Mechatronic Employers
CSUC Mechatronics is Distinct at CSU, Chico
Employers seek ABET accredited engineering graduates, as it ensures highly qualified candidates for employment. Chico State Mechatronic Engineering graduates, with an ABET accredited degree generally start at $50K or more. They are employed for designing components or systems for automation. Following are some excerpts about the quality of employers that hire Chico State Mechatronic Engineering graduates.
NAVAIR
NAVAIR is the Navy's Bureau of Naval Weapons. NAVAIR or the Naval Air Systems Command) was founded in 1966 for the purpose of providing naval aviation aircraft, weapons, and systems support to Sailors and Marines. It is located in Patuxent River, MD and has awarded contracts in the millions for military operations such as guided weapons systems, tactical data link subsystems, and airborne radio systems. For example, in May of 2010, NAVAIR awarded L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace $18 for providing additional services and materials for the maintenance of naval aircraft located at the NAV AIR Station (NAS) in Pensacola, FL. In 2007, Raytheon Missile Systems was awarded $94 million for developing a guided bomb system that destroys moving targets with the AGM-154C-1 Block III joint standoff weapon. In 2006, NetFires LLC was awarded a $55 million contract for the design and development of the non-line-of-sight launch system for Navy littoral combat ships. And, in 2005, NAVAIR awarded Lockheed Martin Systems Integration $5.4 million and $51 million for 12 fl-rate production MH-60R helicopter weapon system and the design, development, integration and testing of the Link-16 tactical Data Link subsystem and Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System for the MH-60R and MH-60S aircraft (respectfully).Students hired by NAVAIR are involved in research, design, development, acquisition, testing and evaluating, and repairing and modifying systems that provide full life-cycle support of naval aviation functions. More . . .
Rockwell
Rockwell Automation originated in 1919 with Willard Rockwell and Clement Melville Keys in Oshkosh, Wisconsin as an automotive axle manufacturer. In 1935 Rockwell moved to Inglewood, California where the company manufactured military airplanes. In the 1960s, NAA built rocket engines and space crafts for the Apollo space program and merged with Rockwell Standard to become Rockwell International. In 1967 Rockwell became the world's leader in manufacturing automotive parts. In the 1970s and 1980s Rockwell won military contracts for the B-1 Bombers and the space shuttle orbiter. Rockwell modernized it manufacturing plants for the research and development of electronics and graphic units as well as fiber-optic transmission equipment. At the end of the century, Rockwell moved from it California location to Milwaukee where one of its subsidiary segment purchased Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics. In 2001, in conjunction with spinning off its Rockwell Collins avionics and communications unit, Rockwell changed its name from Rockwell International to Rockwell Automation. Today, after selling off its former power system units, Rockwell Automation is one of the world's largest industrial automation companies that serves the automotive industry, food and beverage companies, personal care industry, life science, oil and gas, mining, and paper production markets. Automation products include the production of motor starters, contractors, relays, timers, signaling devices, and variable speed drives. Rockwell's Architecture & Software segment supplies manufacturing management software as well as motion control, sensors, and machine safety components. Approximately one half of all of Rockwell Automation sales are generated in the U. S. More . . .
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies, Inc. was original started by William Hewlett and David Packard. The Santa Clara, CA based company broke off from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and today is a world leader in supplying electronic measurement solutions to the life sciences, chemical analysis, communications, and electronics industries. Agilent develops a wide-range of bioanalytical and electronic scientific equipment including data generators and analyzers, function / arbitrary waveform generators, frequency counters and time-to-digital converters, and logic analyzers. In 2009, the U S, China, and Japan were the top three customers. The top three sales divisions are (1) Electronic Measurement, (2) Bio Analytical Measurements, and (3) Semiconductor & Board Test. Two-thirds of customer sales bring revenues in from outside the U. S. Cisco, Dow Chemical, Intel, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Samsung are amongst Agilent's 25,000 global customers. Agilent Technologies, Inc. is structured into three business organizations: (1) Life sciences, (2) Chemical Analysis, and (3) Electronics. Agilent Technologies diversified into nuclear magnetic resonance, imaging and vacuum technology, targeting life sciences, environmental, and energy industries with the acquisition of Varian, Inc. $1.5 billion in May of 2010. Later in 2010, three divisions of Varian (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, laboratory gas chromatography, and gas chromatography triple-quad pole mass spectrometry) were sold to the Bruker Corporation. More . . .
Medtronic is a global leader in medical technology with revenues over $16 billion in 2010. In this fiscal year, when unemployment reached some of the highest levels, Medtronic retained over 40,000 employees. Medtronic is committed to improving products currently marketed as well as introducing new products. Ten percent their revenue is directed toward involving 9,000 Medtronic scientists in R & D for developing a broad-spectrum of products that help sustain as well as improve the quality of life. Revenues are generated from within the U S (60%) as well as from 120 different countries (40%) globally. Medtronic is in the process of introducing new products in Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICDs) and new bare metal and drug-eluting stints (their Integrity product line). They have developed new sensor technology (InLight) for diabetes as are worked on products for spine conditions (Solera and AMPLIFY). Several new therapies previously unexplored by Medtronic (Artic Front balloon for AF and on transcatheter valves) will be clinically tested in this year. By leveraging operating margins, Medtronic has been instrumental in reducing their own health care product costs by over $600 million. As an influential global leader, Medtronic impacts Health care policies and reform measures both at home in the U S as well as in a many other countries. Their financial strength translates into highly desired employment for graduating CSU Chico students. More . . .
Lockheed
Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, MD, is the leading defense contractor in the U. S. that maintains around 136,000 employees. The corporation is structured around four core business operations: (1) Aeronautics with $12.2 billion in sales, (2) Electronic Systems with $12.2 billion in sales, (3) Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) with $12.1 in sales, and (4) Space Systems with $8.6 billion in sales. (Sales figures are from 2009.) Historically, Lockheed Martin manufactured aircraft for military operation in WWI and WWII and has been influential in setting American foreign policy as well as impacting our country's economic and political life. In order to reduce Organization of Conflicts of Interest (OCI), Lockheed Martin sold their Enterprise Integration Group (EIG) to Veritas Capital for $815 million in June, 2010. This positioned the company to expand into security technologies. Currently, along with other defense companies such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin is expanding business to into the research and development of sophisticated equipment for data protection and computer security technology for the U. S. armed forces. In October, 2010, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (MOD) awarded a $5.1 million contract to Lockheed Martin for the Desert Hawk III hand-launched unmannered aerial vehicles (UAVs). MOD awarded the contract to support British Army leaders in fighting the war on terrorism. Desert Hawk III is portable and highly functional in hand-launched and skid-recovery, versatile missions that require enhanced day/night target detection, recognition, identification, and wide operational range, endurance in covert operations. Lockheed Martin has also influence the academic goals of the U. S. One example of this is evidenced by Lockheed's involvement in academics committees. For example, Norman R. Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed, chairs the committee of National Academies for the purpose of emphasizing the importance of science and math in U. S. education. Lockheed Martin and More . . .
Northrop Grumman, currently a Los Angeles based corporation, became the world's #1 shipbuilder when the organization acquired Newport News, Litton Industries, and TRW. Northrop is one of three major leaders, along with Lockheed Martin and Boeing, in acquiring military contractors; ninety percent of sales come from government contracts. Having the U S government as a major customer has influenced Northrop Grumman to structure the corporation to meet contractual assignments. The organizational structure consists of five major business segments: (1) Aerospace Systems, (2) Electronic Systems (radar, sensors, chemical detection, countermeasure systems), (3) Information Systems (C4ISR, or command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), (4) Shipbuilding (ships, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers), (5) and Technical Services (systems support, training and simulation). Northrop Grumman is the sole provider of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two primary providers of nuclear-powered submarines for the U S Navy. In 2010 Northrop Grumman has been striving to reduce spending and overall capacity and made plans to reorganize shipbuilding operations in the Gulf of Mexico by moving shipbuilding operations from Avondale, Louisiana to Mississippi by 2013. However, Cleveland Ship, LLC announced late in 2010 that they will be purchasing Northrop Grumman's shipbuilding operations and will keep the Avondale facility open. It is interesting to note that on August 25, 2005, Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector was struck by Hurricane Katrina and 20,000 employees were impacted by the storms furry. Many employees lost their home and moved to neighboring states to recover from devastation. Of interest to our Californian students is the recent news that Northrop Grumman's plan to move its 70-year headquarters location from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. for the purpose of being closer to the Pentagon. Washington D.C. local officials have offered a $13 million grant incentive to prompt the corporation to move. Northrop Gruman and More . . .
Other Employers
