General Electric Co.s health care unit, the worlds biggest maker of medical imaging machines, is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing. A handful of top managers will move to the Chinese capital and there wont be any job cuts, said Anne LeGrand, general manager of X-ray for GE Healthcare. The headquarters will move from Wisconsin amid a broader plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six customer innovation and development centers.
The division should have double-digit growth rates as the country converts from film and analog to digital X-ray technology, LeGrand said.
GE Healthcare, also the worlds biggest maker of magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac tomography scanners, got about $1.1 billion of its $16.9 billion in sales from China last year.
The X-ray business, whose financial results arent reported separately by GE, will hire 65 new engineers and support staff at a new Chengdu facility, the company said. GE has hired a large number of engineers who are in training, LeGrand said. GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., also has a global research center in Shanghai.
Over the next five years, China will be GE Healthcares most important growth market, said Rachel Duan, the China units chief executive.
About 60,000 people work at GE Healthcare globally.