GE Appliances, a Haier company, finished work on a $125 million expansion at its refrigeration plant in Decatur, Alabama.

Interview view of the expanded appliance production facility in Decatur, Alabama. Source: GE AppliancesThe expansion is intended to boost production capacity by 25% and enables compliance with 2022 refrigerant changes. The plant will be a focus for GE Appliances' top-freezer refrigeration production.

The Decatur plant's technology additions include data visualization, 3-D scanning, rapid prototyping and other “smart” automation that provides real-time data for production workers to make better and faster decisions. Some specific examples at the Decatur plant include:

• Auto Guided Vehicles to move materials throughout assembly processes.
• More than 50 robots perform heavy lifting operations, repetitive tasks and other precise or ergonomically challenging jobs.
• Common product architecture and redesigned assembly lines gives it flexibility to build many different size models to meet customer demand.

The Decatur plant is the largest employer at a single location in Morgan County, Alabama.