How did a company that started off with developing refueling systems for planes turn into a company that is helping humans get to Mars? There is no short answer to the amazing transformation that CAES has gone through.
In this episode of The Innovators, host George Davison talks to David Meyouhas, a Senior Director at CAES, about fixing TVs, engineering, semiconductors in space, and the future of space.
For more information about semiconductors in space, head to TomorrowsWorldToday.com.
How did a company that started off with developing refueling systems for planes turn into a company that is helping humans get to Mars? There is no short answer to the amazing transformation that CAES has gone through.
In this episode of The Innovators, host George Davison talks to David Meyouhas, a Senior Director at CAES, about fixing TVs, engineering, semiconductors in space, and the future of space.
For more information about semiconductors in space, head to TomorrowsWorldToday.com.
It all starts with one idea. Have you ever wondered how today's top CEOs, business leaders and people who work for the most innovative companies in the world found success? Join host George Davison, as he explores the innovators that are shaping tomorrow's world today
George Davison:Today we have David Meyouhaus, and he is the senior director of standard products, space division, of the CAES organization.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Thanks for having me, George.
George Davison:Thanks for taking your time today, David. I have a lot of questions I'd like to run by you today. You have such an interesting career and interesting organization that you're with. Maybe we could walk it back and let's take a look at how it, how did it all start? And you take us through that a little bit.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely. A great question, George, really at all, it all started with Saralyn Carbon, um, in the 1930s where he developed a refueling systems for common aircrafts and, uh, from there, various companies started piecing together to make up what is known today as case, uh, we've have about a dozen different sites, uh, mainly located in the United States, but some in Sweden and one in Mexico as well. Um, but the site that I hail from, uh, as a function of the space systems division located in Colorado Springs, um, we really had individuals that still work there today that actually laid brick by brick, the building that houses, the manufacturing site today that, um, you know, the engineering team that is they're designing day in and day out, those semi-conductors that have to go up into space, um, that that's really, you know, blows my mind really every day where we talk about, you know, closer to earth, starting off with airplanes and going all the way up into outer space, into deep space, into going all the way to Mars. It's just a mind-boggling really,
George Davison:It really is. So, so our audience out there, uh, let's make sure they know how to spell case cause they may want to do a little research after listening to your story today. Can you, uh, spell it out for us and tell us how explaining what it means please?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely. Um, C A E S. It's a function of a Carbon Advanced Electronics Solutions. Um, so really it's all about advancing electronics, pioneering, advanced electronics, uh, to really mission match, uh, whatever missions our customers required today, whether it's, uh, land, air, sea, or out in space.
George Davison:That's wonderful. Is there a, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I mean, how did you get to where you are? Um, maybe, maybe that would help our audience to understand that you weren't always an executive at this organization. You started out as a young buck somewhere and worked your way up didn't you?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:I sure did. Um, good point. Yep. My, my background stems from, um, mechanical engineering. So I've got, I've got my undergrad in that. And, uh, shortly after I received my degree, I started working at Pronto Whitney, which is a, uh, airplane engine, uh, manufacturer. And so that's, that's really how I propelled with, uh, proximity to engineering, all the technical. It really, I wanted to know how, uh, uh, an engine worked and how we actually got planes up into the sky. Interesting. Yeah. And so started off with that, worked across various disciplines within that company, whether it was continuous improvement, quality supply chain. Um, and, and really, as I, as I looked at that opportunity, I said, there's gotta be a way to go higher than where airplanes go. And, uh, where do you go from there? And you go to space. Uh, so that's, that's what landed me, uh, really here at case. And, uh, it's been a, it's been a great experience. It's an opportunity for me to really speak to customers to understand, um, what challenges or what problems they're trying to solve with next generation spacecrafts or next generation satellites and, uh, how, how we can help design products that solve those problems.
George Davison:Interesting. So part of the process is going to be talking with customers and listening to their needs, right. Or maybe utilizing an observational analysis of what some of the challenges may be. And then do you develop the ideas and start to formulate, uh, solutions for them? Is that, is that what you're talking about here?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely. Um, so we, we start off with concepts or roadmaps where we see, Hey, here's what we currently have as a, as a concept product for, for any given product family. And as we share that with, with customers, we start to collect feedback and, oh, it would be nice to have this feature on that product, or it it'd be nice for that product to operate at this temperature. And so as you start collecting those various data points from multiple customers, multiple missions, it starts to form a better picture of what that product needs to be.
George Davison:That makes sense. So that need is an OB or that is what we call an opportunity. Right? Absolutely. And so now you go about trying to figure out a solution and how it would be made and marketed to that market so that the business can operate and sustain itself. Is that, is that a fair way of saying it? Exactly.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:So the, the key there is getting all these data points, um, having all the, all these requirements from various customers, how do you consolidate that into, because you can, you can't thread all the needles. Um, so it's important to really understand, or we start to, uh, determine when you, when you cluster the data points, you start seeing a picture of, okay, this is really what's important, and this will address, you know, 90% of the market or 90% of the audience.
George Davison:Interesting. So from what I understand, you have a, you have some children in your lives and you mentor them in some way bs. Could we talk a little bit about, uh, how you mentor and, uh, or, and also touch on if you would, please, if somebody helped you along the way, when you were younger, that mentored you, uh, it might be helpful for our audience.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Yeah, well, there's a lot to unpack there, George, so let me, let me start at the beginning. Um, yeah, I've got, I've got two beautiful, smart daughters emphasis on smart Lily and Naomi, and a very, very inquisitive, very curious. And so, um, whenever something breaks down at home, which as you know, is, is often, um, my defacto engineering pride is to try to fix the problem myself. And they're right there alongside, you know, under the sink or, you know, pulling apart the dishwasher and handing me tools. And yet maybe they hand me a Flathead when I asked for a Phillips, but that that's okay. That's, that's how they learn. And so, uh, it's, it's really important for me to share that with them and for them to get, um, a passion for, for trying to fix things and understanding that it's okay for them not to have the answer or to fail. Um, because you take that experience when you, you grow from there.
George Davison:Yes. Build confidence off failure. That's been said before, right.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Oh, and your, your follow-on question was, you know, how, how did you grow up and did you have a mentor? Um, and it's probably a little cliche and I'm sure you hear it all the time, but really my father was, was my mentor. I'll, I'll give you a prime example. Um, he was, uh, he had his own business, so he was an entrepreneur and he repaired TVs and VCRs for the audience of VCR is what existed before Netflix. Um, it was very cumbersome, but, uh, in any case, um, my father was and still is a genius. And I'm just a subject matter expert in his, in his field. I'll give you a prime example. When, um, a certain company released a, a television, um, a few months later, they started seeing a significant amount of, of TVs start failing. So basically it wouldn't turn on after a few months, which was a problem when you ship millions of TVs to consumers. And, um, the engineers at that company were just unable to solve that problem. My dad just pulled apart the TV within a couple of hours, he called them up. He said, this, this was the problem. And this is how you fix it. That's why
George Davison:Wonderful. Yep. Yeah. That's, hands-on real-world knowledge. Absolutely. You're a very lucky to have a father like that who can inspire you. So I, I want to thank you for being here today, cause I'm hoping you can inspire some other youth that are out there listening to this. Would you have any suggestions? Let's say that dad's not home very much or dad isn't around. Uh, maybe I don't have it at suggestions on how to get some experience maybe as a youth to maker, maybe, you know, some maker time. Do you have any ideas there?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Right. Um, for me, the, the experience at school having, uh, afterschool projects or joining clubs, um, you know, in high school or college, when you have various teams that are there to develop solar panel cars for racing or wind power cars, um, being exposed to those types of opportunities. Seeing having mentors within that environment who have been in the industry, know what it needs, uh, or, or, or understand that that failure is acceptable because you learn from that. And then the next iteration will be, it will be even better than had you succeeded the first time around.
George Davison:Right. A ll right. Well, that's a great suggestion. So, so clubs and things where you're going to get your hands dirty a little, and hopefully s omebody i s, u h, helping you shoot for the stars to make something right. A bsolutely. That's good. All right. So let's chat a little more about, u h, stem based classes, u m, stem, science, technology, engineering, math, u m, a nd, or steam science, technology, engineering, art, and math. U h, do you foresee that as being, u h, an important part of your daughter's coming up? I mean, how important is steam and stem to them? Do you think
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Today, uh, they're, they're coming up in that, in that path. Um, I continuously try to reinforce to them, you know, Hey, which engineering discipline are you going to go to college? And which technical degree do you want to get? Um, right now my, my eldest daughter wants to be a roommate engineer, so I'm not quite sure, uh, that's, that's a valid, but we'll, we'll, we'll get her there. Um, and I really, I, I want them to be passionate about it, right? I want them to, um, grow up in and enjoy what they do, but there is just so much tremendous opportunity in the realm of stem, in the realm of engineering, any type of technical discipline. Um, there's just huge growth in that market. And really, as you come up through school, as you go through, enter internships and really get a taste of the real world, um, it teaches you how to solve problems. And if there's one thing that job security has taught me is that there will always be problems to solve. And as long as you're equipped and you have, uh, the right approach to solve those problems, you're going to, you're going to do great. Wow.
George Davison:That's really good advice. So problem-solving and companies go hand in hand all day. That's good stuff. All right. So let's see here. So knowing what you know today, what advice would you give a person interested in entering into your industry?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Knowing what I know today had you told me 20 years ago, I'd be working hand-in-hand with customers getting spacecrafts to different planets up in space. I wouldn't believe you. And I think if you go back, if you go back to the school days, I would say, don't restrict yourself to diving too deep into one specific discipline, try to go at it from a broad approach, because you'll never, you don't really know what you might fall in love with, or what might be useful down the line.
George Davison:So that just following up on that. So if you're out into lots of different subjects that you're exploring, and you happened to find one that you have a lot of interest in, then maybe you have a lot of light to that. So it doesn't become schoolwork anymore. Does it? It's something more like it's a passion and I love to do it. So I, I do it in my off hours because it's what I like.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:There you go. When you, when you find that one thing that really doesn't feel like work, um, dive in.
George Davison:I love it. That's great stuff. All right. Well, Hey, the youth, all of you out there listening today, that is some great advice. Explore many different subjects. That's why when you're in school, you get the explore around and, and try different things and don't worry about failing it's okay. Uh, but hopefully you're going to find what you like, and then you'll become passionate about it. Like you have David
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Well said, George.
George Davison:All right. So let's, um, let's move on to the next question for you. Do you believe anybody can be successful out there? Um, and if so, what would you say is one of the most basic building blocks in order to be successful?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:The most basic building log to be successful is the willingness to fail, not be afraid of failure, embrace it, and use it as a springboard for success on your next try. Um, do I believe anybody can be success successful? Absolutely. The, uh, the key to that is they have to be willing to put in the work to become successful because it's not, you can't hit the easy button on that.
George Davison:There you go. So I guess, I guess it's back to a previous question, which was, if you find what you like, you're going to put in the time or get the work done, aren't you,
David Meyouhaus, CAES:But the great thing about it is if you love what you do, it really won't feel like you're putting that much time into it. It'll just be organic.
George Davison:Isn't that nice? Yeah. That's a good life, right? So you get to work in something that you're passionate about. We have our own personal selves, our family, and our work in our lives for most part. And, uh, enjoying as much of that as we can, I think is a good, a good, uh, it's a good life. So thank you for that.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:You're welcome.
George Davison:All right. So would you happen to have a maker tip anything that you think would be helpful to the kids out there taking, uh, stem and steam and innovation courses, things of that nature. Um, do you have any maker tip for our students today?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Yeah. Um, regardless of, of which situation you're in, if you're in the classroom or you're just starting off, um, at work, um, and there's an opportunity that presents itself. Let's say you're, you're in a room. The teacher asks, Hey, can anyone help with X, Y, and Z? Um, I've seen a lot of instances where there's just definitely silence across the room. Nobody wants to raise their hand, everyone's afraid or timid. Um, my maker tip is raise your hand, volunteer whether or not you feel like you're equipped to, to pull it off. It doesn't matter. You'll figure it out.
George Davison:That's great advice. Great advice. I am so glad that we covered that question because that silence in class where no one's putting their hand up is it's tough on the teacher too. I think
David Meyouhaus, CAES:I would agree. Yep.
George Davison:All right. So get out there, right? Put your hand up and, uh, and explore that area. Great advice. Um, all right. So let's touch back into your industry a little bit. And, uh, if you're looking into the future, what do you think the next big innovation will be in that industry?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:That's a great question. When we, when we look at that space today, um, you're seeing what's called a new space or space 2.0, and that's where, uh, you know, the space X is of the world, uh, blue origins, they, they operate. And really what they're trying to do is, uh, commercialize space for, for everybody. And that, that really has been enabled by a lot of the advancements in technologies and electronics that, you know, lower, lower cost components are able to now, um, satisfy those, those types of missions. And so it's a, it's a function of ensuring that as the, the performance of those products, um, continue to accelerate, we need to ensure that, uh, they're able to survive those harsh environments out in space.
George Davison:All right. So innovation in, um, materials that can sustain time and space. Is that, is that fair to say?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:That is very fair to say. Yes.
George Davison:All right. So if I'm a, and if I'm in high school or middle school right now, and I heard that, I think I'd ask, well, how could I prepare myself to be in that space one day? Right.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Um, again, I think you, you hit the nail on the head at the onset of this discussion where stem and steam are just critical, that that is table stakes to get, uh, in the front door. And once in the front door, sky's the limit. And the great thing about our industry, uh, as you look at the growing need for products to be trusted for electronics, to be trusted and onshore, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of concern. There's a lot of risk with, uh, some of these semiconductor, uh, parts that are out there. And we're just seeing a huge trend of, of onshoring or bringing, bringing products and manufacturing back to the United States. And that's a, that's definitely a, a different story than what we've heard over the past 30 years. Um, so huge opportunity for, for growth, huge opportunity for, for jobs, uh, right here in the United States.
George Davison:All right. So for our viewers, onshoring is when we are bringing manufacturing and jobs back from overseas operations, that in many cases we set up and we're bringing them back to the United States so that, uh, um, we can better control quality control and other security matters. So that, um, when we do go to space, we believe that we have the type of reliability that we need, uh, in order to perform well up there. Is that
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Okay? Absolutely. You know, in a trusted assured environment.
George Davison:Great. All right. So let's talk in about a case and you brought some goodies with you today that are laying out on the table. And, um, if we could describe some of these as to what we're looking at, I think it would be helpful for them to, you know, get a, get a little talk about this stuff.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Um, so it's a little bit hard to describe over a, over a podcast, but I'll, I'll make best efforts. Um, really when, when you look at semiconductors, um, you have dye that are packaged in a sear ceramic, um, container, and that, that is there because it's, it's, it has been proven to survive the rigors of space. And so what I have here with me is actually the first, um, radiation hardened microcontroller, that case developed and put up in space, uh, on a, on a NASA mission in the early nineties. And the great thing about that mission was that it was, it was initially only designed to survive three years, and they actually only decommissioned it after 20, uh, really Testament to the entire engineering on and around that, that satellite, that it could, it could outlast what it was initially intended to.
George Davison:That's wonderful. So it's going to be radiation hardened for what, what reason?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Right. Um, so semiconductors that, um, are not standard semiconductors that are exposed to radiation, uh, such as particles that are admitted, uh, in our solar system, by the sun that that'll fry the circuit it'll it'll cause it to latch up or stop functioning. So if you took your phone to outer space, uh, within a matter of weeks or months, it would, it would stop working. So what, what our claim to fame is, is really our, our engineers go in inside the DNA of that circuit, modify it so such that it can withstand getting bombarded by, by radiation, out in space.
George Davison:Wonderful. Well, that's, that sounds like it's a whole world to explore all in and of itself. So, absolutely. All right. So that's the first one we're looking at. What's the second one.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:So the second one, uh, it's one of our Leon microprocessors, which was a, a joint development between, uh, Colorado Springs and Gothenburg, Sweden. Um, and, uh, that, uh, that component is actually on, uh, on the Martian surface today on the Mars perseverance Rover.
George Davison:That's fabulous.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Yep. And so it's, it's helping, um, doing some, some, some laboratory experiments on the Martian surface to understand how do we convert CO2 into oxygen and obviously the end game there being, um, okay. If we want humans to ever live on Mars, we got to figure out how to, how to make oxygen, right? So we're, we're really enabling, uh, those types of advancement advancements. And it's, uh, it's fun to talk both to the audience and to my girls that
George Davison:Cool. That is so exciting. Well, there, there you have it, uh, that that's a, that's a big future out there. Uh, some, some good stuff to chase. We have a couple more, you want to touch on those too.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Um, moving on to the right rehab, uh, one of our newer micro controllers, which has a, as you compared to the first one that was developed in the early nineties, it's just a, a lot smaller, um, for, for the audience that I can't really see it, but it's much, much smaller and actually has much more computing capability than the one we developed back in the nineties. So that's a common theme in semiconductors. You go from, um, you know, a thousand transistors to today, uh, billions of transistors. And, um, those transistors are able to, to turn on and off, uh, independently, and, and that helps, um, enable computing. So even when you think about your phone, when you open up an app, uh, that, that you need it, you need to have microprocessor in the back doing all that, all that processing, all that thinking. Um, so we've really been able to shrink down, uh, that, that capability and even increase that capability over time.
George Davison:And there's a lot of value into trying to get these as small as possible yet still very powerful.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely, absolutely. Yep. Size weights, all, all that is, is extremely important for, uh, for these missions.
George Davison:It's expensive to lift things into space, isn't
David Meyouhaus, CAES:It? It is expensive and you have to make sure it's low power because, you know, you're, you're running off batteries and solar panels and you only have so much, uh, so much power to harness. Right.
George Davison:Right. So a lot of challenges to figure out out there and, uh, many more coming. All right. So let's, what's our fourth one, David,
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Really, as you look into the future, uh, this is what's called a triplet. And a really, as you look at the, the, the products that I brought, um, and, and spoke about earlier, those really have a single chip, a single piece of Silicon, or a way for semi-conductor. And, um, as we progressed the technologies for that product, we realized that, uh, with the increase in performance, it becomes harder and harder to produce. And so, uh, to break that paradigm going from one chip, that's kind of the end all be all, you try to jam everything into it. Um, really now triplets break it up. So think about it from a, from a puzzle. And each triplet has its own piece of the puzzle, and you can choose the technology that's best suited for that individual lit and, uh, really just have a tremendous gain in, in, in performance and capabilities, uh, by, by stitching all of the, all the different puzzle pieces together.
George Davison:That's a great way to think about that. Um, so if I'm a student and I wanted to tinker around with some of the types of things you're talking about today, are there any products that you could easily, I might be able to reverse engineer or to take apart? You know, what would you suggest about how to get a little closer to this if I'm in high school or middle school?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Cool. Yeah, that's a great question. Um, really today, you, you can't, you can't open any piece of electronic without finding semiconductors in it. And so if you, if you have, um, an old PlayStation that doesn't work or an old TV that doesn't work and you want to, with your parents' approval, tear it apart and start to tinker with it, kind of see the, the bits and pieces on the inside, see how, how everything works. And that's a great opportunity. And really, um, I, I took apart a great many things when I was young and I didn't always ask permission. So I maybe got into a bit of trouble there. So make sure kids, you ask permission before
George Davison:It's not plugged in. Exactly. Uh,
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Really can break apart the microwave, mom and dad won't be too happy. Um, but yeah, just have an opportunity to really, uh, delve deep touch things, right. Open things apart going just, I'll just Google it and I'll just read, uh, read a book. Those are important foundational elements, but, um, really to, to touch something and to understand how it works is, is a tremendous value. Okay.
George Davison:Super. All right. So we're at case, and here we are all these years later, and, you know, let's talk to the audience a little bit about how many people are employed by the organization and the difficulty you may have, or may not be having about hiring people with the right skills today.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Yeah, that's a great question, um, for, for our site and, uh, or our space systems division under case, um, we have about 500 employees and from a, from a stem standpoint, it is very, very challenging and very difficult to, um, attract and hire, uh, the right talent because it it's, it's so in demand right now. Uh, and, and we don't, we don't see that demand diminishing anytime soon. So we were really competing with, um, multitude of, of companies that are after that exact same skillset. And, uh, and so it's important to really give given opportunity, um, for those individuals to, um, really expand the, the innovation in micro-electronics and give them an opportunity to really push the boundaries, think outside the box, um, bring, bring us to the next level. And that's, that's really important. And you need to have that engineering. You need to have that stem, that math understanding, uh, to bring to the table. Because as I stated before, that's, that's just table stakes. You gotta have.
George Davison:And it sounds like there's more demand than there are students. So this is growing rapidly and we need students in this space.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely. You really cannot go wrong. And that's why I'm pushing my daughters in that direction, hoping that they will, they will fall in love with that discipline, um, and, and really help, um, help the mission, help these various companies help case in the future, um, uh, really develop innovative products to solve really tough problems out there. How do you, how do you take a sample from the Martian surface? Uh, shoot it up and then have another spacecraft catch it mid-flight and bring it back to earth, right? These are not easy problems to solve.
George Davison:That's a great, well, isn't it fun to be able to look at problems and challenge yourself to try and figure out the best way to bring a solution to that. That's for me anyway, that's a great life and I love solving problems. So hopefully we can get more of our youth. Uh, there's a lot, a lot of opportunity out there and, uh, hopefully they're listening, uh, pretty closely right now, uh, so we can help. Right. Um, if we were to speak directly to the education leaders of today, let's say for a moment, uh, what would you recommend to education leaders that the best way to, you know, try and prepare our youth for the jobs of the future? Um, do you have any suggestions for them?
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Absolutely. Um, really focused on immersing them with immersing the students with the hands-on experience. Right. Really bring, um, bring parts, bring things to really take apart in the class and understand, um, what it is that they're looking at, what it is that they're touching, what, what function it serve. Um, and then relay that back to the, the, the, the education piece, right? The textbook elements, right? Because now there's, there's a gap between, what am I, what am I learning from a book? And how does that apply to the real world? So we really need to bridge that gap and how, how much we can make that more concrete in the students mind and eyes would really help, uh, first get them, get them interested in it. And, uh, and, and sparking that creativity and that urge to want to learn more and delve deeper into it.
George Davison:I can't thank you enough for helping our audience on several different fronts today. And David had, so thank you for coming in. We've learned a lot about case, and hopefully if the, if the audience wants to know more though, Google you and take a look at that wonderful website, that explains a lot of this, but, uh, thank you very much for sharing some of your insights and where the future of your industry is going.
David Meyouhaus, CAES:Thanks for having me, George.
George Davison:All right. Thank you. And goodbye, everybody.
Conclusion:For more information about the innovations and ideas changing tomorrow's world, tune into Tomorrow's World Today, now streaming on Science and Discovery or visit tomorrowworldtoday.com
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