What would Edison say?

[Frankenkubota]

TV news just said GE to split into 3 separate companies.

Medical, energy and........i forget.

Funny, many asian companies do just the opposite.

 

[MossRoad]

He'd probably have Carmen Miranda sing about it...

 

[jmc]

TV news just said GE to split into 3 separate companies.

Medical, energy and........i forget.

Aircraft, I think.

Former shareholder here. I think GE got sloppy during the go-go years of easy money thru lending. They forgot how to make money by working...

 

[Egon]

Edison would have to ask Tesla!

 

[LouNY]

GE in my opinion has been going downhill for the last 30 years.
They forgot there core business, power generation and consumer electric goods.
Then they started moving overseas and diversifying by buying good companies and ruining them.
Such as test and measurement then medical many of the old line companies that had built up a reputation for quality products
and customer service GE would buy then the product quality would start dropping and the customer service whould go to crap.
I spent a lot of time in Instrumentation and Calibration and that was one of the fields that GE tried to buy and they ruined
many good companies. Much of my work was in Pharmaceuticals (biologicals) much of the equipment was imported from the Scandinavian area
or Germany GE bought out many of those companies and the same thing happened, quality and customer service to heck.
And then on top of that the way they manipulated Plug Power when it was an up and coming company.
Need I say I don't buy anything GE labeled now.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Aircraft, I think.

Former shareholder here. I think GE got sloppy during the go-go years of easy money thru lending. They forgot how to make money by working...

Former employee here. I agree that they forgot how to make money by working!

In my opinion, they lost there way during the "Neutron Jack" era (early 1990's)

Watched as they turned quality product lines into more "profitable" and "innovative" items (that had high warranty returns).
Saw a couple new "innovations" they could not get to work properly during developement. They either went back to original way to manufacture item or sold the product lines.

I think Edison would have said "to stop dabling in making higher profits and to place more emphasis in physics when you do your research. The return on investment will take longer but you would still have a product people want".

I watched as they tried to defy the laws of physics when "innovating" a good sound product line.

It was a great company to work for until they closed our unit, was offered to move to Turkey or Singapore with a couple of product lines. Just saw the writting on the wall and took the layoff.

 

[ericm979]

TV news just said GE to split into 3 separate companies.

Medical, energy and........i forget.

Funny, many asian companies do just the opposite.

Just watch, they'll be merging again within a decade. For "synergy" and "efficiency".

The execs and banks make a ton of money when they spin off companies and also when they merge them. It doesn't have to be profitable for the shareholders or better for the employees or for society. The point is to make the few at the top even richer.

 

[MossRoad]

"The storied American company General Electric will divide itself into three public companies focused on aviation, healthcare and energy."

From here:

Storied General Electric plans to split into 3 public companies

With its announcement that it will spin off its healthcare unit in early 2023 and its energy segment in early 2024, GE may have signaled the end of the conglomerate era.

www.npr.org

 

[ponytug]

I think that Edison would have been having fits for years.

I agree that GE has struggled for years; personally, I think the issues predate neutron Jack, though he really didn't help things. I think that GE make an excellent case for teaching how not to manage a company, though GM comes close. They stopped listening to their customers and engineers, and middle management papered over the issues to be promoted to senior management. Not every plant or division was / is poorly run, but many were and there was no systemic effort to move best practices throughout the company, which is a loss for everyone. Contrast this with, say, McDonald's that requires suppliers to share best practices with their competitors.

I think that it is incredibly hard to change corporate culture, especially when times aren't good.

I have my grandmother's wedding present GE toaster and love it. It still makes excellent toast. I don't think that I own or have owned another GE product that I can recall.

Love the logo.

"Time and tide wait for no man..."

All the best,

Peter

 

[stephenh]

Third one is aviation engines

 

[jmc]

Former employee here. I agree that they forgot how to make money by working!

In my opinion, they lost there way during the "Neutron Jack" era (early 1990's).....

It was a great company to work for until they closed our unit, was offered to move to Turkey or Singapore with a couple of product lines. Just saw the writting on the wall and took the layoff.

Sounds like we both lost, betting on GE.

This is an interesting article from 3 years ago about how they floundered after Jack Welch's era. (Not sure when WSJ's paywall kicks in):

GE Powered the American Century—Then It Burned Out

The company that was once America’s biggest and most admired, the maker of power turbines, the seller of insurance, the broadcaster of “Seinfeld,” has become a shadow of its former self. This is the story of how generations of managers, who thought they could fix any company in any industry...

www.wsj.com

 

[LouNY]

Sounds like we both lost, betting on GE.

This is an interesting article from 3 years ago about how they floundered after Jack Welch's era. (Not sure when WSJ's paywall kicks in):

GE Powered the American Century—Then It Burned Out

The company that was once America’s biggest and most admired, the maker of power turbines, the seller of insurance, the broadcaster of “Seinfeld,” has become a shadow of its former self. This is the story of how generations of managers, who thought they could fix any company in any industry...

www.wsj.com

Welch was the start of the problems.

 

[Oaktree]

TV news just said GE to split into 3 separate companies.

Medical, energy and........i forget.

Funny, many asian companies do just the opposite.

Many American companies did that too and it didn't always work out well.

My wife's family has a long history with GE...her father, 1st husband, BIL and nephew all work(ed) there. Her father got transferred a lot. Always in the northeast, but still a move every 4-5 years when she was growing up.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Edison just lied and stole his way to the top, so who cares what he would think!

SR

 

[Aquamoose]

Edison just lied and stole his way to the top, so who cares what he would think!

SR

You beat me to it!

 

[k0ua]

Edison just lied and stole his way to the top, so who cares what he would think!

SR

Not to mention as a person, he was not a very nice one.

 

[Streetcar]

Not to mention as a person, he was not a very nice one.

Or very good business man, he was kicked out of the company shortly after founding it

 

[MossRoad]

Or very good business man, he was kicked out of the company shortly after founding it

That's a bit twisted around.

Edison didn't found General Electric.

J.P. Morgan and others did when they merged the Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric.

They had more controlling interest in stock than Edison at that point, and he was forced to give up control.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have to wonder how much of the current vitriole pointed at Edison is just another case of the internet rewriting history.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have to wonder how much of the current vitriole pointed at Edison is just another case of the internet rewriting history.

NONE!