
Seth Bodnar, Chief Digital Officer, GE Transportation wrote in a post on The Washington Post's Brand Connect site, that the company has developed the "smartest" locomotive on the market, as well as mobile tools to enable better service and analytics of the locomotive.
"But a train is just one part of a broader system," writes Bodnar, "We've developed advanced algorithms to optimize a railroad's entire network. Rather than manage thousands of variables with no network integration and mostly manual decisions on train routing and yard activities, these solutions mean a railroad can continuously analyze and optimize traffic, allowing more trains to run on the same railroad at faster speeds, with less congestion and dwell and without laying new track."