Luce

"After the yield breakthrough for the NPN diffused type, IBM breathed a sigh of relief, because a major bottleneck in their computer production was removed. TI was even happier, because the customer was satisfied, and when pricing had been negotiated, the assumed yield was very low (close to the yield of IBM’s benchmark line). Now the actual yield was several times higher, and profits were also several times higher than expected. Luce’s gamble—fully staffing up when the yield was zero—also paid off."

"Finally one day, I was talking with the foreman when I suddenly heard a tester shouting from twenty feet away. The foreman and I immediately rushed over. While we were hurrying over, the tester had already stood up and was waving his arms excitedly. Operators from the same line also gathered around the tester. We guessed there must be good news. Sure enough, that batch of products actually had a 40% pass rate, and the tester was so excited he couldn’t even speak. A few minutes later, Luce came running over with a big smile—he had already heard the good news. A few minutes after that, my supervisor also came running over with a big smile. The question they cared about most was: “Do you remember how this batch was done?” Of course I remembered. Not only did I remember, I had also written it down in my notebook. That day the full-day yield was 25%, several times higher than any previous day. Everyone probably remembers the happiest moment of their life; that day was the happiest day in my twenty-seven years of life. It was September 1958, four months after I joined TI."

"If I ask myself honestly, why was it that I could achieve some results as soon as I “first tried to make my name” at TI? In my first half year at TI, what I knew and what I could do was not much different from the latter part of my time at Sylvania; at Sylvania, my colleagues and I under Cory also designed and developed quite a few decent transistors, but in the end those achievements all faded into obscurity. Why? At Sylvania, I did not have a big customer anxiously waiting for delivery—if I succeeded in production, he would immediately relax; I did not have a supervisor who had already negotiated a reasonable price with the customer—if I broke through on yield, he could make a lot of money; I did not have a production department that cooperated closely like Luce’s, full of confidence, gambling together and winning together; I did not have a group of enthusiastic operators with team spirit, pulling together through hardship and cheering and dancing with excitement in success; and I especially did not have senior management who could understand the problem and appreciate the achievement. These conditions that I did not have at Sylvania but did have at TI were all because TI and Sylvania were two companies different in nature—different environment, different people. TI gave me opportunities that Sylvania never gave me."