Conference 7.286::digital

    Speaking from experiences at MOSTEK and now at DIGITAL I make the
    following observations:
    1. You may not meet Bob very often, but the whether the conversation is 
       about a focused issue or an industry-wide agenda his responses have
       been cogent, articulate and unforgetable.  He does not have to say
       it twice to get the point accross.
    
    2. If you happen to trade some thoughts with him,... remember well what
       you said...because he will too!  I remember him once recounting (in
       1989) words spoken at a meeting that occured 9 years ago at which I was
       present.   Later, quite by chance ( while moving) I uncovered some
       meeting notebooks..(my journal) to discover that the major bullets
       of another speaker's talk were points he made, and also attributed
       to the correct speaker.  This may say more about my ability to
       forget, than his to remember....but I was impressed!
    
    3. Bob will create a vision and focus the talent of this company. 
       Also recognize that because HE HAS dealt with marketing and sales
       as well as manufacturing and distribution issues of "commodity" 
       electronic products, the circumstances we now see of more rough
       water ahead lead me to believe KO has "done the right thing" ... 
       
      

    Any particular reason why?

    
    re: .2
    
    Well, no one's perfect. If that's is the WORST we can say about him,
    then "Ken did the right thing."
    

    BUSINESS WEEK/AUG 3, 1992 page 64
    (without permission)
    
    CAN 'GQ BOB' GIVE DEC A WINNING MAKEOVER?  By Gary McWilliams
    
      Robert Palmer is one to seize the moment.  In 1970, as a young chip
    designer and co-founder of Mostek Corp., he visited Sprague
    Electronic's lab in North Adams, Mass.  In a corner, he spied an odd
    contraption Sprague had abandoned, recalls L. J. Sevin, another Mostek
    founder and now a venture capitalist.  Palmer realized it could be
    adapted to fix a nagging problem Mostek faced in building memory chips. 
    He was right and his quick insight "had huge commercial implications,"
    says Sevin.
    
      That ability to salvage failed ideas should serve him well as CEO of
    $14 billion Digitial Equipment Corp.  In his seven years at DEC, Palmer
    has proved he can make things happen.  As head of semiconductor
    operations, he got prototypes of DEC's Alpha, its RISC chip, working in
    20 days, not the usual 20 weeks.  Getting Alpha to market quickly is
    crucial for DEC, which badly needs a successful product to replace the
    500,000 VAX minicomputers customers have installed.  Palmer's role in
    the project impressed DEC directors and helped pave his path to succeed
    founder Kenneth H. Olsen.  "He has the leadership qualities," says
    director Thomas L. Phillips, retired chairman of Raytheon Co.  "He
    knows how to make a plan and abide by it."
    
      Palmer's smarts and toughness have served him well since his
    hardscrabble youth.  He was born in Gorman, Tex., a peanut-farming
    community 90 miles southwest of Fort Worth.  In an interview last year,
    Palmer recalled leaving home at age 15 after a dispute with his father. 
    He lived on his own and with friends until finishing high school. 
    Embarrassed at having to wear his friends' cast-off clothes, Palmer
    says he sought self-respect by excelling at school.  He graduated as
    class valedictorian in 1958.
    
      At Texas Tech, in Lubbock, Palmer waited tables while pursuing
    degrees in math and physics.  He joined Texas Instruments Inc. in 1966,
    just as the microelectronics revolutionwas heating up, but left after a
    few years with fellow engineers to form Mostek, now a division of
    France's Thomson-CSF.  With success, Palmer has loosened up.  Now he
    wears expensive double-breasted suits, and sports a year-round tan.  At
    Staid DEC, he's known as GQ Bob.
    
    RULE BREAKER.  He's also known for being fast-moving and decisive in a
    company that has been neither.  Even while closing 10 plants, Palmer
    has managed to make DEC a major force in chip technology.  Palmer also
    has pushed a total-quality management program to trim production times. 
    One strategy: to rely more on local suppliers to keep tabs on the
    quality of parts.
    
      Palmer's success makes him an anomaly at DEC.  He's the outsider who
    flourished in its taciturn engineering culture.  He has gotten along,
    rising quickly, but has broken many rules along the way.  To put DEC at
    the forefront in chips, for instance, Palmer hired key outside talent
    from Thomson and Siemens.
    
      Still, running an entire company--never mind the world's
    third-largest computer maker--poses challenges that Palmer has never
    encountered.  But Sevin, his longtime buddy, predicts that DEC's new
    CEO will rise to the occasion.  "Bob's smart enough to know what he
    doesn't know," Sevin says.  That could be a cardinal virtue for DEC's
    new CEO.
    
    end
    
       

>           -< Why don't you like his hair? A least he has some..:^) >-
>
>    Any particular reason why?

	In my copy of Digital Today, Bob has an ever so soigne
	greased-back look not unreminiscient of a certain movie
	character who happened to go by the name of Gordon Gekko.

	He also drives a Targa.  Hint: it's not a Pinto station wagon.

    I can't fault the man for driving a Porsche!!

Well, note 2017 didn't have an anaylsis of BP's handwriting, so I'll use the
few slim (yet salient) facts in the article in this note to come up with a
little psychoanalytic profile of our new boss.  Scary, isn't it?

>      Palmer's smarts and toughness have served him well since his
>    hardscrabble youth.  He was born in Gorman, Tex., a peanut-farming
>    community 90 miles southwest of Fort Worth.  In an interview last year,
>    Palmer recalled leaving home at age 15 after a dispute with his father. 
>    He lived on his own and with friends until finishing high school. 
>    Embarrassed at having to wear his friends' cast-off clothes, Palmer
>    says he sought self-respect by excelling at school.  He graduated as
>    class valedictorian in 1958.
>
>      At Texas Tech, in Lubbock, Palmer waited tables while pursuing
>    degrees in math and physics.  He joined Texas Instruments Inc. in 1966,
>    just as the microelectronics revolutionwas heating up, but left after a
>    few years with fellow engineers to form Mostek, now a division of
>    France's Thomson-CSF.  With success, Palmer has loosened up.  Now he
>    wears expensive double-breasted suits, and sports a year-round tan.  At
>    Staid DEC, he's known as GQ Bob.

I think you will agree with me that the case of Bob P. is one of almost
classical Adlerian overcompensation.  The "cast-off clothes" of adolescence are
particularly salient, explaining as they do the "double-breasted suits" of the
mature, yet wounded, adult.  At the same time, the clothes also focus on Bob's
persona, or how he subconsciously armors (in the Reichian sense) and presents
himself to the world, something which is also borne out in the "year-round
tan."

The "year-round tan" is also interesting, however, in that it involves a
pronounced irony -- peanut farmers also sport "year-round tans" (I will not
comment on the overall image of the peanut farmer in contemporary American
culture).  Perhaps this provides Bob with a means of "having it both ways" --
to identify and to rebel against his father at the same time.  The inherent
ambivalence should, however, produce considerable tension, thus resulting in
Bob's punitive, oedipal rage.

The oedipal dynamics are, of course, too obvious to comment on.  One wonders if
the sacrifice of the obvious father figure at Digital was not also preceded by
similar, if thwarted, scenarios at Texas Instruments and Mostek.  Castration
anxiety, as expressed in Bob's desire to cut, cut, cut, is the obvious motive
behind these oedipal feelings.  Add in Ann Jenkin as the seductive mother
figure, and the picture is complete.

Note too, however, that there is a definite object relations slant to the case. 
Bob has developed a pronounced pattern of dealing with frustration by using
abandonment (note that the above case history neglects to mention his recent
divorce).  One wonders if this recurrent pattern isn't itself an introjection
of abandonment in early development at the hands of rejecting parental figures. 
In this sense, the obvious acting out of the adolescent runaway has almost the
sense of a primal image or memory, shaping our patient's future psychodynamic
history considerably.

This case must be closely watched for further developments.

	-- Dr. Cliff

> mature, yet wounded, adult.

Hey Bradford, I thought that was the "wounded inner child"?  ;-)

    
    re: .10
    
    okay, okay - enough psychobabble.  What we really need to know is:
    
    
    What's his Sign?
    
    
    
    Marc

    .10: SHALOT::ANDERSON "Bon noyade!"
    
    What does "Bon noyade!" mean ?
    Were it French, it should be "bonne noyade" to be syntactically correct.
    This would mean "good drowning", hardly a nice greeting!
    
    Helmut

>    What does "Bon noyade!" mean ?
>    Were it French, it should be "bonne noyade" to be syntactically correct.
>    This would mean "good drowning", hardly a nice greeting!
    
	This is almost correct.  The term is an artefact from a popular
	discussion in JOYOFLEX (it's also a term in English, but with a
	slightly different meaning -- does the phrase "Carrier's vertical
	deportation" mean anything to you?).  Anyway, thanks for the 
	French tip.  "Bonne noyade" it shall be, now and in the future!
	Au reservoir,

		-- C

    This seems an appropriate place for this...
    
{...forwarding chain deleted...}	...POSTED WITH PERMISSION OF AUTHOR...
    
Subj:	fyi - summary of talk by palmer

From:	SCOMAN::BDUFFY       21-APR-1992 11:12:47.52
To:	YIELD::HARRIS
Subj:	notes from BP presentation on 4/1.
 
These are notes from a presentation by Bob Palmer at the Process Analysis
Symposium for Competitiveness on April 1, 1992, sposored by the Operations
Engineering and Analysis Group (part of the Quality function). This symposium
was held at the Mill. These notes are based on what Bob said, not the slides he
was showing. I was in a remote room where the presentation was being shown with
a projection video system thus the contents of the slides were not intelligible.
 
Paraphrase of Presentation
- --------------------------
 
DEC needs a new definition of value added. Value add  does not occur unless
the actiivity is something the customer will pay for.
 
Effeciency and cost cutting not sufficient. It becomes counterproductive after a
point - revenue growth is the key to DEC's success.
 
The processes by which we run the business need to change. We need to stress
TTM, and our core competencies.
 
DEC is one of first in the computer industry to embark on redesigning its 
supply chain. Those activities not required will be elimintated and those that
are required will be optimized.
 
Customers need a single interface to DEC - the accounts. The account must 
provide a single focus with multiple points of entry for global customers.
 
An opportunity for DEC lies in improving the flow of information (systems) 
within the company. This in itself is a salable skill/product.
 
The process of new product development is an area where major improvement
can be made. DEC spends $1.6B/year on product development. The results of this
effort feed into the supply chain (which is being redesigned).
 
Adrianna Stadecker, Palmer's Human Resource "Achitect" is leading the effort
to model the supply chain. Five teams started a TOP mapping excercise last 
November. The overall objective is to design a flawless, fast and simple 
delivery of products as perceived to customer.
 
FY95 is target for completing the manufacturing restructuring. 
 
Performance of system supercedes any group's own objectives. The system includes
metrics for upper management and reward system comensurate with these metrics.
The message to upper management is that there are too many upper managers and 
those who do not proactively work toward streamlining the supply chain will not
survive (BP will not keep tree huggers).
 
DEC MUST:
- - Empower the people who know the jobs best to improve them (stressed teamwork).
- - Stop present end of quarter "hockey stick" behavior (31% of revenue 
  recognized in last week of quarter).
- - Change the way we goal and reward the sales force
- - Use Tech file in SCO as model for manufacturing in rest of company in future.
- - Make EOL improvements (we are leaving bad disks out there because we make $
  fixing them!!!!).
- - Make time to profit as important as FRS (presently engineering declares 
  victory after the first system ships).
- - Simplify the array of products using K.O. platform concepts.

 
 
 
								page 2
 
Customers want us to be predictable as well as easy to do business with.
The DECdirect distribution channel for PC's has exceeded forecasts (an effort
to make it easier for customers to do business with us).
 
More products going to catalog channels (BP/Zereski jointly working this).
 
Delivery Model: One worldwide model needed. Palmer's ownership of manufacturing
AND logistics makes this possible. He wants a geographically distributed global
model with more coordination, not a different flavor for each area.
 
DEC has 17 planning data systems. They vary from geography to geography, from
manufacturing to the field etc... Different part #'s are used for the same item
in different organizations. Much of the information is not cross connected.
These types of problems are not unique to DEC.  We want to sell the expertise 
we develop in this discipline to customers. Part of Adriana's responsibility 
is to document and package our methodology.
 
And example of where systems robustness can help to in adhering to the Federal
Gov'ts Denied Parties List. The system should make it tough to break the law.
Bob stated that he would prefer to stay out of jail.
 
DEC needs common standards for customer profiling and priorization and for part
number. These need to be easier for sales to understand. A single invoice 
for shipment is needed (we ship in pieces and invoice separately).
 
DEC needs to explore fundamental management changes. Presently revenue is 
recognized when shipment is made off the dock. BP favors changing revenue
recognition to the time of customer acceptance. The off the dock policy
explains the hockey stick effect at the end of month. Making such a change 
would shift sales emphasis from making the shipment to making sure the customer
is happy. Under the present system we recognize the vast majority of the revenue
for a system even if it is totally useless to the customer because a small 
component is missing (a cable for example). BP will push this in order to 
drive the appropriate behaviors in the sales force. Of course there will
be a huge loss first quarter you do this.
 
DEC needs to disinvest is non-core competencies:
- - Semiconductors and software are key core competencies for DEC.
- - There has been an overinvestment in past in some technologies
- - Don't have to lead in Surface Mount Technologies, just be good
- - We have to be the leader in CPU's and semiconductors 
- - DEC only needs 6 complex plants
- - DEC has 80 sites for distribution hubs and mfg.
- - We're not even on the conservative growth path used for site need forecasting
- - DEC is definitely not disinvesting too fast.
 
Desktop systems should all be fundamentally the same with different cards to
tailor the achitechture to MIPSCO, NVAX, Alpha, X86 etc...
This reduces system hardware design engineering  needs.
The rate of progress much too slow in this regard. Bob criticized KO and 
Strecker for the lack of progress. "There have been meetings ad nauseum for
the last year".
 
Bob wants firm, measureable commitments from VP's with dates, dollars and names
associated with them. He used himself as a good example of this:

 
 
 
							page 3
 
DEC had 35 manufacturing plants "that it would admit to" at the beginning of
FY92. There will be 25 by the end of the year and fewer in the future.  Some
plants will exist for geographical/political reasons, not fundamental need. 
 
DEC closed the Puerto Rico plant after 25 years. This was painful to BP but 
DEC needs the same ability to make tough decisions in Engineering.
 
In the course of working on the supply chain model the teams noticed that 
$300-400 million in engineering expenditures were totally un-necessary and even
counter-productive. 
 
In the next 3 years BP's organization will reduce by 15K people, $1B in cost 
($500M in '93). 
 
This presentation was made to the Executive Committee in January. It was 
received enthusiastically. BP committed that by '95, we will be the benchmark
for supply chain comparison. 
 
Management structure of Mfg. & logistics will shrink (remote sites away from 
Maynard will be affected first). BP is getting management support on tough 
decisions even though they are hard for the executives who have been with DEC
for a long period of time.
 
Question and Answers
- --------------------
 
[Since I was not in the room, I did not here exactly what the questions were but
the answers were interesting nonetheless]
 
ENGINEERING PROBLEMS: Engineering deadlocks are to be driven by 3 Mktg groups
with inputs from customers. No major project eliminations yet. KO was
embarassed at last board meeting by lack of plans to show progress in
developing future product/revenue plans. It will take until '95 for DEC to be
best in class. It will take so long because we have to change engineering and
get new products into the revenue stream. BP wants to measure progress
quarterly and let people set their own time goals (so they can be held
accountable). 
 
COSTS: Transfer costs and variances are tough to benchmark. We should go to
actual cost. We need to get competitive cost info back from the field to use as
our benchmark (real time benchmarking). BP's job is to make the gap between our
costs and benchmark costs zero. He wants to be evaluated on real, clear goals
and be rewarded accordingly. The computer industry is becoming exactly like the
semiconductor industry (hardware rapidly becomes low margin commodity). 
 
COMPENSATION: When BP first came to SCIT, rewards were smeared (peanut butter
approach). The Best I/C designer in world would get 1% more than someone making
a much lower contribution. The handful of "Larry Birds" have to be paid 
commensurate with their contributions.  Good people performing at acceptable 
levels may not get raises every year. Adrianna is driving this philosophy into
BP's Manufacturing and Logistics organization.
- - Our best people must be paid as well as other companies' best people.
- - All others must be paid adequately. If you want more - do more.
- - "If you lose key players you we don't win games."

 
 
 
								page 4
 
GOALS: The rest of the company is not yet clearly articulating goals. BP
expects others to emulate him and his organization. While BP's colleagues agree
with him they  (Strecker mentioned specifically) "have not figured out the
methodology" for implementation. 
 
UTILIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY: In '85 the uVax chip was 30-40% behind Moto and 
Intel performance. In '92 we are the leader in CPU technology. DEC is not good
however at getting this technology into the revenue stream. "We have to build
Fab 6 in order to stay in the lead in CPU's. If it is not approved we will 
we will need to use other alternatives but we will not stay in the lead."
BP mentioned that he recently visited his friend TJ Rogers. Cypress makes
2/3 of the SPARC chps used in SUN work stations). TJ moaned that Sun is always
beating on him for more of his latest chips. It struck BP at this point that 
DEC does not even have a workstation on the market using its latest technology.
Our workstations (which are doing fairly well) are based on last year's 
technology (CMOS3 MARIAH chip set).  "This is not competant!". The workstations
we are selling today should be based on NVAX. ALPHA is being gated by software
which is another testimony to DEC's inability to leverage its core competencies.
There is no point in Fab 6 if we don't intend to use its full capacity in 
systems.
 
ON WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE COMPANY : Lack of confidence in executive management 
(BP's level and above). This needs to be dealt with it in a candid straight 
forward manner or employees will vote with their feet and stockholders with 
their money. Management must recognize problem at its root cause and communicate
the program to fix it. BP stated that Jack Smith had stated this the day prior,
thereby providing testimony that these issues are being acknowledged.
14 VP's lost in last 12-18 months. The message is [or needs to be] that the
executives will be held accountable or get out.