Schenectady and Greenville teams showcased ergonomic innovation and strong cross-business collaboration at AEC 2026, helping GE Vernova earn its first Ergo Cup win.

Last month, GE Vernova Schenectady and Greenville teams participated and took home the Ergo Cup at the Applied Ergonomics Conference (AEC) 2026 in Arlington, TX.

Each year, GE Vernova participates in this global event to showcase workplace ergonomic innovations, from inception to solution deployment, and to compete in the Ergo Cup® Competition.

The Ergo Cup Competition recognizes and honors teams who create innovative solutions that improve an organization’s ergonomic challenges, processes, and systems.

While three of our teams from Schenectady Onshore Wind, Schenectady Cores and Castings, and Greenville Gas Power entered this year across different categories, GE Vernova competed as one team, striving for success as one organization.

“We brainstormed booth ideas together, shared meals together, and checked in with each other throughout the day,” said Sr Manager Operational EHS Eliza Fiacchi. “We continuously represented GE Vernova as one team, even across three different businesses.”

Together, the teams showcased their innovations designed to address real ergonomic challenges across sites.

The Schenectady Onshore Wind team presented the YAW Bearing Torque Tool, designed to improve a yaw bearing bolt installation process that had previously required three operators and 100+ overhead crane moves to position and operate a heavy torque gun.

The original process was time-consuming, physically demanding, and involved working in the “line of fire.”

To address these challenges, the team built a custom-designed, spring-loaded tool in-house that rotates around the bearing, requires only one operator, and eliminates the need for an overhead crane.

The Schenectady Cores and Castings team presented their Semi-Automated Boilerclave Cart. Previously, operators had to manually push/pull loads of up to 400 pounds to the boilerclave, a specialized steam vessel used in investment casting.

The team redesigned its existing cart to include a powered drive caster system and a custom pneumatic solenoid system.

Operated with a simple thumb control and lever, the updated cart allows employees to move loads with greater ease and precision.

Lastly, the Greenville Gas Power team introduced its Fuel Nozzle Flipper, created to address the manual rotation of fuel nozzles during assembly, disassembly, and testing.

To fix this, the team developed a new cart that uses a gearbox and drill to rotate the parts, helping reduce manual strain in the process.

 The Ergo Cup Awards judges considered projects in three categories: task-focused workplace solutions, new product or new job design solutions, and ergonomics program improvement initiatives.

Only six teams received Ergo Cup awards… including GE Vernova’s Schenectady’s Cores and Castings team!

The team was recognized for developing the Semi-Automated Boilerclave Cart, which was honored in the task-focused workplace solutions category.

“The camaraderie and support from the GE Vernova teams made this event special,” said Lead EHS Specialist Alex Hinte. “It is, at minimum, a multi-month process to develop an ergonomic innovation for the AEC competition. It’s very rewarding to be recognized as annual participants at this event and achieve our first win for Schenectady and GE Vernova.”

Congratulations to our Schenectady and Greenville teams for contributing outstanding ergonomic innovations to our businesses and representing GE Vernova as one team. Until next year!