David Olmsted has seen many changes at GE Bangor since 1970

Much has changed at GE Bangor since David Olmsted came to the facility in November 1970 as “a third-shift floater. I filled in on other machines when other people were out. I never knew where I’d be working when I came in.”

Olmsted took a job with GE after being laid off at Fayscott Landis Machine Corp. in Dexter. The Charleston resident had worked at Fayscott for four years “as an all-around machinist. They had me working on just about everything.”

A lay off sent Olmsted and other Fayscott employees looking for work in Bangor. “There was a lot of movement down here at the time,” Olmsted said. `Several of us came to GE about the same time.”

He doesn’t regret coming to GE Bangor. According to Olmsted, the job switch was good; he started out at GE earning about a dollar more an hour than he was making at his former job. “This is an excellent place to work: was then, still is,” he said.

Olmsted operates a lathe in the diaphragm shop, located in Building 50 at BIA. Although he was hired for the third shift, he transferred to the first shift about 20 years ago. He lives in Charleston with his wife and their teen-age daughter.

Olmsted has paid close attention to what’s changed at GE Bangor since 1970. He remembers that “back then, the backlog was about five years for a turbine. GE was the biggest turbine-maker in the marketplace; turbine manufacturers told customers when they’d get their turbines, which was figured in years.”

Today, “we’re talking about a six-month turbine. You order it in June, and you’ve got it in January,” Olmsted said. And turbine-makers, competing in what Olmsted called “a cut-throat environment,” work hard for their orders. “The customer tells us what he wants, when he wants it, and what he’s willing to pay.”

That’s how the marketplace has changed. It’s tough, very competitive.”

Olmsted remembers the years when “on the shop floor, there was the boss, and there was everybody else.” Employees had little voice in their work, and management dictated what would be done and when.

That has changed, too. GE managers now seek employees’ opinions, which to Olmsted only makes good sense. “When there’s a bunch of us together, we’ve got hundreds of years of experience between us,” he said. “Everyone finally figured out that it was foolish to waste that talent.”

Today, GE employees routinely attend meetings to discuss their particular sections. People trade ideas on “doing our jobs faster and better,” Olmsted said. Opinions are sought, suggestions are welcomed.

That’s not the way things were done 24 years ago, Olmsted remembers, but “we really like the change.”

He and other lathe operators recently attended a meeting to discuss with managers what lathes to buy. Olmsted was impressed that “the people who run the equipment are being asked for their input. Instead of GE just buying it, they’ve asked us what would be best for the jobs we’re expected to do,” he said.

Involving employees in such decisions boosts morale, Olmsted said. This, in turn, improves productivity, which improves the ability of GE Bangor to compete in the global marketplace.

GE Bangor “is the best in the world, but we have to work to stay there,” Olmsted said. “We can’t say we’re the best, then let it go at that. We have to work very hard to make sure we’re always the best.”

GE has instituted a 40-hour program called “Working” that teaches people to communicate better, to focus “on the problem and not the personalities,” Olmsted said. “The goal is to do things better, to work smarter.”

Olmsted is an instructor in the program, which he says is intended “to get people to work together in a problem-solving atmosphere.

“We’re getting everybody involved to make GE more competitive in every way possible in the marketplace,” he said. “The people here are all motivated to work. They’re interested in what they do, and they want to do it the best they can.”

Olmsted again recalled the multi-year backlog for turbines in 1970. He said that “the diaphragm cycle (the time needed to make a diaphragm) has dropped (in the past few years) from about 120-135 days to about 35 days. We’re always working to improve on that.”

Business has been good at GE Bangor because of its reputation for quality, Olmsted commented. The facility has an excellent track record for performance by its components in the field — and has an outstanding reputation for the work done by its employees, he said.

Olmsted remembers a Thursday night when a customer called and needed a new diaphragm ASAP. The diaphragm shop worked overtime to complete the order; early Sunday afternoon, “we sent the new diaphragm from the shop to a plane that was warming up its engines on the runway,” Olmsted said. “That was the first time a customer had sent a chartered plane to pick up a part.”

“No one beats us on service. No one,” he stated.