1975 – MEASURE Magazine

January 1975

  • Gold plating used on printed circuits for solderability is recovered from processing and recycled. 2 5
  • Egon Loebner, HP inventor, assigned counselor for science and technological affairs at U.S. Embassy, Moscow. 6
  • New top managers at YHP, Japan, named. 7
  • Bill Cox, field engineer in Copenhagen, competes in decathlon. 8 9
  • HP produces more videotape programs than any other industrial organization; video production, usage, response to video at HP. 10 13
  • Largest ever profit sharing, more than $20.5 million. 14
  • Corporate training and management teams merge; need for aggressive training program. 14
  • New programmable pocket calculator, HP-55, introduced. 14
  • Max Gemper, HPSA founding director, dies. 14
  • Hewlett discusses profit sharing, retirement, trust fund. 14

February 1975

  • Home-built airplanes; hobbyists build personal airplanes during their free time. 2 5
  • Kids’ flowchart of a computer program to rob banks, ride bike. 6 7
  • HP Journal author communicates technical stories to customers. 8 11
  • New HP headquarters for UK sales and service opens in Wihhersh, UK. 12 13
  • HP-21 calculator introduced. 14
  • Packard receives Washington award. 14
  • Chuck McAfee elected to Colorado environment association. 14
  • Life Is Fragile program emphasizes safety. 14
  • Febetron 705 is largest HP product; used to study radiation effects. 15
  • Plants at HP have new approach to area design. 16

March 1975 Quality in Plastics

  • Bill Girdner, HP’s second employee, talks about 35 years at HP. 2 4
  • Product exhibits at trade shows. 5
  • Microprocessors and their use in HP products; chip design and semiconductors. 6 7
  • End-of-month rush to ship orders; shipping schedule and logistic systems. 8 10
  • Quality in plastics; plastic molding and manufacturing. 11 13
  • Manufacturing expanded operations in Brazil. 14
  • Timeshare Excess Stock System sells stock surplus parts to other HP divisions. 14
  • First-quarter sales up 12 percent, earnings up 27. 14
  • HP ships 10,000th minicomputer. 14
  • ARIES Corp. to provide software to educational institutions. 14
  • HP begins delivery of 2640A CRT computer. 14
  • Hewlett discusses first-quarter results, HP Europe. 15
  • International orders surpass U.S. for first time. 16

April-May 1975 Working Together: The HP Organization

  • Hewlett discusses corporate organizational structure. 2
  • Geometry of HP divisional organization; organizational theory and communications theory in practice at HP. 3 5
  • Division management and organization: product lines and staff functions. 5
  • Division engineering objective is new products; where new product ideas originate. 6 7
  • Division marketing focuses on understanding customer needs. 8 9
  • Division manufacturing focuses on teamwork and master schedule. 10 11
  • Division accounting divided into three functions – accounting, information systems, office services. 12 13
  • Division personnel and the importance of listening; problems solved when people understand nature of problem and agree on solution. 14
  • Division product quality focuses on industry standards, regulations, liability, testing and reliability. 15
  • Corporate organization chart of 1975. 16-17
  • Pictures of various HP divisions, people behind the scenes. 18-19
  • Division field sales and service staff and relation to six product groups. 20 23
  • Sales region administration, management; creating a selling environment. 24-26
  • Working together; corporate complexity, flexibility and opportunity. 27 32

June 1975 Brazil

  • HP, in Brazil since 1967, expands with new facility in San Paulo. 2 5
  • HP sponsors Surendra Parkhe, from India, through medical school via employee contributions. 6 7
  • Amateur astronomers and environmentalists at HP; technology and leisure-time activities. 8 11
  • Training seminars for new interface bus, HP’s IB implementation of IEEE Standard 488-1975. 12 13
  • Profit-sharing plan distributes $10 million. 14
  • Installing medical equipment in Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital scheduled to open in Spring. 14
  • Second-quarter results shows sales up 15, earnings up 17. 14
  • Hewlett defends profit margins. 15
  • HP training tape course–Dr. HP, (Dr. Hip) multilingual puppet. 16

July 1975 The Next Five Years

  • Management meeting discusses change in the next 5 years; Packard discusses internationalization, end of unlimited growth, redistribution of wealth; Hewlett discusses consumerism, free enterprise, socialism. 2-4
  • Lew Platt on importance of good public and government relations, community involvement. 5-7
  • Hewlett and Packard on management by objective and importance of clear client communication. 7-8
  • Oliver on status of divisional engineering teams. 9
  • Hewlett on importance of people, company’s greatest asset, keeping open communication. 9-10
  • Ray Wilbur on leadership in affirmative action; HP employment figures. (diversity) 10-11
  • How to maintain the HP Way in large, growing company. 11-12
  • John Doyle predicts future corporate development. 13
  • Predictions on analytical products, calculators, competition in computer systems, components, maintaining the HP Way, and medical products. 14-16

August 1975 How Sound Is our Financial Structure?

  • HP outdoor company picnic, a worldwide company tradition. 2 6
  • HP Scotland wins Scottish Management Game, a competition for managing a mythical company. 7
  • Hewlett on financial structure of HP; explanation of fixed assets and working capital. 8 13
  • General Systems Division and Data Systems Division formed at Cupertino. 14
  • Construction at Andover, Boise, Corvallis. 14
  • HP-35 electronic slide rule introduced in 1972 retired; replaced by HP-21 pocket calculator. 14
  • Stock dividend increased from 10 cents to 15. 14
  • PC board design tool, digiraster, increases productivity, efficiency. 15
  • HP atomic clocks used by Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA) to check earthquake predictions. 16

September 1975 HP’s New Cabinet System

  • Employees’ experiences in transfers and moving through HP locations: Boise, Santa Rosa, Corvallis, Andover, Campinas, Winnersh. 2 7
  • System II, HP’s new instrument cabinets, are most thoroughly engineered and versatile in industry. 8 11
  • HP bill collectors, accounts receivable, credit, and possible improvements. 12 13
  • Third-quarter sales up 5.3 percent, earnings up 11.8. 14
  • Advanced Products Division assembles calculators in Oregon. 14
  • HP-22 business calculator debuts. 14
  • Hewlett discusses third-quarter results. 15
  • Tongue-in-cheek ancient Mayan pocket calculator. 16

October 1975 Retirement

  • Importance of retirement planning; stories from HP retirees. 2 7
  •  HP Grenoble, France, open house for families and press. 8 9
  •  Growth in components — optoelectronics and semiconductors – represent two distinct businesses. 10 13
  •  New desktops include HP-9815A programmable calculator and 9871A printer. 14
  •  Bob Boniface elected executive vice president. 14
  •  Construction contracts at Corvallis and Boise. 14
  •  Prices lowered for HP-55 and HP-45 pocket calculators. 14
  •  Hewlett discusses growth in Europe and Grenoble, France, opening. 15
  •  HP encourages donations to United Way. 16

November 1975 Affirmative Action at HP

  • Affirmative action at HP and how it’s the responsibility of everyone; employment statistics. (diversity) 2-7
  • Crime detection through fingerprint-lifting technique using HP 43501A portable x-ray generator. 8 9
  • Growth of Computer Systems Group, now second largest group, and HP minicomputer business; profile of HP 3000. 10 13
  • Packard predicts 10 percent rise in orders at meeting of security analysts. 14
  • New digital analysis sales team focuses on analyzer systems and laser measurement products. 14
  • New voting system features HP 2125 minicomputer system. 14
  • Prices are lowered on HP-21 and HP-22. 14
  • Hewlett discusses purpose of president’s letter feature in Measurement magazine, request for reader feedback. 15
  • 30,000th employee hired. 16

December 1975 The Grand Procession of New Products

  • New products include the 1600A and 1607A logic state analyzers, 3465A digital multimeter, 5328A universal counter, 5383 A frequency counter, eight-track recorder on standard four-track tape, 1230A digital trigger, 3810A surveying instrument, HP Interface Bus, 2644A CRT minicomputer terminal, 7905A disc memory, HP 9815A calculator, HP-21 22 25 calculators, 5082-9200 printed-circuit balanced mixer, 5830A calculator-controlled gas chromatograph, 47201A oximeter, 8030A cardiotocoograph, 43501A portable x-ray system. 2 5
  • Life for HP employee in Penang, Malaysia. 6 7
  • 1975 month-by-month in review. 8 9
  • Volunteers input juvenile records for Santa Clara County Juvenile Information System. 10
  • Industrial hygiene, OSHA, and work environment safety. 11 13
  • Profit sharing of $11 million. 14
  • Fiscal year sales up 11 percent, earnings up 8.5. 14
  • Hewlett discusses 1975 year-end results. 15
  • Moving 14th century Czech church with help of HP calculators. 16