Addressing responsiveness in Abu Dhabi

The European Service Council (ESC) was established in 1998 by Claudi Santiago, President of GE's Oil & Gas business, as a vehicle for working with customers to close technology gaps worldwide. It includes top-level executives from all of GE Infrastructure's European businesses (Aviation, Commercial Aviation Services, Energy, Energy Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Transportation, and Water & Process Technologies) and GE Healthcare which also has a large presence in technological development in the international arena.

Every year, the ESC meets with selected customer CEOs and COOs for two days of intense technology reviews and brainstorming sessions. From these discussions, one business case is identified for immediate investigation. Each organization then appoints its best suited engineers and technicians for a two-week secondment to find a solution.

The first ESC meeting held outside Europe

ESC 2007 will involve 30 customer organizations from across the Middle East. GE is heavily involved in the region's huge growth, so it was an obvious choice. We'll be in Abu Dhabi on October 23 and 24, followed by the two-week assignment with the final report presented in late November.

Every year, we look at how our pooled resources can solve a specific challenge for our oil and gas customers. For example, in 2005, the ESC focused on Lean Production and the results have been omnipresent in our developments ever since – injecting advanced Lean elements into all aspects of our manufacturing and installation processes. Lean continues to be a driving force in our productivity and the increasing quality of products delivered to our customers.

This year, we are investigating how new technologies can be shaped and organized to best answer responsiveness needs. We're excited about the ESC session itself, but even more so about all the new solutions that will come about because of it.