Western Electric @ Merrimack Valley Works May 1981 Special Edition t Wayne Hunt appointed General Manager Wayne L. Hunt, former General becoming Manager, New York Com­ Manager, Purchasing and Transporta­ munications Products Service Center tion, Purchasing and Transportation in 1969, and Manager, Manhattan Ser­ Division, became General Manager, vice Center in 1970. He was promoted Merrimack Valley Works, May 1, suc­ to Director of Division Staff, ceeding William P. Dugan who was Manufacturing Division in 1971, and recently named vice president of the became Director of Engineering and Transmission East Division. Manufacturing at the Omaha Works in 1972. In 1976, he was named Director Mr. Hunt began his Western Electric of Purchasing, and in 1978, he was Wayne Hunt career in 1957, at the company's newly­ promoted to General Manager. established Omaha location and 1981 Bond Drive became Section Chief of Crossbar In­ Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, he at­ Saving has never been more vital spection and Testing in 1959. tended the University of Nebraska, for you - or for America. earning a bachelor of science degree in 1954. Americans who invest in their future In 1961, he was sent to the by buying U.S. Savings Bonds are company's pilot plant at Kansas City, From 1954 to 1957, he served as an also investing directly in the future becoming Department Chief of Wired aircraft maintenance officer in the of their country. Equipment, Inspection and Testing in U.S. Air Force. May 11 thru 22 canvassers for the 1962. Three years later he was pro­ 1981 Bond Drive will be contacting moted and transferred to the Kearny employees about U.S. Savings (N.J.) Works as Assistant Manager of Mr. Hunt married the former Donna L. Wetzel, and they have two sons, Bonds which have increased in in­ Operating, Power and Rectifiers. terest by 10,10; and for Series EE Jeffrey W. and Gregory L. Bonds, the interest climbed to 9% In 1968 he advanced to Manager, when held to maturity. Service in the Northeastern Region, CONTENTS History and Construction ................. page 3 'People . .................. .. ............ pages 4-5 Company Events . .... ... ......... .... .. pages 6-7 Technology and Products ................. pages 8-9 Pioneers ................ ... ............. pages 10-11 Initial construction of the Merrimack Valley Works in 1956. 2 25 Years of Growth Twenty-five years ago, on April 16, 1956, the foundation for the Merrimack Valley Works was established at 1600 Osgood Street, North Andover. At that time, an initial work force of 14 from the factory engineering group occupied the new building. The Haverhill-Lawrence Shops joined to become the Merrimack Valley Works on August I, 1956, and the manufacturing of transmission equipment began at the new plant. Employees occupying the first office at the Works were in the Plant Engineering group. Here, 15 employees worked on the third floor, Lawrence side. Since its inception, the Merrimack Valley Works in North Andover has expanded several times. The first expansions were the lengthening of the office building, and the enlargement of the manufacturing building, both in 1958. In 1959 a separate building for cultured quartz operations was constructed. This building was later enlarged in 1961 for the ferrite powder department. The waste treatment plant was completed in 1969, and expanded in 1973, representing Western's continued concern for the environment. In order to house the Merrimack Valley Bell Laboratories, an addition to the office building was completed in 1969. Another addition completed in 1969 was the 132,000 square foot merchandising warehouse behind the manufacturing building. The most recent a.rldition to the Works is a greater-capacity quartz growing facility completed in Dan Kelleher, Plant Engineer, standing 1976. outside of the not-yet-completed front door in 1956. Western Electric plan­ ners decided back in 1943 where to establish the new works' locations. Building Time Line 1971: Mezzanine within BLDG 70 con­ 1943: Operations est. in Haverhill 1959: A separate building for cultured structed for Thin Film Manufac­ 1951: Lawrence Shop opens , quartz operations built turing 1961: Quartz building enlarged for the Chiller BLDG 44 for air condi­ 1953: Ground breaking for Merrimack Ferrite Powder department tioning of Thin Film Mezzanine Valley Works 1968: Pond and two additional cooling 1973: Chiller Building 45 1956: Original construction-main towers. Extension of Electric Sub-station building Waste treatment started 1975: Waste Treament Expanded April: factory engineering group 1969: Waste Treatment plant com­ 1976: Quartz Crystal Growing occupied new building pleted on November 7 BLDG 37 completed July: manufacturing began Addition to office building, for 1979: Salem, New Hampshire, satellite August: Haverhill-Lawrence Bell Labs, completed (150,000 plant opened on Nov. 26 Shops became MVW sq.ft.) 1980: Georgetown satellite plant open­ 1958: Extension to BLDGs Merchandise w,arehouse behind ed on April 2 20,30,40,41 ; manufacturing building com­ Shawsheen satellite plant opened Electric Sub-station and addi­ pleted (132,000) on April 21 tional cooling tower. BLDG 70 1980: Second mezzanine constructed 3 People working together When the Merrimack Valley Works first opened its doors in 1956, the estimated maximum number of WE employees was set at 6,000. Today, 25 years later, that number has almost doubled. Presently, more than 11,500 people are employed at Western Electric's Merrimack Valley Works and Bell Labs. Western Electric's employees are drawn to the Works mostly from the Merrimack Valley, from 130 different cities and towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Approximately 4,300 of our employees come from the Greater Haverhill area, 4,700 from Greater Lawrence, and 2,400 from New Hampshire. The Works is really a small town. We have our own police force, as well as a fully equipped fire depart­ ment. Our medical department rivals any small town hospital, comprised of Employees in the Credit Union work as a separate entity. emergency rooms, doctors, nurses, and an X-ray technician who handles approximately 30,000 clinical visits a year. We also have our own school system which trains our employees for various blue and white collar job skills, as well as management training programs. Our employees have always been actively involved in the community. The Pioneers, an organization made up of 18 year service employees, are dedicated to community service. The WE Valley Club arranges tours, dances, and other social and sporting events which help keep WE employees active outside of the Works. The Merrimack Valley Works has a 25 year history molded by dedicated, involved employees. We are proud of our fine performance in the telecom­ munications field, and of our service to the community. 4 5 Enjoying Company Events as a Team . , The WEValley Club which organizes social events for the Merrimack Valley Works employees was an outgrowth of the Haverhill and Lawrence clubs. When both clubs came together in North Andover, it was renamed the WEValley Club. In 1956, the club offered a very limited selection of activities such as membership in a bowling league and Family tickets to a few social events, Outings .... However, a year after the Merrimack Valley Works was completed things started happening. In 1957 the Blood Bank was established. In 1960, the softball fields were carved from a lot of land at the north side of the plant. Then in 1966 the first family outing was held at Canobie Lake Park. Throughout the last 25 years the club officers, directors and representatives have initiated a variety of activities that have kept Merrimack Valley employees together. Today the club sells tickets to athletic, social and community events, and aids in organizing company activities that all employees can enjoy. Hello Charley Girl contests ... Sports events ... 6 7 Keeping Pace With Technology Developments in technology before our doors opened in 1956 molded products and processes during the ensuing 25 years at the Merrimack Valley Works. The transistor, developed by Bell Labs in 1947, was the building block of many products at the · Merrimack Valley Works. The transistor made our products smaller, more power efficient and allowed us to engineer more com­ plex and reliable circuitry. Not only did it affect our product, it also changed our processes and production. From the transistor came integrated circuits, a mixture of transistors and other devices on a single piece of silicon. Eventually new technology led to the modern day computer and the microprocessor- a computer on a single piece of silicon. The introduction of economical in­ tegrated circuits made a change from A smorgasbord of products from the late 50's and early 60's: I - N I Carrier; 2 - analog to digital equipment attractive TJ Radio Panel; 3 - 01 Plug-In; 4 - P Carrier; 5 - N2 Carrier Channel Unit. in many applications. Nand 0 Carrier systems were analog equipment manufactured at the Works. This oscillators and filters in Merrimack FERRITE PRODUCTION equipment has largely been replaced by Valley Transmission Equipment. Ferrite, a magnetic material, has 01, 02 and 03 in the early days and been used in transformers and induc­ today we manufacture the 04 equip­ tors since the inception of the Works. ment. The Digital Interface Frame, the In 1956 a building for experiments in Ferrite production was transferred most complex equipment currently growing quartz was constructed. The from the Hawthorne Works in made at the Works, is a digital system building was a temporary sheet metal 1957 -58. used with the No. 4E toll digital swit­ building which housed four autoclaves ching machine. or growing vessels. In 1960 the crystal was grown in what is now the crystal cutting building. Fifteen years later the CRYST AL GROWING present building was erected which contains 36 growing vessels. Until 1959 crystal used in our pro­ ducts was imported from Brazil.