[Collins] Re: black beauty

[fclarke]

When I was working in a lab during college summers, there was a sign
hanging in the plant director's office that read:

"There comes a time in every project when you must shoot the engineer
and get on with production"

Seems true!

Tom/W4OKW

Glen Zook wrote:
> 
> Art was a technical genius but a lousey businessman.
> Back in the mid-1960s the Wall Street Journal did a
> piece on Collins Radio.  Therein they stated that
> Collins Radio survived "in spite of Art Collins, not
> because of him".
> 
> I only worked at the "new" corporate headquarters in
> Richardson, Texas, for two years.  However, my job was
> such that I was exposed to several of his "quirks" on
> a regular basis.
> 
> He would keep trying to perfect a product so that it
> would never make it beyond the prototype stage even
> though it was definitely capable of doing the job for
> which it was designed.  He would stop the shipment of
> equipment to add the "latest and greatest"
> modification.  Then, before it got out the door, he
> would order more modifications.  That is why you had
> to get him interested in a different project so you
> could actually ship the products to the customers.
> 
> Myself and a lot of other former Collins employees can
> tell a lot of "tall" tales about Art (that are really
> true!).  As I said before, he was a technical genius,
> but if it hadn't been for other, more business minded
> individuals, Collins Radio would have folded a long
> time before Art sold out to Rockwell International.
> 
> His "downfall" was trying to produce a computer that
> was "better than IBM".  He had buildings 406 and 408
> constructed just to produce the computer line.  One
> summer (when it was near, or even above, 100 degrees
> outside), the computer buildings started getting
> pretty warm.  Art had all of the chilled water
> diverted from building 402 (which was connected to 406
> and 408) to cool those two buildings.  Those of us in
> building 402 really "sweated out" those days!
> Fortunately, I had excuses to go to the other
> buildings on the campus, but most of the employees in
> building 402 couldn't get away!  When the computer
> line basically failed, Art sold out to Rockwell
> International at a substantially lower per share than
> the company was really worth.  However, he got enough
> money that he never worried until the day he died.
> 
> The vast majority of Collins equipment, both amateur
> and commercial, is of the utmost superior quality.
> But, it was not always the result of Art's personal
> involvement.
> 
> Glen, K9STH
> 
> --- kwylow zinjanthropus <catman351@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Whatever the endstate Mr. Collins might have taken, it
> comes as a surprise when we desire the history quality
> that Collins equipment is known for and these little
> tidbits of information comes up to us on our flank.
> 
> =====
> Glen, K9STH
> 
> Web sites
> 
> http://home.attbi.com/~k9sth
> http://home.attbi.com/~zcomco
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> Sponsored by the Collins Radio Association
> http://www.collinsra.com