[Collins] WAS KWM-2 THEN black beauty NOW Management Style of Companies

[Ian Webb]

I sometimes wonder what kind of radio equipment we might have seen from Collins if something like this were in place in the 50s and 60s.....????

Sometime in the late 1950s to early 1960s HP bought out Harrison Labs that was at the time well known for its wide range of power supplies.  When the founders of the company left and retired after a few years with HP and moved to Santa Barbara, my wife became friendly with his wife who was one of the founders since she was an active participant in the company.  We had several occasions to socialize with them and it was very interesting to hear their attitude about how business should be run.

(Dr.) Bill Harrison later became the acting Dean of the infant University of California, Santa Barbara, Engineering School and was part of the reason that UC Santa Barbara built what is today a very well respected engineering school.  We moved from the area during that period but I believe he served as Dean more than once during the early days of the engineering school.

When HP took over the Harrisons agreed to remained for a few years and they had an agreement that Harrison Labs would NOT be bound by HP's recruiting salary restrictions.  When they found somebody whom they thought would be an asset to the company they would offer more $$$ than anybody else would offer in order to get that person "on board."  They said other HP groups were annoyed because the Harrison Lab recruiters could offer more money and would usually get new employees that other HP groups would like to have had.  However they, from the very beginning, explained that there was a trial period during
which the person's performance would be closely monitored.  If he didn't fit with the way the company operated and perform well in their environment then they agreed that he would leave with no hard feelings on anybody's part.  (Yes, most all were "he" in those days.)

Bill Harrison was the technical person and his wife was the financial and office management person and it seemed from talking with them several times that they pretty well shared the overall management decisions of the company.

As I remember their description of the process, they would have a list of all the projects that might be worth pursuing, gathered from any person and anywhere.  Everybody knew what was on the list at all times.  All projects that were felt to have potential and fit with Harrison Labs product line.  When one of the engineers finished a project, they were free to put in a proposal to work on whatever of the products on the list (or another one they might think up) that they were interested in and which they felt they could develop into a viable project.

I think they put together a timeline and agreed to how long they'd work to try to bring the idea to fruition.  When/if they were successful they were then a partner in that product, worked to bring it to production, and were paid a percent of the income that product brought to the company when it became a product offered for sale.

>From supplies I purchased for the company where I was an engineer Harrison Labs seemed to be on the cutting edge of the available power supplies and I never had one of their supplies that didn't perform as the product information said it would.

Of course with their "work out or leave" policy, understood up front, they had either disappointed ex-employees who didn't perform and work out or very loyal employees who worked well in that environment and who were doing well financially because of their sharing of the revenues from products that they developed for the company.

Of course as far as I know, the name Harrison Labs disappeared into the HP name after several years.

Can you imagine what type of equipment would have come from Collins if Art had an arrangement like that in place for Collins engineers and was able to let creative engineers put their own ideas into a product without hindrance????

Barockteer@aol.com wrote:

> It's interesting to note the differences in 'style' between the inspirational minds of companies with great reputations. I like to compare and contrast Art Collins' style against that of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. These guys had a great combination, in that besides being brilliant engineers, they also had some pretty decent business sense, especially in Dave Packard. Also, rather than micro-manage their smart people, Bill and Dave's philosophy, which became 'The HP Way', was to believe that their employees wanted to to the best they could, and the way to encourage them to do so was to trust them.
>
> The interesting thing is that both Collins and HP products had a reputation for quality and innovation, although apparently they were achieved through very different management styles.
>
> 73,
>
> Tony, K1KP
>
> p.s. Please do not confuse the HP mentioned in this email with the HP of today! They're totally different companies, sharing only the same name....