An international logistics company,
Dematic, is partnering with Michigan Technological University students to open a satellite engineering office in Houghton. The office is in cooperation with the
MTEC SmartZone, who has similar partnerships with Ford Motor Company and GE Aviation under its Fortune 500 Formula.
For the company, the benefits include affordable, high-tech, secure office space and access to talented students who work under a paid internship-type arrangement to explore solutions in engineering for companies like Ford and Dematic.
The new office will employ 12 people, 11 of which are student interns who will work on mechanical, software and electrical engineering teams--and Dematic says that may expand in the future. Dematic is based in Luxembourg, with its North American headquarters in Grand Rapids. Some of its customers include Amazon, Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola.
That twelfth person is Jeff Lines, engineering manager for Dematic, who will run the Houghton office. It's not unfamiliar territory for Lines; he's a Michigan Tech alum and was formerly team leader for Ford's Houghton IT office, structured along the same lines. He'll also be a liaison between the Houghton and Grand Rapids Dematic offices.
"The Dematic team in Grand Rapids is excellent," says Lines. "Because Dematic is a major global player in the business of engineering, I'm very excited about the future growth of this new office and how we will be able to significantly contribute to the success of the company. Dematic designs and implements advanced, modern technology, and the alliance with MTEC SmartZone, Michigan Tech and the local community will serve as a strong foundation for future development and resource utilization in the Houghton office. As we launch the program, the student interns will be tackling many different projects working with a number of software, controls and mechanical engineering teams from Grand Rapids."
Writer: Kim Eggleston
Source: Jeff Lines, Dematic North America
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