Diversity In Action

Bendix is looking for engineers, IT folks and others

The company has targeted programs for diverse groups; there are minorities and women in leadership positions in both the engineering and IT divisions

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC supplies air-brake charging and control systems and other leading-edge active-vehicle safety technologies for commercial vehicles. Company products are found in the tractor-trailers, buses and other large vehicles that travel on streets and highways across North America.

Bendix hires a number of IT pros and engineers every year. The company is always looking for talented engineers with BS degrees in mechanical, electrical, systems, quality and manufacturing engineering.

“We also look for value engineers,” says Steve Melfi, manager of talent acquisition. The value analysis/value engineering (VA/VE) role is common in the automotive industry. “It requires a very specialized skill set that most people learn on the job, or sometimes as a co-op in the industry,” he explains. Bendix itself has such co-op programs with a number of universities in the Midwest and elsewhere.

Bendix is a member of the Knorr-Bremse Group, based in Munich, Germany. For the second year the company is working with Kettering University (Flint, MI) on an international exchange of German and U.S. students. “Germany sends students to Kettering for three months to study and then they work for a U.S. company for three months. We had two students with us last summer and will have two more this year,” says Melfi.

Although Bendix doesn’t have a formal diversity council, it offers targeted programs for diverse groups, like a women-only wellness class and classes in German. The company also subsidizes participation in professional associations, including SWE and NSBE, and supports many of its employees’ volunteer activities.

The IT department and engineering teams throughout Bendix include women and technical professionals from Europe, Asia, India and around the world. Minorities and women hold leadership positions in many technical areas.

Because the company has international dealings, Melfi says he likes to recruit students from colleges that have a diverse pool of candidates, along with tech programs with an automotive and heavy vehicle focus. “These schools have students from the U.S., but also from India, China, Europe and other countries,” Melfi says. “The international skill set is very helpful to us.

“We are part of a global organization, and that offers our employees, especially those on the technical side of our business, frequent contact with colleagues around the world,” Melfi notes. “This can be exciting for people who are interested in pursuing careers in engineering or supply chain. There are opportunities to do international assignments and a lot of global interface.”

D/C