Developing leaders of tomorrow
SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com December 23, 2011 5:42PM
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Updated: February 9, 2012 10:52AM
Marche’ Blackwell is using lessons she learned playing basketball since she was 8 to advance in the male-dominated world of industry and mechanical engineering.
“I learned that I’m not always going to be in that perfect place where people are allowing you to not have to prove yourself,” said Blackwell, 24, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Of 10 women in her 300-person graduating class, she was one of three African-Americans.
Blackwell is working in a leadership-development program at Caterpillar Inc.’s truck assembly plant in Decatur, where she makes sure that parts are placed in correct order and in pristine condition on the production line.
“My goal is to make sure that people on the line focus on welding,” she said.
The program in which Blackwell will work for three years — the official name is the leadership and technical development program — allows newly minted graduates to rotate into a new role each year. After she completes her first year as a supply-chain planning engineer, she will move on to shop-floor line supervisor and manufacturing engineering.
Blackwell enjoys the hands-on experience she is getting, and likes “putting two-and-two together” by seeing the assembly unfold on the line.
She wants a career where her ideas are welcomed in an atmosphere that fosters innovation.
“If I have an idea, I want it to be heard and perhaps become a solution,” Blackwell said.
Officials at Elmhurst College hope to inspire Latina girls with stories such as Blackwell’s with its yearly “Dare to Dream” conference, featuring workshops on extracting and analyzing the DNA of strawberries and using computer maps to find a friend’s house.
Linda Krause, an associate professor of computer science and information systems at Elmhurst who was educated as an electrical engineer, recommends parents check out two free downloads to help kids get engaged in STEM: Storytelling Alice (alice.org) and Scratch (scratch.mit.edu).
Tana Utley, chief technology officer and vice president of the product development and global technology division at Caterpillar Inc., says she tells young engineers that they can enjoy not only an excellent salary, but also have a big impact on sustainability and next-generation technology initiatives at the Peoria, Ill.-based heavy equipment and engine maker.
“We spend $7 million each working day in research and development,” said Utley, who holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
One of Caterpillar’s heralded achievements is cutting diesel emissions by up to 96 percent for new, regulated diesel engines.
Utley said the next generation of engineers will work on even more progressive efforts such as improving intelligence and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in heavy equipment.
Engineers at Caterpillar also have opportunities to improve sanitation and infrastructure in emerging countries such as China, Utley said.
“These countries need highways, pipelines, airports, train stations, water facilities and other infrastructure vital to urbanization,” she said. “There is a big demand for Cat products worldwide.”
Indeed, the company, with $42.5 billion in annual revenues in 2010, has added 27,000 jobs in the past 18 months, including 10,500 in the United States. It is building or expanding eight factories in the United States, plus 10 overseas. The hiring jump will bring Caterpillar’s employment to 121,500 worldwide. A starting engineer in research and development makes about $60,000 in yearly salary, and managers and supervisors earn $100,000 yearly.
Caterpillar aims to give workers the feeling of working in an intimate setting by allowing entrepreneurial go-getters to test new ideas and envision how products will look 20 years into the future.
“Their challenge is to hand off their idea so that it can be commercialized and run as a business,” Utley said.
Ilene Gordon, CEO of Corn Products International, said the Westchester-based corn processor and food ingredient maker offers employees challenging assignments and encourages them to create their own career paths.
“We might ask a young graduate, a new employee, to develop a P&L (profit and loss) statement, for example,” Gordon said. “We want people to stretch to develop their careers.”
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