The procurement value from GE suppliers currently exceeds USD 1.7 billion. GE intends to double this figure by extending its SME supplier base, helping the development of regional suppliers, and by transferring its know-how on digital disruptive technologies to its suppliers – the company informed a regional supply chain conference in Warsaw and Elbląg, according to the press release.
Representatives of Hungarian, Polish, Croatian, Czech, Romanian, Serbian and Slovenian government organizations, investment agencies and export banks participated in the CEE Supply Chain Dialogue conference, initiated by GE and co-hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce. The objective of the event was to explore opportunities to better connect SMEs in the CEE to the global economy via GE’s supply chain, and hence to further increase the competitiveness of the CEE region.
“Central and Eastern Europe has experienced unprecedented growth in the past 20 years. The source of that growth has been low labor costs, robust internal consumption and foreign direct investments. However, a preoccupation with pure technology absorption is not going to maintain economic growth in the long run and the increase in productivity is getting closer to the boundaries of technology,” said Peter Stracar, President and CEO of GE CEE. “Further growth needs different drivers and the real challenge will be how we support the transition of the CEE into an innovation-based region,” he added.
GE buys directly from over 30,000 suppliers from multiple locations around the world and the value of such transactions amounts to USD 70 bln globally, which is over half of Hungary’s USD 124.3 bln GDP, notes the press release. For Europe, this value is approximately USD 9 bln, of which USD 1.7 bln annually comes from the CEE region. GE has over 6,500 suppliers, including 1,500 Hungarian qualified suppliers in the area.
GE Hungary and the Hungarian government signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of SMEs in June. GE has been employing more than 10,000 people in 12 facilities in Hungary and its exports from Hungary amount to USD 3 bln, of which USD 900 million is sourced from local SMEs.
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