1973 – MEASURE Magazine | Agilent History Center

January 1973

Hewlett discusses importance of hiring, employment selection process, employment forecast. 2 3
College campus recruiting program, off-campus professional recruitment, recruiting practices in Japan. 4 7
Profile of employment receptionist. 8 11
Affirmative action in the HP hiring process; helping people gain skills and qualify them for employment; affirmative action program, Santa Clara Valley Skills Center, highlighted. (diversity) 12 15
Internal recruitment policy of seeking inside people first. 16

February 1973 Critical Mass

Introduction of HP-80 “businessman’s” pocket calculator; phones ringing “off the hook” with orders. 2 9
HP’s French connection to Baron Jean Baptiste Fourier, who was a resident of Grenoble; Fourier’s theory of mathematical analysis in 1807. 10 11
Foothill College, Los Altos, electronic museum of Perham and De Forest collection; first museum devoted to history of electronics. 12 13
Bruce Wholey elected vice president. 14
Semi-annual stock dividend is 10 cents/share. 14
HP acquires Femcor in McMinnville, Oregon. 14
Construction in Waltham to begin for headquarters of Medical Electronics Division. 14
Hewlett discusses HP-80 calculator development background. 15
HP catalog in mail. 16

March 1973 Fountain Grove: Eden of the West

Santa Rosa history, including Thomas Lake Harris and his New Life converts, ranching; plant site proposed for HP’s Microwave Division. 2 6
HP opens urban calculator showrooms in San Francisco, New York and Chicago. 7-9
Introduction of flexitime, flexible work hours, and employee reactions. 10 13
Vice president Ed Porter elected to board. 14
First-quarter sales up 30 percent, earnings up 31. 14
Barney Oliver, vice president of R&D, designs stereo amplifier; limited production for sale to employees. 14
Retirement Profit Sharing Fund increases substantially. 14
Scholarship fund drive underway for employees’ children. 14
Oakland police use HP-2120 disc operating computer to analyze criminal data. 15
Cultural diversity of HP authors in Microwave Division. (diversity) 15
9810A calculator translates into Japanese. 16

April 1973 Canada

HP in Canada; U.S. and Canada have much more in common than not, accounting for neighborly relationship. 2 5
Profiles on industrial design at HP; evolution of designer from artist to integral part of design interaction with its working environment. 6 11
HP acquires Hupe & Bush, leading European manufacturer of analytical equipment; HP introduces the 1010B liquid chromatograph. 12 13
Hewlett and Packard receive Founders Medal, IEEE award. 14
Dean Morton elected vice president. 14
H.I. Rommes elected to board. 14
HP 9805A statistical calculator introduced. 14
Hewlett asks employees to help welcome new people to company, HP Way. 15
“Basic Electronic Instrument Handbook” by Clyde Coombs released. 16

May 1973

Introduction of flexible benefits plan, “cafeteria plan,” where employees can tailor benefits to their needs. 2 5
Star Trek game on HP time-share computer. 6
Leasing HP equipment appeals to customers. 7 9
Microwave Division split into Stanford Park Division and Santa Rosa Division. 10 12
Ground breaking for new building at Colorado Springs. 13
Santa Clara site to expand. 13
Edmund Littlefield resigns from board. 13
Software Search contest announced for software programs. 13
Hewlett discusses employee and vendor teamwork in aftermath of shipping warehouse fire in Palo Alto. 14 15
International senior sales seminars. 16

June 1973 The Plot Thickens

HP employee profiles on agricultural, farming and gardening endeavors. 2 6
Components sales and stocking the industrial distributor. 7 9
Acquisition of Field Emission Corp. (Femcor) gets HP in the X-ray equipment business. 10 13
Introduction of HP45, 46 scientific calculators. 14
Second-quarter sales up 40 percent, earnings up 70. 14
HP wins Golden Supplier award by ITT Gilfillan, radar system manufacturer. 14
Hewlett discusses importance of traditional product lines and “glamour” products. 15
HP ranked 267 in Fortune 500; ranked 8 in return for investor. 15

July 1973 Manager’s Meeting

Seventeenth annual managers meeting; Hewlett speaks on divisional organization, long-term planning, employee training; Packard discusses management, importance of people, social responsibility, long-term planning, product development; excerpts by Ralph Lee on administrative costs, employee training; John Young and Doyle on product growth opportunities; Bill Terry on re-emphasizing HP fundamentals; Morton on MED five-year growth objectives; E. Rodgers on analytical products; van Bronkhorst on improving the profit-margin; Boniface on effects of marketing organization’s restructuring; Alberding on European predictions; Cottrell on internationalization and decentralization of HP. 2 11
Workshop sessions at manager’s meeting. 12 15
Workshop discussion on personnel matters concludes that there is no generation gap at HP. 16

August-September 1973

HP experience of various employees shows that HP is different. 2 3
Fred Terman recollects Hewlett and Packard at Stanford and the early years. 4 8
Frank Cavier, vice president and secretary, discusses HP past, HP Way, and decentralization of responsibility. 9
Bruce Wholey discusses views on the HP Way. 10
Swede Wilde on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) use of people and the HP Way. (diversity) 11
Present day employee views on the HP Way. 12 24
“Housemothers” at HP are liaisons between employees and personnel. (women) 15
International view of HP Way. 25 26
HP’s future goals, plans, decentralization. 27 29
Hewlett discusses the HP Way. 30 31
Seven HP objectives. 16

October 1973 HP Goes Metric

Longest-term employees, Mary Fredman and Buck Gleason of Medical Electronics Division. 2 3
HP switches to metric system, which will be fully converted in 10 years. 4 7
New electronic products focus on innovation, internationalization and diversification; 970A probe, battery-powered digital multiplier, 5000A and 1601L logic state analyzers, 4271A 1-MHz digital LCR meter, HP 45 calculator, HP 46 desktop calculator. 8 13
6000th HP minicomputer shipped. 14
Third-quarter sales up 31 percent, earnings up 14. 14
Government business declines 6 percent in first half; non-government business up 63 percent. 14
Santa Clara starts construction on sales office. 14
Barney Oliver joins board. 14
Hewlett discusses HP ventures in Japan (YHP), Singapore, and Malaysia. 15
HP-35 pocket calculator goes to Mt. Everest and Skylab. 16

November 1973

Cafeterias and food service at HP generally well liked. 2 5
HP 3000 computer system is largest, most complex product development undertaken by HP. 6 8
Computer jargon: language, lexicon, vernacular. 9
HP in Penang, Malaysia. 10 13
HP gets $2.8 million Navy contract for cesium beam frequency oscillators (atomic clocks). 14
Price reduced for computer memory products. 14
Eberhardt Rechtin named telecommunications manager. 14
McMinnville, Oregon, construction started. 14
Hewlett discusses Arab oil embargo and energy conservation. 15
Company car of the future in view of energy crisis (satire). 16

December 1973 Visit to the Fourth World of the Hope