HP Labs: singular! 3 For 2:) y<'ars, HP Lahoratories ha.... (pd HP's long-rangt' rest'arch. page 10 Driving up quality at Ford 10 Ford amI liP team to develop an ele<.'troni<- toolhox for automohiles. Your turn 14 History in a box 15 HP's profl'ssional ar('hives is a trt'aSUfC'-trov(' of information. Open for business: Silicon Valley's new garage 19 A million people a year art' expected to visit a new high-tl'eh {·xhihil. People 22 ,Jim Hanl('Y's inten'sts range from high tN'h to primitiw art. No room for dinosaurs 25 1900 was a da....sie exampll' ofttw constant Ill'ell to adapt to change. Letter from John Young 27 John ('xplains hew,; HP's new organizational structure is taking shape. ExtraMeasure 29 MEASURE Editor AssocIate edrtor Aft D,rector GraphiC des,gner Crrculat.on JoyCoIemon Belly Gerard Annerte Yc10VllZ Thomas J Brown Kathleen Miller Measure IS published SI' t'mes a year lor emplayees ana assoclctes 01 HewleN·Packard Compo<1y Produced by Corporate PublIC RelaIJon\ Employee CommunlcaIJon\ Department Brad Whll'worttl manager Addless correspondence 10 Measure....ew'e"·Pac~ard Companv. WBR PO Box 10301 Palo Alto. Calitornla 9<1303-0890 UY>. (.l15) 857-4146 Report changes ol address 10 yOU' local perSOnnel deportment c Copynghl 1991 by HewlelT Pac~ard Company MoIenal may be reprinted wllh permiSSIon Member. Inlerna1ranal Association of BUSiness Communicators Hewlert·Packard Company IS an International monufacturer 01 measurement ana computaTion products and sy.;lems recognized lOt excellence In quality and support The compony's products and services ore used ,n Industry. buSIness englneet'lng. scIence medICine and edueot>oo In approxLmolely 100 coun'r,es HP emplOYS tnOfe lhan 92.000 peoplewoddwlde and had revenue 01 S132 bollron In lIs 1m fiSCQI year On the eoYer: Red and black "bullseyes" show how light waves create Interference patterns. HP Labs' Wayne SorIn uses t1bef optics to demonstrate how "coherent Interferometry" could be used to torm the balls tOf future light-wave Instruments. Photo by Andy freeberg. 2 MEA."iUHF: NNOVATION HPLabs: By Gurdon Brown A funny thing happened on the way to the formation ofIIP Laboratories in 1866. Instead ofreferring to it with plural nouns and verbs (i.e., "they" and "are"), people began to use singular forms ("it" and "is"). While tht' gurus ofgranunar might disapprove! HP people did it anyway-because it made a lot ofsense. For one thing-particularly at that time-it helped to iden­ HP Labs researcher Alice tify the new corporate R&D Fischer·Colbrie uses a molecular-beam epitaxy entity in relation to the existing labs within the various divisions. machine to depositgallium arsenide-atomic layer by It wa..<.; an important distinction: HP Labs wa'3 created to conduct. atomic layer-to develop the long-range research needed to foster the product-oriented transistors, integrated circuits and optical devices. research of the divisions. Today, 25 years later, singular references to HP Labs make even more sense. Here's how Frank Carrubba, director ofHP Laboratories since 1987, views that position: "HP Labs has a very clear and central mission, one that emphasizes long-range tt'('h­ nological exploration and advanced development in dose col­ laboration with the product organizations. "In that sense) we have a mission similar to Sto,l" Trek:". Enter­ HPLabs prise-in our cast', to holdl~ sec'k oul those Il('W frolltiers ofS('iPI1CC' ami knowlcdg(' that C,Ul then hl' applil'd in Ilew and imprm'ed prodUl"Is. ThaI con­ n'pl suggest" a gn'al dl'a) of IP,Ull work, hOlh insidp HP Labs i.u1d with the prod­ lKt lalls, and thaI is whal wC' strin' for." TIl<' result is a pro('ess known to industry as "t('('hnoloR\' tnms!"pl'.·' AI lIP. it's a n-tu-' team l'1'[0I1, wit h till' Lahs .111(1 t1w dh'isiolls working ell .scl~ togethl'f to h!ing the best of SUl'l'l's'''iFll! Ill'\\" 1l'("h­ nologies into actioll inthl' form of Ill'\\" or impI'O\'('d produclS i.U1d S~'stl'ms ForlIIIif' magazim' pOltrayl'd 1111' transfer PW('l's'''i in.Jllly H~I(), saying, "'If any company hOlds tlw kpy to tl'dUlOI­ ogy tl'<lllsfl'r, it is ('mTIlb1>a's liP, The $l~-h!lIion-a-Yl·'lfmakl'r c)f complltl'l"S Engineers HP Labs ttelped deYelop Itle HP CoreVUe 9000 clinical intormation system, which and instrunwnts maintains a slllllnillgl~' at Is used In hospttal infensr.oe-care units, Silcty percent ot Labs' research results in HP products. hil4h rate of inllO\'ation: ;\lorl' than ;)0 pl'r('pnt ofsales derin' from produl"I.s dewlopl'd within Ihe past 1hn'l' .\'pars." 11,e mtic!(-, adlL"i that liP "l'stimall's satisfied customers that fully liO IW!H'1lt of the rpspm'eh Roland Haitz, R&D ffi<Ulager for th(' HP Labs abo ha.s had a long and l'OIHlucted in it.s lahs finds it.s way inlo Component.s (IroUP, notcs that one of fruitful working r('latianship with the prolluct applicaticHls."' the very early successes ofHI' Lahs Medical Group, add" B('n Holmes, 111al lransft'l" ratl' adcb up 10 a wry was the development ofLEOs-­ Group v.P. and G.M. The most sue­ long ,md imprpssivl' list ofSUl'l'l'ssful light-emitting diodes-that are !>1ill cessfuljoint project produced an a m&jor business for thal group. entire new business area for HP­ Another, in which Roland was ultrasonic imaging, New products based directly involved around 1975, was wMedical L" one of the disciplines HP's fin..t fiber-optic link. It was a where the next-bench iJ)'l1drome on transfers (from collaborative effort among Labs doesn't work because none of us are HP Labs) continue to researchers. After experimenting on practicing physicians," Ben says. it for almost 18 months, they were "The conventional wisdom ofputting accountfor the bulk of joined by a division engineer to help physicianson staffisn't the right HPsa.les. conduct feasibility studies_The engi­ thing to do because then they stop neer took it back with him, and one practicing medicine and their experi­ year later it was unveiled---and ence is frozen in time. IK'W produl't~ and (('('hJ1o!ogies (se(' resulted in the fonnation ofthe "'The close working relationship list on pagp T), Optical Conunwlica1ion Division. ofHPLabs and itsoutside medical 111<' l~l(,t is lhal a ~('at maIl,' Ilpdi,·i· uNeither ofthese were sure advisory board truly results in a con­ siolls han' ()(,('Il formed (U"Ound Ill' things," Roland says. "Labs should be tinuing Oow ofclinical ideas which Labs' l'onni1>utiolls, ancllw\\ prochH IS working on the edge-takingrisks­ gettnmed into products. That inter­ based on tnuL"ifers l'olllinUl' to a('( (1l1ll1 providing there are reasonable argu­ change ofideas isa great strength for the bulk of lIP sall·s. ments for pursuing them." forus." ( )nt' ofthp kpy hlCtors in HI'L's ('ffel'­ 4 l\l£ASlII{E Labs researchen (from left) Keith Moore, GregGibbons and JulieWilker discuss a measurement and manufacturing systems lab project. tiveness is, as Frank explains it, "an The function ofthe hub, ofcourse, is During the pa.<;t year, the 1,O()()-person environment that fosters innovation and to support those spokes with advanced organization, which includes about creativity, and accepts 'intelligent fail­ research. That includes ba.<;ic res('arch 600 researchers, formalized the practice ure' as an integral part of the process." undertaken by HP Labs as well a" explo­ ofinteraction among those units by add­ Given the success ofthe HP transfer rations and adaptations ofresearch ing a new framework-"strategic port­ process, why was Labs formed as late as emerging from university and industrial folios" and "programs." 1966 when the company wa.<; already on laboratories. Each offoUT portfolios supports a a 27-year roll? Co-founder Bill Hewlett There's a lot of pressure on that common husinl:'s." strategy: materials provided the answers three years ago: huh. Even while they're looking five to and microstructures, manufacturing, "In 1957-to preserve the intimacy measur('ment, computation. Programs we had enjoyed as a smaller company­ are the means by which the portfolio we decided to form four divisions, each teams, each headed by a lab clirector, with its own R&D lah. However, after The BristolLabs was a now will undertake the rapid integration several years we found that division key contributor to the of new technologies into the product engineers were so concerned with day­ early HP NewWave clivisions. They will do this with multi­ to-day problems that they didn't have di.,ciplUlaty teams ofpeople with ~"pec­ time to develop longer-range plans. We architecture... ialized skills from the various labs. realized that the only way to get that A nE:'W initiative which began in 1989 work done wa., to estahlic;;h a central is the HPL Research Board. It'> 18 distin­ research facility, and we asked Barney seven years down some new and unex­ guished members come from universi­ Oliver to head it." plored road, Lahs researchers have to ties, institutes and industries (five from That chatter still holds. The original begin thinking in terms of ultimate HP) around the world. The hoard's facility ha.c;; grown to includt' nine labs­ destinations, charter is to contribute teehnical fore­ six in Palo Alto, California, two in Bris­ The ba"ic structure ofHP Lahs isjust ca.,t,., and vision related to HP's busi­ tol, England, and one in Tokyo, Japan.