Rocketdyne Official Takes Colorado Post

Dominick J. Sanchini, the second-ranking executive at the Canoga Park-based Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International, has left the unit to become president of Rockwell’s Rocky Flats plant in Colorado.

Joyce Lincoln, a Rocketdyne spokeswoman, said it is unlikely a successor will be named for Sanchini’s former post of executive vice president for production in the near future.

“There’s no need to fill it,” she said.

Lincoln said Sanchini had been helping to integrate Rockwell’s Energy Systems Group, also based in Canoga Park, into the rest of Rocketdyne. The two units merged in October, 1984.

Sanchini, 58, started work at Rocky Flats on Monday. Rocky Flats makes components for nuclear weapons systems under contract to the Department of Energy. Lincoln declined to elaborate on the plant’s work.

Jack E. Dorr, Sanchini’s predecessor at Rocky Flats, is being transferred to Rockwell’s North American Space Operations headquarters in El Segundo, where he will be vice president for energy programs.

Sanchini began his engineering career in 1953 with North American Aviation, which became part of Rockwell in 1967.

He eventually became involved in Rocketdyne’s biggest project in recent years--the design, production and maintenance of the main engines for space shuttles. In 1970, Sanchini became manager of marketing for the shuttle engine project. Five years later, he was named vice president and program manager, a position he held until becoming executive vice president in 1983.

Sanchini will keep his home in Thousand Oaks and will commute periodically between Colorado and Southern California.