On April 25, we announced plans to recruit hundreds of additional employees at our Bergama plant, allowing us to respond to the growing global demand for wind power by exporting blades to markets worldwide.

The expanded production workforce will number more than 700 in 2020, helping us deliver world-class blades to global markets, including in Europe and Asia.

Inaugurated in July 2017, the Bergama facility became our fifteenth factory and the first opened after our company became a GE Renewable Energy business. Today the site counts 450 employees, 26 percent of whom are women.

“The Bergama factory is a critical site for our company’s aspiration to power the world with more renewable energy, and it represents our strong commitment to Turkey,” said Jesper Sørensen, Europe Head of Operations. “We are thrilled to contribute to creating skilled, technical jobs in the region.”

The positions are open to all profiles and backgrounds, as every new employee will be trained to manufacture wind turbine blades through our ‘Center of Excellence’ training program. Forty of the additional 300 employees have already been recruited in recent months and are undergoing training. Each new employee will receive a six-week theoretical and practical training course, founded on a permanent search for excellence, which improves the quality of products and therefore the satisfaction of end-customers. Newcomers will also be mentored by experts from our other sites worldwide.

“A significant part of the employees at our site today are from the city of Bergama,” said Ozan Mamay, Bergama Plant Director. “We are proud to take part in the city’s social and economic development, and we are happy to create even more jobs in the surrounding community this year.”

The site is also celebrating the start of the construction of a new building. This new space will expand the factory’s production capabilities, primarily in wind turbine blade post-molding. The construction is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2019.