Handling Specialty’s custom engineering equipment for GE’s new Brilliant Factory

August 30, 2018 – Handling Specialty, an Ontario-based custom engineering and material handling specialist, has so far supplied 24 pieces of equipment to the Brilliant Factory, a GE project in Welland, Ontario.

Welland’s Brilliant Factory – GE’s moniker for an IT/OT factory where machine intelligence, hardware, software and data converge – is beginning production of large-scale reciprocating gas engines for the power generation industry after breaking ground on the plant two years ago.

Handling Specialty’s contract with GE, valued between $12 and $14 million, is to design and build equipment to position the engines and technicians, such as manually guided vehicles that offer precise pathways to each assembly station.

The operator moves the vehicle with a handheld remote control until it reaches smart tape on the floor. The smart tape uses embedded QR codes and a laser to then automatically guide the vehicle to its final position.

Handling Specialty also provided a 15- and 30-ton engine rollover station that can rotate and slide reciprocating engines from side to side as technicians work on them.

In addition, the company created five personnel lifts, which feature sliding bridges that technicians can use to position themselves all around the engine. The lifts can be operated from the ground or on the platform itself.

The contract has led to Handling Specialty working with GE on its Brilliant Factory in Jenbach, Austria to provide custom equipment solutions.

GE has implemented the Brilliant Factory concept in a number of its 400 global factories with the goal of less waste and no unplanned downtime.

Handling Specialty engine rotator