K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: GE Healthcare to move X-ray team from Waukesha to China

Don Walker:

GE Healthcare, based in Waukesha, announced Monday that it was moving its X-ray business to Beijing, China.

Anne LeGrand, vice president and general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare, told Bloomberg news that "a handful" of top managers would move to Beijing. She said there would not be any job cuts.

The move of the unit to China will help "make the business more nimble and responsive while continuing to strengthen our local focus and grow our global footprint," she said.

General Electric Co. said it is moving its X-ray business headquarters to China to accelerate sales in the country's fast-growing health-care market, the latest sign of China's growing importance to the giant U.S. conglomerate.

The X-ray unit will be the company's first business to be based in China.

The business has already begun the move--which includes the unit's chief executive and three other members of its executive team--and expects to complete the process by year end, said Anne LeGrand, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare Global X-Ray. The senior leadership team's move to Beijing is aimed in part at helping develop more medical equipment specifically for the Chinese market, Ms. LeGrand told a news briefing Monday.

GE said it doesn't expect the move to result in any job losses in the U.S., where the unit has been based in Waukesha, Wis. The Wisconsin X-ray division has 120 employees. The company also said it is too early to say how many employees it will hire for the unit's new Beijing headquarters.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 26, 2011 1:08 AM
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