By Julie Johansen
Many have to leave Carbon and Emery counties to find employment after they graduate from high school or receive a degree from a college or university. Dale Curtis was no different.
Graduating from Emery High, Curtis attended the University of Utah and received his BSEE (Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering). He was interested in the musical field and, after a few stops at other companies, became the Senior Vice President of Research and Development of the Fender Musical Company. Realizing he had climbed to the top, he asked himself “What’s next?”
Curtis said he needed to be challenged, so he worked throughout his career in engineering management with several large companies, always with the desire to be back in Emery County where he grew up. Knowing he was not the type to work a physically taxing job, the challenges of employment back home were great. But, in 2010, he made the decision to move back.
Upon returning home, Curtis became the general manager for the IEC Division of Intermountain Electronics, a division he founded and helped grow into a multi-million dollar enterprise. He and his team developed a full catalog of world class products and set a new standard of excellence in the market.
Now, he is now the President and Co-Founder of Joshua Tree Technologies, LLC.
His brother, John Curtis, is also a co-founder of the new business. John is highly experienced in software design for cellular technology, aerospace communications and several other fields. John graduated from Brigham Young University, also with his BSEE. He is tri-lingual, speaking Spanish, Portuguese and English.
With the high-speed internet services available in Emery County, John is able to live primarily in Arizona, even though Joshua Tree Technologies is headquartered in Castle Dale. Similarly, while a core few of JTT’s 20 engineers, technicians and designers are located in Castle Dale, most live elsewhere in Utah, Arizona and California; however, they are able to collaborate through the internet.
Joshua Tree Technologies could be located nearly anywhere, but its headquarters is found at 70 South 100 East in Castle Dale. It provides research and development services, including product development, technical support and technical management consulting. Their engineers are accomplished veterans who have expertise in electronics, software and mechanical design, all of which are needed to design a wide variety of products.
In addition to research and development, Joshua Tree Technologies has a small, state-of-the-art electronics factory in Castle Dale where they do custom manufacturing, including circuit board assembly. In their office, they have converted a conference room into an automated circuit board lab to produce these high technology products.
Having both automated and manual assembly techniques allows JTT to specialize in efficient, low-to-mid volume production. This means that while they can build hundreds, or even thousands, of electronic products in a production run, they can still produce even very small quantities for less without sacrificing quality.
