From the Editor
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FROM THE EDITOR OSTON, Massachusetts Boston. As much as Dave and I A few weeks ago, I had protested, the newspaper chose not the opportunity to visit to send a second writer. Boston Garden-the Dave quickly figured out a solution: legendary home of the I could sleep in his hotel room and the B16-time National Basketball Associa Suns' public relations director could tion (NBA) champion Boston Celtics. get ganle credentials for me. All I had The Garden is a special place to do was come up with $600 for airfare. hallowed, some would say. And it's I debated the decision for hours: I a special year: the 67-year-old struc really wanted to go to the Garden, ture will be demolished after the but $600 represented most of my life's 1994-95 NBA season. savings at the time. Besides, if Boston This was my first and, most likely, won Games 5 and 6, the series would On the cover: Boston Celtics' last trip to the Garden. I should have be over. But ifBoston won Game 5 guard/forward Blue Edwards been there 17 years ago, but I passed and Phoenix won Game 6, I could still (30) drives past two Detroit Pistons players to score a up the opportunity. In the process, I go to Game 7 in the Garden. Hey, it's basket in a National Basket missed being part of NBA history. only a game, I concluded. ball Association game in Here's the story: It was much more than a game. It November. The Celtics recently teamed with HP In 1976, I was a young sports writer was, arguably, the greatest game in in a 3-year relationship in Phoenix, Arizona. The top assign NBA playoff history. Boston won 128 (see page 8). Photo by ment in the sports department was to to 126 in three overtimes. Two nights Steve Lipofsky. write about the Phoenix Suns' pro later, the Celtics beat Phoenix in basketball games. Dave, the regular Game 6. The series was over. The Suns writer, was ill a lot that year, and opportunity was gone. It took 17 years I jumped at the chance to "cover" before the Suns were in the BA fmals the Suns. again. I was long gone from Phoenix Defying all odds, the Suns advanced by then and my friend, Dave, had died. to the NBA finals. They would face So, a few weeks ago, while research the venerable Boston Celtics in ing the MEASURE story on page 8, I legendary Boston Garden in the best entered the Garden for the first time. of-seven-game series. I walked on the famous parquet floor, Dave, feeling better by the end of looked up to the rafters to the 16 the season, would write the game championship banners and zeroed story. I would write a second story in on the 1976 banner. I stood there for home games, based on locker in a momentary trance until a Celtics' room interviews. official tossed a basketball to me. "Go The series began as expected. ahead," he said, "take a shot." A little Boston won the first two games in embarrassed, I was just about to say the Garden. Phoenix surprised the "no" when I flashed back on 17-year critics by winning the next two at old images: Game 5, Dave and lost home. Now it was time for the fifth opportunities. Go ahead, tear down game back at the Garden. Boston Garden. I've made my shot. I Even though it was the NBA finals have my memory. and one of the biggest events in Jay Coleman Phoenix sports history, the news paper decided to send only Dave to 2 MEASURE www.HPARCHIVE.com THE INSIDE STORIES FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 4 No pain, tremendous gain 22 People HP launches a broad program to cut iI\iuries and An HP engineer realizes an eight make work areas work better. year dream and gains a piece of space history. 8 A team on the move HP joins forces with the world-famous Boston 24 On my mind Celtics basketball team in one of the best sports A 13-year employee at HP's marketing relationships today. Waltham, Massachusetts, site reflects on the loss of a "friend." 11 At your service From banking to automated tracking systems, 26 Letter from Lew Platt HP's Worldwide Customer Support Operations HP's chairman, president and CEO launches a host of new services to meet its cus challenges all employees to take tomers' shifting needs. responsibility for improving cus Page 14 tomer satisfaction. 14 Seoul survivors MEASURE takes a photographic look at record 28 Your turn setting Samsung Hewlett-Packard and HP's MEASURE readers share their ninth-largest market. views on matters of importance. 18 Addicted to adventure 29 ExtraMEASURE HP's foreign-service employees willingly trade News from around the HP world. all the comforts and security of home for work assignments in foreign lands. Whatever pos 32 Parting shot sesses them? MEASURE readers share their best personal photos. 25 A new way to say "good buy" HP's new U.S. employee-purchase program will Page 29 save money and time. MEASURE Editor: MEASURE is published in mid-January, March, May, July, September and November for employees and associates Jay Coleman, ABC* of Hewlett-Packard Company. It is produced by the Corporate Communications, Employee Communications section, Mary Anne Easley, manager. Address correspondence to MEASURE, Hewlett-Packard Company, 3000 Hanover Street, Associate editors: 20BR, Palo Alto, California 94304-1185, U.S.A. The telephone number is (415) 857-4144; the fax number is (415) 857-7299; Cornelia Bayley, Betty Gerard, and the Internet address is Measure [email protected]. Mary Anne Easley Art director: ·Copyright 1995 by Hewlett-Packard Company. Material may be reprinted with permission. Annette Yatovitz *Accredited Business Communicator by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Graphic designer: Hewlett-Packard Company is a global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and Thomas J. Brown services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP employs 98,400 people worldwide and had revenue of $25 billion in its 1994 fiscal year. Photo research: Carol Parcels The following trademark appears in this issue of MEASURE: UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through )(jOpen Company Limited. )(jOpen is a trademark of )(jOpen Company Limited in the U.K. and other countries. * MEASURE magazine is printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based ink. January-February 1995 3 www.HPARCHIVE.com RGONOMICS HP launches a broad program to cut injuries Tools and training are available to employees to thwart ergonomic disasters-in-waiting. and make work areas Jackie McSwanson, a PeopleBase program manager, shows an all-too-common office scene. work better. No pain, tremendous gain By Joan Tharp Harold Brown's not one to complain. After an eight-hour day at his computer in the Instruments and Photonics Lab of HP Labs, he figured his aching back and tender hand just came with the territory. "I always thought that was the price you paid for doing the work you do," he says. "It never occurred to me that I had any control over it." But Harold found out pain needn't be part ofhis job descrip tion. As part of HP Labs' decision to give ergonomic education 4 MEASURE www.HPARCHIVE.com and work-area assessment to all Palo over a long period of time, especially Alto employees, Harold learned about when you use force and either move injury prevention, got a new chair awkwardly or keep the same posture. and had the casters on the legs of his In fiscal 1993, CTDs comprised 32 desk removed so that the desk was percent and were the largest single several inches lower and more com- component of HP's total injury rate. The second type of disorder is overexertion-muscle sprains caused by a one-time effort to lift, push or pull. HP's injury and illness rate is Ifyou or someone you know has nearly twice as high as the had an ergonomic injury, you know computer industry average. how debilitating and frustrating it can be. You can't twist open a jar lid. You hesitate before sitting, knowing that fortable to work at. Within a couple of one slightly off-kilter movement will days, he felt less pain in his back and send a tsunami of pain up your spine. his hand no longer ached. These injuries hurt the company, His productivity jumped, too. "Pain too. In 1993, ergonomic injuries really makes it hard to concentrate. accounted for $5.4 million-nearly It used to be that I'd never make 70 percent-of HP's U.S. workers' major changes in my work late in compensation claims. the day because inevitably I'd mess HP is sponsoring a study of how to cut risks And ergonomic injuries can dull it up," Harold says. of ergonomic injury. Carol Lopez, Corporate HP's competitive edge. HP and other Smoothing out the way people work Offices personnel support specialist, uses electronics companies have trimmed biofeedback to learn how to relax muscles. in the office or out on the floor-that's the science of ergonomics and the Getting HP's injury rate down has main objective of HP's worldwide been one of CEO Lew Platt's Business ergonomics program. Fundamentals since the beginning Computer user's HP's concentrating on ergonomics ofFY 94. ergonomic checklist because the company's injury and What exactly is an ergonomic injury • Feet flat on the floor or sup- illness rate is nearly twice as high as and how do you know if you're court ported by a footrest the computer industry average and ing one? it hasn't budged much in three There are two types of ergonomic • Wrists straight and relaxed years.