Georgia Abbott

Principal Consultant

Georgia Abbott started her career with General Motors Corporation in 1984 as an Affirmative Action hire in Operations Management at Electro-Motive Division in Chicago, IL.  EMD is one of two locomotive builders in the US.  Her first position was as a Manufacturing Supervisor for traction motor assembly.  In 1989 she moved to Detroit and worked for the GM Prototype & Advanced Engineering Group handling the R & D, Intellectual Property and concept design purchases between GM and outside suppliers.  Later, she became the Worldwide Global Commodity Group Leader coordinating the efforts to hedge copper, aluminum, magnesium and leather for the company.  Georgia finished her career at GM on several Truck vehicle Launch Teams as the Worldwide Team Leader for Truck Seating Systems (which included Saab) with responsibility for $41M in purchases over 3 continents.  

After working as a professor at Northwood University for five years, she missed manufacturing.  Once meeting Tom Moran at a university function, she convinced him she was the right person to become his Education & Business Development Director for the new Industrial Arts Institute (the welding school at Moran Iron Works).  Since successfully launching IAI, Georgia has gone back to full time consulting at Abbott & Associates, LLC.