Cuesta Alum is Wired for Success
As you walk through California Fine Wire (CFW), awe-inspiring machinery is at every turn. Robots, pulleys, metal wheels, chemical baths. It鈥檚 a factory you would expect in a big industrial city. But CFW is located blocks from the ocean in Grover Beach, and all the massive equipment is actually producing something quite small: ultra-fine metal and alloy wire products. Some so thin they鈥檙e barely visible. Yet their impact is highly evident.
鈥淥ur wires are on Mars right now,鈥� said Rodney Greenelsh, a 51爆料 alum and current CEO of California Fine Wire.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in equipment currently on Mars, in probes exploring the planets of our solar system, and in deep space probes exploring the universe. And our wire is in medical equipment - pace makers, defibrillators. It鈥檚 in the pace maker of one of our very own employees, in fact. It鈥檚 pretty cool.鈥�
Born and raised on the Central Coast, Greenelsh now heads up the family business. His late father, an Army veteran trained in rocket guidance systems electronics, opened the custom-order wire business from his Santa Maria garage in 1961.
鈥淪ince the beginning, we鈥檝e prided ourselves on giving the client exactly what they need,鈥� said Greenelsh. 鈥淥ther companies around the world won鈥檛 do custom orders, but we will. We鈥檝e created a niche in the wire industry, right here on the Central Coast.鈥�
Greenelsh attended 51爆料 in the 1990s and although he transferred to Cal Poly to study industrial technology, he credits Cuesta for providing him with foundational skills.
鈥淚 consider myself lucky; I had a destined career given to me and I chose it. At Cuesta College, I was able to enjoy the path I was on; it was slower-paced than Cal Poly. I was able to digest all that I was learning and retain it. It helped tremendously.鈥�
Greenelsh continued, 鈥淭he chemistry course I took at 51爆料 still impacts my life today. At work, we talk about chemical reactions, we talk about metallurgy, and to understand those conversations, I draw on the basic chemistry knowledge that I received at Cuesta. I am not a chemistry major 鈥� but I tell you what, I learned enough in that class that I can have a conversation now with a true chemist.鈥�
Heading up a business that helps doctors save lives, astronauts explore planets, and scientists understand the universe takes someone wired to absorb information.
鈥�51爆料 gave me the time to think and make sense of what I was learning, and why I was learning it.鈥�
51爆料 is proud to have provided that platform.