Pratt & Whitney's Manufacturing Engineering Development Program Producing Results
Pratt & Whitney's Manufacturing Engineering Development program recently celebrated its 29th graduating class with a ceremony on June 15 in South Windsor, Connecticut. Eight Manufacturing Engineering Development honorees and a member of the Aftermarket Engineering Development program participated in a formal program hosted by Megan Piccus, manager, Manufacturing Engineering Development Program. Danny Di Perna, senior vice president, Operations for Pratt & Whitney, provided keynote remarks at the event.
Di Perna congratulated the students on their remarkable achievement, telling them "the opportunities are endless and valuable and the path is clear for you to do so much more than what you have done before here at Pratt & Whitney."
Each year, Pratt & Whitney hires recent mechanical or manufacturing engineering graduates for the Manufacturing Engineering Development program. Graduates are immersed in four customized, six-month, on-the-job rotational assignments over a two-year period that are complemented by more than 600 hours of technical training in manufacturing, quality systems, modeling, manufacturing processes, tooling and fixtures, gauges and inspection, machine tool application, continuous improvement tools and lean manufacturing techniques.
Varun Varghese, a 2016 graduate of the program who will join Pratt & Whitney's Engine Center in a process planning role, said the Manufacturing Engineering Development program is invaluable and helps nurture talented engineers.
The Manufacturing Engineering Development program has been in place since 1985 and has more than 530 graduates since its inception. A number of current Pratt & Whitney senior leaders are graduates of the program. The Manufacturing Engineering Development program also has a comparable program - the Aftermarket Engineering Development program - focused on aftermarket operations. Chelsey Hathman, a recent graduate from the Aftermarket Engineering Development program, is taking on a role at Pratt & Whitney's Dallas Airfoil Repair Operations (DARO).
