Technology for Fighter Jets and the Space Station
St Petersburg , Florida , May, 2002.
There's nothing in the name of this high-tech company or its space-related products that would indicate a woman owns it. Yet Nancy Crews puts her personal seal of approval on technology that defends our nation and helps the space station operate.
St. Petersburg-based Custom Manufacturing & Engineering™ (CME™) performs research and development, prototyping and manufacturing of technology for the aerospace, defense, energy, environmental and telecommunications industries. Products include a ³smart" power electronics system for vehicles and shelters and helicopter temperature sensor harnesses for the U.S. Army; an electronic component for the U.S. Air Force's F-15 and F-16 jets; and space-flight fracture critical components for the International Space Station, as a subcontract to Boeing.
Heady stuff for a ³woman's touch?" ³I don't find it difficult," Crews says. ³I'm a scientist by training. My background lends itself to technology."
Prior to founding CME in early 1997, Crews applied her expertise at Lockheed Martin. ³This company is a spin off from Lockheed Martin," says Crews, CME's president. ³We were part of the defense conversion initiatives at the old Dept. of Energy plant that is now the Young-Rainey STAR Center. Ninety-plus percent of our work comes from the government or prime contractors like Lockheed."
The company started with three ³displaced" defense workers and has grown to 95 employees. In 1999 CME outgrew its space at the STAR Center and relocated into a 30,000-square-foot facility in Joe's Creek Industrial Park in St. Petersburg.
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