Inside the Lab Where GE Builds Its Future

At 125,000 square feet, General Electric’s five-month-old Center for Additive Technology Advancement is as big as a factory. But the $40 million facility near Pittsburgh feels like a lab. Within, engineers and technicians experiment with new ways to make things, using lasers, for example, to fuse metal powder into machine parts, or a 3D printer to layer one polymer on top of another. Once they’ve perfected their methods, full-scale production is turned over to the company’s individual businesses. Jennifer Cipolla, who runs CATA, says the center is focused on the question: “How do we stay on the cutting edge of technology at all times?” —Photographs by Ross Mantle for Bloomberg Businessweek