Akbari (Online 3302 Unit 1 Assignment, Fall 2013) 1

Joy Rebustes English 3302 Tom Akbari Unit 1 Rough Draft 16 September 2013 Analysis of Engineering Press Releases: GEs LEAP Engine How a company presents a new product is important, especially for a corporation that is renowned for innovation. Take General Electric, a company whose slogan is Imagination at work. General Electric, also known as GE, engineers various products ranging many fields, such as appliances, medical equipment, engines, and energy methods. Whatever the product, GE boasts that its technology is the most current and efficient. One of the biggest reasons why GE is so successful is how the company handles publicity. GE is great at promoting both its products and the companys reputation using television, radio, and even social media. Press releases focus on both creating a buzz on the particular product, while self-promoting the company itself. The self-promotion esteems the company, attracting potential investors, customers and employees. By creating a constant need for their products and career opportunities, GE generates a competitive market for sales and job applications. A great demonstration of this is an article titled GE Started Testing Next-Gen Jet Engine with 3D Printed Parts. In this article, GE describes its progress with an engine called LEAP, which has 3D-printed nozzles and carbon-fiber composite blades. Other parts of the engine are made of ceramic matrix composites, capable of operating at 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit while also being significantly lighter than metal. The engine is currently being tested at GE Peebles Test Site in Ohio, and then later be tested in Winnipeg, Canada for icing tests in 2014. According to CFM International, the partnership between GE Aviation and Frances Snecma developing the

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engine, the LEAP engine promises to be among the most advanced jet engines for nextgeneration commercial aircrafts. CFM executives boast orders for LEAP engines valued at $70 billion dollars from esteemed air carrier companies such as Air Asia, Virgin America and Southwest1. Part of what makes this article so interesting is the title itself. Mentioning 3D printing is what brings in interested readers, especially those who are in technical fields. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the up and coming technology developing in engineering. According to an interview with Terry Wohlers, a leading authority on additive manufacturing, the 3D printing market achieved a net worth of $2.2 billion dollars in 2012 and is expected to approach $6 billion dollars by 2017 worldwide2(par. 3) . He even mentions LEAP engine in the article, explaining how production applications, such as these engine nozzles, are expected to spark more projects like this with other companies2(par. 9). Producing finished parts with 3D printing is not typical, especially on something requiring longevity and girth such as an engine. Incorporating this topic into the title brings in interested engineers, who read the article, reinforcing the reputation of GEs innovation and creating hype among the engineering communities, improving possibilities of more sales. Although the reader may not be consciously aware of it, the general layout of the article assists GE in promoting the company and the LEAP engine as well. Scattered throughout the article are hyperlinks leading to additional articles, deeper into GEs report website, highlighting all their achievements in the past few months with this project. The right hand array of pictures redirects to even more articles about the LEAP engine. Exploring deeper into this engine increases the chances of more publicity on the product. On the left hand side is a floating widget leading links to share the article via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+, and Linkdin. Social

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media is all about spreading the word about events that people feel are significant. With the floating widget, with one click this article reaches a whole new audience that can be spread like wildfire, at no extra cost to GE. Including Linkdin, a social site with a more professional basis, opens the possibility of the article spreading to those interested in working at GE for similar projects, creating a competitive market for only the best employees at their corporation. A comments section wraps up the article at the end, hopeful that a community of interested readers will create a discussion. That makes it very clear that this article is meant to create a buzz about this engine to promote its sales and the company name. Moving past the layout, the text itself suggests the same points of self-promotion. The semi-technical diction throughout the article suggests that this is catered to people who have an engineering background, but not necessarily an expert on aviation. This makes sense because GE is focusing on reaching a broader crowd than just the aviation community the article is meant to reach anyone from potential investors to inspiring future GE engineers. Because the focus is on the innovative engine itself, there is no specified author on the report. The report comes straight from the company itself, not just a particular person. The first sentence of the article is indicative of GE wanting to sell this engine as innovative: Engineers at GEs Peebles Test Operation in Ohio have started testing one of the worlds most advanced jet engines designed for next-generation passenger aircraft. The usage of worlds most advanced creates a subjective view for GE, meant to sway readers that GE is the competitive innovation company to beat. The article also states that the engine fired for the first time on Sept. 4, two days ahead of schedule, implying that the engine has ultimately been a success so far. However, the article claims that after a series of break-in runs the engine then performed smoothly1(par.3) . Whether or not these break-in runs were truly expected or actually

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unforeseen hiccups in the engine are ambiguous. This sentence seems like backpedaling from the author: that perhaps there were issues, but after some time the engine ran perfectly. However, it is written in a gentler fashion to emphasize that the engine works perfectly and overshadow any issues they may have had. The last four paragraphs of the article are a lot of statistics and numbers meant for investors and buyers. There is a parallelism between the first three of these paragraphs, beginning with CFM doing some kind of act - CFM reports there are three versions of the LEAP engine available; CFM claims that the LEAP engine will improve fuel consumption by 15 percent, and reduce CO2 emissions and engine noise; CFM has received numerous orders from several well-known airline services worldwide1(par. 6-10). The repetitiveness of these paragraphs are to spit out facts about the engine that buyers would be interested in reading, rather than the technical information that the casual engineering reader would be interested in. The text is straight to the point about sales, competitive buyers and the benefits of buying this particular engine. The article then wraps up with two simple sentences: The testing program for the LEAP-1A engine will culminate in engine certification in 2015. The first entry into commercial service on the Airbus A320neo is planned for 2016. These last two sentences are meant to inform the potential buyer of the timeline of the project, and when to expect the completion of the LEAP engine. These last paragraphs are all meant to convince the investor quickly that the LEAP engine is trusted by other important airline companies, has a concrete timeline that will produce the engine at an expected date and is overall a great investment. This article does what it is supposed to do: sell. It sells the LEAP engine and the reputation of the company. It easily captures the attention of interested buyers and casual engineers by using the uprising 3D printing technology in its title. Readers can effortlessly share

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the exciting news of the engine with a click of a button through social media, giving GE more advertising with no extra cost. With careful wording and including vital information on the LEAP engine, it is likely the engine will sell well due to the well written publicity. Press releases such as this article uphold GEs high status as the forefront leader in engineering.

Reference 1. GE Started Testing Next-Gen Jet Engine with 3D Printed Parts. GE Reports [Internet]. 2013 Sept 10 [cited 2013 Sept 11]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.gereports.com/ge-started-testing-next-gen-jet-engine-with-3d-printed-parts/ 2. Anderson, Gary. The Future of 3D Printing with Terry Wohlers. Engineering.Com 3D Printing News and Commentary for Professionals [Internet]. 2013 Sept 9 [cited 2013 Sept 13]; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/ArticleID/6294/The-Future-of3D-Printing-With-Terry-Wohlers.aspx

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Dear Joy, In the margin you will notice Ive left some suggestions that I feel may help with the clarity of some of your statements. I have also left some questions for you, addressing specific parts of your paper. I feel that you did a good job of identifying the rhetorical situation of this article. Further, you have done a great job of providing evidence for the rhetorical situation you have described. However, I do feel that often times this evidence is stated, but no conclusion is explicitly drawn from it. Why are you giving us this evidence, or this particular quote? Simply reaffirming what you set out to prove with your evidence will make the paper much stronger. This will also help make the purpose of some sentences and paragraphs in the case you build concerning the rhetorical situation of the article clearer. Lastly, some of your earlier paragraphs hint at it, but it is not explicitly clear to me why you find this particular article to be an important one. Overall, though, I think this is a good rough draft, and I hope you find my suggestions helpful in constructing your final draft. Sincerely, Marco Muzio