Yoon Ja-young is in charge of articles translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. She is interested in improving the newspaper through AI.
GE Healthcare to expand R&D facility in Korea
Laurent Rotival, second from left, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Korea, shovels with Choi Young-chun, third from left, general manager of Ultrasound Korea at GE Healthcare, Akihiko Kumagai, fourth from left, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Asia Pacific, and Karl-Heinz Lumpi, fifth from left, general manager of Women’s Health Ultrasound for GE Healthcare, at a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of GE Healthcare’s ultrasound R&D and manufacturing facility in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. / Courtesy of GE Healthcare Korea
By Yoon Ja-young
By Yoon Ja-young
GE Healthcare in Korea is expanding its R&D and manufacturing facility for ultrasound technology in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, intending to make it the biggest ultrasound facility in the world.
The company held a ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, for the $9.1 million project, which is expected to be completed by February of next year. The production of ultrasound devices from the expanded site is expected to double by 2017.
“This investment is a true reflection of GE Healthcare’s commitment to Korea, which is a very important market for us and a important place for us to continue investment. That’s because we have great customers who are partners here in Korea, and we also have great employees and suppliers. They made us continue investment in the country,” said Akihiko Kumagai, the president and CEO of GE Healthcare Asia Pacific.
The Seongnam center is one of seven ultrasound facilities the global healthcare equipment company has around the world. It produced around 9,900 units last year, or one third of the company’s global ultrasound production, with 95 percent exported to around 160 countries.
“We began the business in this country under the slogan, ‘In Korea for the World,’” said Choi Young-chun, general manager of Ultrasound Korea of GE Healthcare. “We have around 120 suppliers. They have good R&D skills and good quality. They have cost/performance competitiveness compared with those in other countries.”
The Seongnam R&D Center developed most of the new ultrasound products for GE Healthcare last year.
“Korea has always been a very important market for GE, because the market is growing and the need for healthcare is continuing to grow, especially because of the aging of society ... there will be more demand for the healthcare industry overall,” Akihiko said. He said Korean customers have high expectations of technology, so the company can be competitive anywhere as they try to meet the demands of customers here.
Laurent Rotival, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Korea, said,“Ultrasound is very safe technology, flexible technology, technology that allow physicians both at clinical levels and at the large academic level to develop insight on the condition of their patients in a quick and cost-effective way ... we are not the only one to see that.”
The development of medical ultrasound opened a new chapter in diagnostic techniques, enabling real-time and noninvasive imaging of the body. It is expanding its scope, now being used for real time diagnosis in sports medicine and by anesthesiologists as well.