A growing partnership between Alfred State and Napoleon Engineering Services (NES) has resulted in smooth transitions for students looking for a career at a growing company.
Napoleon Engineering, located in Olean, NY, has 66 full-time employees, and amazingly 23 of those employees are Alfred State graduates. Graduates from engineering technology programs and from manufacturing and machining curriculums.
Led by Chris Napoleon, NES provides their customers with a comprehensive solution to bearing technology challenges. They offer a thorough understanding of bearing design, manufacturing, inspection, and testing gained by over 24 years of successful collaborations with multiple market sectors including; aerospace, drive train, agriculture, oil and gas, electric motor, automotive and heavy equipment.
Napoleon said the relationship happened organically at first, “NES has always prioritized hiring locally, and due to the nature of our business, we’re obviously focused on adding CNC machinist and engineers; Alfred State check these boxes.”
“As the trend became more prominent, we realized that it was something to lean into and continue to cultivate. Our Alfred State employees have a proven track record of not only entering NES with the skills needed to succeed here, but also to help elevate our operation and become truly valuable contributors across multiple departments. By investing our time and energy into career fairs, classroom visits, and facility tours, we’re not only creating opportunities for these students, but we’re also developing the next wave of Alfred State alums employed by NES, which creates a mutually beneficial partnership.”
NES is an active partner with Alfred State. They attend Career Fairs on both the Alfred and Wellsville campuses, offer internship opportunities to current students, and celebrate with incoming employees at ASC’s annual signing day events.
“Alfred State is well-known for its advanced manufacturing, CNC machining, and engineering technology programs, and as one of the world’s leading independent custom bearing manufacturing/engineering outfits for the aerospace and aviation industries, these, of course, are skills that fit naturally with what we do.”
Chris Napoleon
This spring, current Engineering Technology students spent an afternoon learning about Napoleon Engineering Services. Current employees, many of them with ties to Alfred State, shared their education and career paths and explained to the students what they do within the organization. The day was capped off with an extensive tour of their facilities.
Napoleon continued, “Alfred State is well-known for its advanced manufacturing, CNC machining, and engineering technology programs, and as one of the world’s leading independent custom bearing manufacturing/engineering outfits for the aerospace and aviation industries, these, of course, are skills that fit naturally with what we do.”
“Many of our Alfred State alums are from the local area and are already familiar with our company. These students have already given themselves a ‘head start’ on the race to a rewarding and challenging professional career in professional manufacturing. For us, it’s now that much easier to get them to the finish line.”
Napoleon Engineering has enjoyed significant growth over the last three years, increasing their workforce by nearly 25%. Seven individuals hired since Spring 2024 have been ASC graduates.
Napoleon encourages other companies to engage and connect with Alfred State. “It is an investment that has paid dividends for over twenty years. Alfred State graduates consistently arrive with the technical foundation needed to contribute from day one.”
“For companies looking to build a strong workforce, partnering with Alfred State isn’t about filling today’s opening, it’s about developing a long-term pipeline of talented professionals who can grow alongside your organization. That’s certainly been our experience, and it’s a partnership we’d encourage others to pursue.”
Learn more about the work done at Napoleon Engineering Services.
During the visit, a trio of Alfred State graduates shared their journeys from Alfred State to Napoleon.
Joshua Wolf, ’09
Joshua has worked as a machinist at Napoleon for fifteen years. He graduated with a CNC Manufacturing and Machining degree and is one of the lead machinists at the company.
“I do everything from ordering tools, to making the parts, to deburring and tumbling. The skills I learned at Alfred are things that I have taken everywhere, from my job to my interests and hobbies.”
Reminiscing about his studies, Wolf added, “My favorite memories were the tools that we made, I still use some of them today. The functional stuff really opened a big door for me. Some of my classmates are the people that I work with to this day.”
Marina Miketish, ’24
Marina double majored in Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics. She was drawn to the field because she enjoyed math and science. At an Alfred State career fair, she found Napoleon and asked about internship opportunities.
“I was born and raised in Olean and never knew of NES until a career fair at Alfred State. I reached out and asked for an internship and that’s how it started. It made me feel good knowing that my hard work was being noticed and showing up everyday and putting in the work was appreciated.”
She continued, “Napoleon is a small-knit family. They offer great benefits, good pay, and a very welcoming environment.”
David Steere, ’23
David an inspection engineer at NES, followed his family into the engineering field with one exception. The rest of his family are ceramic engineers, so he chose to follow his passion for figuring out how things work, designing, and taking things apart by earning a Mechanical Engineering Technology degree.
“My classes prepared me for what I do at Napoleon. They taught me how to learn effectively and how to be open to learning more. I saw an opening here and I applied. When I interviewed, I recognized one of my classmates, a couple of days later they said they’d hire me.”
Steere added, “The best part of working here are my co-workers and management. It is cool to know so many of colleagues here went to Alfred.”