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The End of Beginnings

Posted October 05, 2008 8:06 AM

One of the most important contributors to industrial research for the past half-century is being shut down. To reduce operating costs, Bell Laboratories, the birthplace of the transistor and other trivial technologies, is disbanding the group that conducts its most basic research. Where will tomorrow's innovations come from? Are you cutting back on R&D? What value does it provide? How will you keep your future product pipeline filled without them? Does your research team cooperate with competitors through consortia or industry groups or do you go it alone?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Semiconductor Fabrication, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Semiconductor Fabrication today.

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Epke
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#1

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/05/2008 10:52 PM

From emerging companies in the east like China?

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Self Thinker
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#5
In reply to #1

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 5:55 AM

Correct.

And since the politicians think that innovation and ideas are the future of the US economy, where does that leave us. I think the business leaders (MBA's and other middle management guru's,) need to talk with the governt boys and get on the same page. Instead of chasing a shrinking dollar.

Being in Japan you are closer to the Red China, not an easy feeling.
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Laughing Jaguar
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#6
In reply to #5

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 10:32 AM

Self wrote: "And since the politicians think . . . . ."

Politicians think?

What country do you live in?!

L. J.

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Self Thinker
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#8
In reply to #6

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 4:32 PM

As my moniker states I am a thinker and know that you do not have to do it well in order to do it.

Also empirical proof is that they "THINK" very highly of themselves.
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dadw5boys
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#2

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 12:14 AM

I thought bell labs was one of the companys like Lucent who went to china and opened 150 or more research labs when they only had 5 in the USA before the move.

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Laughing Jaguar
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#3

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 12:39 AM

The end of Bell Labs began the day that the Federal Government broke up Bell Telephone.

Up until then, anyone, with an idea to pursue, could request a research and development budget and go play. One buddy of mine was actually born at Bell Labs when his mom, an employee, went into labor. He grew up in the shadow The Lab in New Jersey.

Bell labs paid for his education and he worked there for his entire life in what he called a paradise for innovators and "out of the box thinkers".

When the Baby Bells were formed, Lucent got Bell Labs and immediately, research budgets were slashed. My freinds told me that the only way one could get a exploratory budget was to either be a Nobel Laureate or show conclusively that the idea would generate positive cash flow, almost immediately.

It was rather ironic. The smart money was betting on Bell Labs doing well and Lucent failing. One reason was that under the former operation, there was no competition. And with no one to compete against, there was little concern for a lean and mean managerial hierarchy. Lucent was burdened with more middle managers than a government agency and indeed, after the breakup, Lucent stumbled badly while Bell Labs, continued to perform well due to it's creative momentum.

However, cost cutting soon pulled the legs out from under the Labs and the creativity that had been so prevalent for so many decades, virtually disappeared.

For creative, ambitious people, Bell Labs had generous education tuition programs. It was said to be a very relaxed environment and had significantly low turnover according to the many I know who once "played" there productively.

Bell Labs created a lot of innovative devices that altered the course of America. It was put to death by those who always seem to be in on the disaster. . . . . . . . the dreaded "Bean counters" and the managers with the Harvard MBA's.

L. J.

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TheVoices
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#10
In reply to #3

Re: The End of Beginnings

11/14/2008 9:12 AM

At its peak Bell Labs produced more than a hundred patents on new technology per day.

Per day.

The Marching Morons broke it up and left the remnants for the Buzzards (MBAs, bean counters and other money-grubbers) to feed on, and now Bell Labs is little more than an anecdote.

This is a travesty!!!

Worse, it says -- no, SHOUTS -- volumes about the value America places on unfettered R&D. And Bell Labs isn't the only victim. It's going on everywhere, all in the name of Quick Profits and The Bottom Line.

And look at us now. We're quickly becoming a nation of boutiques & fast food. Eat your grease burgers and get your nails done.

You know that old saying, "Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime?"

Too late. The Buzzards ate the bait 'n' drained the lake.

In ten business days Bell Labs produced more patents than Thomas Edison did in his entire lifetime. And did Edison's inventions make money for his investors?

I can tell you one thing, if Edison had worked for Lucent we'd still be reading by gaslight.

TV

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#4

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 12:44 AM

I'm not sure of this but I think Lucent spun off Agere and they morphed into LSI. When they split, Bell Labs was supposed to be divided between the two.

I worked for Lucents fiberoptic amplifier manufacturing division when we became Agere (2001). Fiber crashed in 2001 and I was gone. Sometime around 2004, the Allentown facility got a big LSI sign.

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dadw5boys
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#7
In reply to #4

Re: The End of Beginnings

10/06/2008 11:43 AM

I was reading a Chinesse Newpaper online a few years ago and Lucent had a deal with the Chinesse Government to open 153 R & D Labs near most of the Colleges and Industrial sites all over China.

The report cited the onlt 5 labs they had in the USA at the time.

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Anonymous Poster
#9

Re: The End of Beginnings

11/09/2008 8:10 PM

Where is Roger Pink when we need him?
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Anonymous Poster (1); dadw5boys (2); Epke (1); Jaguar (1); Laughing Jaguar (2); Self Thinker (2); TheVoices (1)

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