First the depot, now R & D... What's next?

[kc7gr]

I found this story to be unsurprising, though sad...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/16 ... labs_jobs/

Essentially, for those who don't want to visit the link, Motorola is cutting back their R & D efforts by half. Lots of layoffs and relocations.

AND they're getting out of the mobile phone handset business by 2009? I didn't know this until I saw mention of it in the article.

I guess the damage done by so many years under Ed "Chainsaw" Zander ran too deep. One can only wonder what's next.

Keep the peace(es).

[Dan562]

Let me set you straight on the Circle M Ranch reducing it's employee's headcount as the process started under Christopher Galvins (MBA) CEO & COB tenure in June of 1998 and hasn't stopped till there are not any American personnel other than the MOTOROLA Corporate American Management Team members left at the company. Anyone outside of the U.S.A. can perform the basic "R & D" function for the corporation at a fraction of the financial cost allowing the GREEDY management to shove bigger bonuses into their pockets. Eventually MOTOROLA will go the way of the Dinosaurs and you haven't seen any live Dinosaurs roaming around lately have you?

Dan

[kc7gr]

Thanks for the clarification, Dan. I wasn't aware that the nastiness had actually started that far back (although I did get the willies when I heard about the field service division being sold off -- perhaps that was more of a sign than I thought).

Keep the peace(es).

[DJP126]

Dan is right with Chris Galvin starting the downfall. First you had the COSCs (Company Owned Service Center) sold off. Then the fiascoes with Iridium and Telesim (both resulting in huge losses). You also had the resistance to bringing out any digital cellular handsets (resulting in loss of market share and more layoffs). When Motorola finally did produce digital handsets, they were more or less a "We have these too" copy of what was out there in analog, nothing new and innovative (resulting in more loss of market share and more layoffs). The RAZR finally started a turn around (the original engineering came when under Galvin but Zander got all the credit as the RAZR didn't come to market until after the change of CEOs. Zander was content to push the RAZR as much as possible and AGAIN not bring out ANYTHING that was innovative) There was also the selling of the Component Products Division, the Government Electronics Division and the Automotive Division (the last two under Zander's "greedership" when they both had very lucrative contracts pending. The contracts were awarded but to the companies that bought the divisions and those contract were worth MORE than the sales price of the divisions. Real good move Ed!). So if R&D is being cut, it really doesn't surprise me.

[JAYMZ]

and the Automotive Division

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but the "Automotive Division" is where Motorola got its start isn't it? If so, so much for remembering their roots.

[DJP126]

Technically, Motorola's roots came in the consumer products division. Their first product was called the "battery eliminator" a very early version of the wall wart. Motorola (Galvin Manufacturing at that time) introduced the first commercially accepted car radio in the 30's and the name Motorola was first introduced ("motor" for motor car or mobile and "ola" for sound). Also introduce in the 30's was the first receiver for police cars (no transmit capabilities yet).

[Jim2121]

well dave you & Jaymz are both right. http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/Company_History
I can recall 1969 when Armstrong flight was over we got handed these little size business cards, printed in color "thanks for your work with the Mercury project" ect....
wish I knew where it was? so much for the timeline

[JAYMZ]

The concept of a car radio was actually originated by William Lear and Elmer Wavering who approached Galvin Manufacturing to make their car radios. In fact the first test of these radios was to install it in the car of a bank manager when they applied for a loan to expand production. It was an utter failure... the car burned up because of the radio install. Lear and Wavering persisted and Galvin Manufacturing eventually became Motorola... the name of their first successful car radio.

Oh and Lear went on to develop that funny little jet known as the LearJet in 1963. Lear also holds patent for something like 150 different products... like the 8 track player.

[Dan562]

in 1998 MOTOROLA, Inc had 150,000 employees worldwide actively working. today in 2008 there are 66,000 and two-thirds are living and working outside of the United States of America in places like China, India, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ireland, France, Germany, England, Japan and Viet Nam Designing, Developing and Manufacturing the actual products that you people use. U.S. born and raised citizens are a rare commodity at the Schaumburg and Libertyville Campuses. Made in the U.S.A. and company loyalty means absolutely n-o-t-h-i-n-g to the corporation!

When the United States got involved with World War II, this really put Motorola on the map with our U.S. Federal Government's Military Machine. When Motorola switched it's manufacturing to Government Electronics as many industries did at the request of our U.S. Government, the developing of the first two-way handheld walkie-talkies radios were manufactured under GSA contracts for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Our front line soldiers involved with the heavy fighting in the field now had the means of communicating back to their commanders requesting cannon fire / shelling at the enemy positions or other information.

http://www.milradio.com/Pictures/Usa/BC-611.jpg The BC-611 handheld.

http://www.milradio.com/Pictures/Usa/AN-ARC-44-PSU.jpg

This is a Dynamotor ARC-44-PSU Power Supply Unit.

I can remember some versions of this item in 80 Ds Mobile transceivers used by the local Fire Departments even into the early 1970s! Man those units weighed a ton or they seemed that heavy!

http://www.armyradio.com/arsc/customer/ ... 108&page=1

This popular but compact PRC-6 handheld in the photographs of the front and back views says it all. I'll bet you people are happy you don't need to lug these units around in an emergency disaster!

After WWII, Motorola continued to Design, Develop and Manufacture the Military / Government Electronics through their Government Electronics Group, first on the northside of Chicago on Cicero Ave and then moved the entire operation out west to Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding towns. The Semiconductor Group was also located out in the Phoenix area. The Consumer Radio and Television Group was split between Elgin and Franklin Park, IL.till it was Sold to the Japanese in 1974.

It was Daniel Noble (a R & D engineer) who convinced Bob Galvin to go into the Land Mobile Radio Communications Business after WW II, which 99% of you people are involved with and some have witnessed great changes in this industry and technology!

Bob Galvin learned early on that a successful company should have diversified products and divisions so when one division doesn't do so well, the other divisions will help maintain and boost the over all bottom financial line. No matter what anyone claims today and into the future, Bob Galvin was and continues to be a difficult act to follow as far as a motivational leader, industry innovator and a descent boss to work and communicate with, inside and outside the corporation he nurtured.

In Q3 & Q4 of 1985, I was on loan to the Cellular Subscriber’s Test Equipment Group modifying and building test fixtures for use in the U.K. I stepped out of the lab to get some components from the Engineering Stock Room and was stopped by the Engineering Manager that I was working for on this project. I had known this guy for many years and we got along well. Anyway Tom had stopped me to tell me something that took place over in the Corporate Tower Building that he could hardly believe himself. It seems that the personnel in Corporate had devised a plan to rid the company of all of their non-degree technical personnel that did not possess a 4-Year college or university degree from a bona fide institution by 1996.

I looked at Tom and said, “What, are you kidding?” He went on to state that all of Motorola’s newest personnel will be required a 4-Year College degree and the people coming to the company with, I’ll say a BSEE will be put on the repair bench as a technician (some times that should have happened anyway). Further more, these BSEEs will not be able to transfer into a better or higher paying positions till they achieve getting their MSEE. I looked at Tom and stated, Yeah, Right! Like he was kidding me but he wasn’t. The Corporate Road Map took a little longer to process this plan but by 1998 the whole Motorola “House Of Cards” were coming apart at the seems and thousands of degree and/or non-degree personnel were being shoved out the doors at an alarming rate and it hasn’t stopped.

Everyone in Corporate Management that followed Bob Galvin, starting with his own son Christopher Galvin did not and does not understand the Motorola philosophy including Edward Zander and the current CEO Greg Brown.

As Dave DJP126 has stated that Motorola's Government Electronics Sector was Sold off in the Spring of 2001 for less than the contract just signed over to Motorola, to pay off the Big Wall Street Stock Investors because of Christopher Galvin's zealous theories and inept MBA knowledge of the facts that surrounded the Iridium Project / Fiasco. Just ask yourself, "Who could afford a system that required 66 LEO Satellites, Phones that cost an individual $6,000.00 each and Air-Time at $5.00 per minute?" Not Motorola, there's only one user that could afford a system like Iridium and this is the U.S. Federal Government with all of their Armed Forces and the three (3) letter Federal Agencies. The idea to provide a worldwide Telephone system to other users was envisioned by Christopher Galvin, Mister (Expert) MBA who must have slept through his classes at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Christopher Galvin's educational schooling is an interesting true story in itself but I will not tell the story right now.

If Christopher Galvin would have used his knowledge in better ways, when the September 11, 2001, attack on the U.S.A., MOTOROLA's Government Electronics Sector would have been in-line for many GSA Contracts to build more hardware for our Military Machine and provided plenty of financial revenue to pay back those Big Investors many times over.

When Christopher Galvin Retired his father in 2003 at the age of 81, the longest active Motorola employee, Bob Galvin left and started two (2) new companies which had nothing to do with electronics. The first company, Galvin Electricity Initiative deals primarily with the U.S. Electrical Grid Networks and the second company is called, Harrison Street - Real Estate Capital, LLC, which are privately funded from Bob Galvin. Christopher Galvin is now employed again with his brother Michael Galvin and Christopher N. Merrill at this company. If you take the time to read Christopher’s background and then his brother Michael’s background, you might see there’s a major difference in the two brothers intelligence levels. I think Michael is much smarter and possibly an over achiever.

http://www.galvinpower.org/

http://www.harrisonst.com/

Getting back to Iridium, it continues to exist and has some usage in remote areas like Alaska besides being used world wide by our military and government agencies. The satellites were never dumped in the oceans as Christopher Galvin wanted the General Public to believe and Motorola continues to manufacture the Iridium Phones for the main user.

When the Semiconductor Sector was originally set-up to be sold off, it was during Christopher Galvin (Mr. MBA) CEO & COB tenure and completed while Ed "The Chainsaw" Zander was CEO.

Now Ed "The Chainsaw" Zander, CEO was not of Motorola background and he did not understand that new products take a 3~4-year cycle time before being introduced into the market place. The Automotive Segment was on the verge of landing a $44 Billion Dollar contract for new automotive computers / GPS systems but Ol' Ed "The Chainsaw" Zander SOLD that Group off for less than $660,000.00 to Motorola biggest competitor. The money received brought up Motorola's bottom line but it did not last very long with the expenses being burnt off by Cellular and Corporate. I consider Ed "The Chainsaw" Zander a real Corporate American I-D-I-O-T and when he stepped down the Motorola spokesperson referred to Ed's "5-Year" employment span as T-E-N-U-R-E! The Corporate personnel need to learn how to do very basic math especially how to count!

Greg Brown the present CEO demanded the BODs to pay him $1.2 Million Dollars a Year to help run the company into Bankruptcy and he's doing an E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T job of it. Of course, Greg’s personal management style and job performance figures because he was hired by none other than Christopher Galvin, Mister Expert MBA, Ex-Motorola CEO / COB, the Grandson of the Founder, Paul Galvin. Now Greg Brown is spinning off the Cellular Products Segment with pressure from Corporate Raider "Carl Ichan" and associates which hasn't performed very well since the RAZR but that was Christopher Galvin conception and Ol' Ed didn't have another Bells & Whistles Product to take it's place ... other than his Yellow Bicycle at the Las Vegas show.

It seems like all of the working employees are held responsible for the company’s failures except the Corporate American Management Team as they’re above the failure causes or major corporate financial blame problems even though they are dictating the company’s road map strategy.

I see that company’s stock has fallen to $7.44 per share on June 23, 2008 and the last time it was this low which was under Christopher Galvin’s corporate guidance, the stock was one step above Junk Bond Status. It’s going to take a miracle to bring the MOTOROLA Stock price up out of the abyss to keep the company from folding up and going into Chapter 11. Most of the former employees I’ve kept in touch with have determined the same thing and we’ve all got our Health Insurance through the company so a lot is at stake at this point in time.

Here at MOTOROLA we do more & more with less & less and eventually we'll do everything with absolutely n-o-t-h-i-n-g or n-o-b-o-d-y!

[Al]

Dan,

You understandably feel the way you do for good reason, I'm sure. However, you seem to be ignoring the fact that CGISS is one of the few or only division making money and now carrying the rest of the company. Icahn and his two cronies on the board want to sell off mobile devices because a.) losses are dragging down the bottom line, and b.) the lack of new ideas since RAZR doesn't look like the division will turn around anytime soon(once you lose market share it's very hard to reclaim it). Icahn is primarily interested in a. above since he and his company own approx. 7% of the outstanding common shares, and stock appreciation is where he and his company make their profits.
While your observations are correct, what's happened at Motorola has also happened at many other companies all over the country. I work for a company that sold off many of it's assets to temporarily boost its bottom line, and now loss of some of the assets like a sizeable hydro power generation facility and millions of acres of forest land is coming back to bite them on the leg in the form of more expensive commercial power. And now that they've bumped up the bottom line, they're taking the company public(again) and saying 'look what a good job we've done managing and improving efficiency and production, and the bottom line proves it!'

[Dan562]

Al,

I'm not ignoring CGISS - Land Mobile Radio Products - Enterprise or whatever MOTOROLA, Inc considers the Segment today, the Division or Segment has been a CASH COW ever since Dan Noble recommended the idea to Bob Galvin after WW II. In fact, the Land Mobile Radio Products Segment has financially under written most of the new ideas that came out of MOTOROLA's Corporate R & D Labs.

I can not tell you how many times I would cringe when I either read or heard people stating that MOTOROLA was only a Cellular Company when there were still six (6) different Sectors or Divisions making up the entire corporation. Further more when I was employed by Cellular in 1984 & 1985, MOTOROLA owned Two-Thirds of the entire Cellular Markets Worldwide. Now, "How much of the Cellular Market has MOTOROLA really lost as of today?"

Twenty some years ago I inquired with my neighbor regarding the prices on Home Smoke Detectors and what was the Profit margins like for each unit sold? The gentleman replied very casually, "We make 2 cents on each unit sold but we sell thousands upon thousands of units each year to boost our bottom line into the $5 Million Dollar Profit range." I can say I was dumb founded hearing this information so when you campare a small company doing this Dollar amount to the former 900 Pound Gorilla known as MOTOROLA, you begin to wonder why their so-called Expert "MBA's" set such a high profit margin for the Consumer Cellular Telephone Market Products. If volumes of units are SOLD then Financial Profits will follow. The other problem that existed was, there were too many Models available to the public and people weren't sure which one was the best. Then they dragged their feet on the Digital technology although MOTOROLA was Designing and Developing the iDEN Product for NEXTEL which is the TDMA Digital Format.

Oh, let me clue you in on the Corporate American Management Team's view on their Loss customers in the United States .... "We do not care because all of the new potential two-way radio sales overseas is our future business." Apparently Al, you haven't noticed MOTORO:A's current Attitude towards their former customer base "except" for Uncle Sam but their personnel are starting to notice the poor lip service too!

I can't understand why all of our major corporations are fumbling and falling apart other than the administrators at the top of the "Chain of Command" perhaps they don't care what happens to the companies anymore. For the most part these individuals can only see the Dollars flowing in and letting the so-called "someone" mind the products but that individual has been furloughed two years ago by the same Corporate personnel.

[MTS2000des]

I've often wondered with Motorola's acquisition of a controlling interest of Vertex-Standard Japan if the game plan is to farm out the CGISS product R&D, manufacturing and support to a smaller firm who has made an art of selling good cheap products. This is almost going down like the Ford/Mazda deal. I would not be surprised if Motorola exits the radio business altogether and let's V-S take over. It would certainly be in mind with the "asset light" model that Chainsaw started when he took the wheel.

But Dan you are oh so right about corporate America selling us out. This is how we are being FedEX'ed into becoming the largest third world country. We import more than we export, the middle class is being reduced to piss poor, and the elite few count their billions on the backs of those who make it for them. Yeah it's time for a change but something tells me we've yet to see the worst of it.

[Dan562]

I think I recall that MOTOROLA intends to sell the Vertex - Standard Product Line as the OEM built RADIUS Product Line or the Low Tier Products. MOTOROLA intends to keep building (outsource manufacturing) the Highest Tier Subscriber Products for Sales to the Federal Government and the Public Safety Markets because these will contain the Encryption / Decryption Modules.

But Dan you are oh so right about corporate America selling us out. This is how we are being FedEX'ed into becoming the largest third world country. We import more than we export, the middle class is being reduced to piss poor, and the elite few count their billions on the backs of those who make it for them. Yeah it's time for a change but something tells me we've yet to see the worst of it.

Here's my theory on the U.S.A. becoming a third world country .... We are already there! And if you consider our elected officials in Washington, D.C., they're all a bunch of "Good Old Boys" in bed with Corporate America and dancing with their lobbyist partners. They're certainly not helping the average middle class American citizens, discriminating against people older than 35 years of age looking for employment. I realize a lot of Bat Labbers are in one form of Public Safety or another and when you hear that our government is coming to help you people, I can imagine some of you cringe hearing this news. From what I've seen with Hurricane Katrina, FEMA's A Bad Joke!

Yes, I realize it takes time to move trailers, water, food and bare essentials into the stricken areas but our own Government waits till the last minute instead of doing preliminary work within 400~500 miles and then moving everything into the hardest hit areas. We have the man power, hardware and necessary communication systems (Iridium) in place to do the job but politicians can't make a decision to save anyone's life, let alone their own political career. The Middle-Class have been always footing the Taxes and as these people lose their good paying jobs, homes, medical insurance, etc. so goes the Taxable incomes right with everything else -- out the window. Who will collect the money from the "no income unemployed people?" And there goes your job too!

[alex]

Yes, I realize it takes time to move trailers, water, food and bare essentials into the stricken areas but our own Government waits till the last minute instead of doing preliminary work within 400~500 miles and then moving everything into the hardest hit areas. We have the man power, hardware and necessary communication systems (Iridium) in place to do the job but politicians can't make a decision to save anyone's life, let alone their own political career.

Dan - not to drag this off topic, but they have gotten a lot better at pre-staging equipment as well as actually getting around to building real disaster caches of equipment. One of the biggest problems in New Orleans was the fact that the Mayor didn't follow any of the pre-plans that were put in place for what had actually happened. He shot himself in the foot and apparently - no one noticed. He too was re-elected. (No buses? Did you forget to move them to high ground your plan called for? oh right... you did... Did you forget to ask ahead of time like the other states did for disaster assistance? Oh right, you did not do that...)

You notice that none of the other area's that were hard hit made the news like New Orleans did. That's because they actually planned and asked for assistance when they were supposed to - so they had it in a timely manner.

I'm not going to say some of the other crap that happened there wasn't some huge joke - but there's a few points I'd at least like to make about it.

Not really defending anyone - but if you remember the news reports and other details during the time you can pick up on some of this.

-Alex

Now back to your regularly scheduled Motorola doesn't know how to run a company discussion.

[Dan562]

Hello Alex,

You notice that none of the other area's that were hard hit made the news like New Orleans did. That's because they actually planned and asked for assistance when they were supposed to - so they had it in a timely manner.

Yes, I recall what you have pointed out. I guess I shouldn't have gone there without all of the facts driving the New Orleans Disaster and following the storm's damage for a couple years now. I stand corrected!

I want MOTOROLA, Inc to succeed in business as much as you people do considering the Land Mobile Radio Products have been # 1 for so many years in many markets all over the world. In the last ten (10) years there have so many mistakes made by the Corporate American Management Team, it's sickening to watch on the side lines and know there isn't a darn thing the present and former working employees can do to correct the company's problems.

Dan

[Paul]

At first, don't forget BC-1000/SCR-300; http://www.vk2bv.org/museum/bc1000.htm
the FIRST production FM radio ever! I still have a couple of them working, in D-Day condition.
At second, you can have a look at the past to tell the future: Back in the 20's and 30's RCA was almost the king of radio while Mot was a small outsider.
At present, RCA is just a brand name used by Thomson Consumer Electronics. GE radio business was a major Mot's competitor and now is another brand name used by Thomson and others. I foresee Mot becoming another nice brand name for cheap Chinese gadgets.

[Dan562]

Paul,

I meant to comment on GE 2-Way Radio Products as being Motorola's major competition. Well, it remains the same but using different names such as GE-Ericcson and now MA/Com under the deverified corporation known as TYCO. MA/COM has landed many of Motorola's major clientele such as the City of Denver, CO and the Denver Airport, they snapped up a Statewide System in Florida because of "Greedy" Motorola Contracts that the company's Project Managers wouldn't renegoiate, up and down the westcoast in California, out east in New York State and I'm not absolutely sure but I think Omaha, NE who wouldn't buy anything unless it had a M with a bunch of O's and ended with the letter A. Essentially under Christopher Galvin, then Ed Zander and rounding out the Corporater I-D-I-O-T-S with Greg Brown the current CEO, n-o-n-e of them understand what S-a-l-e-s & S-e-r-v-i-c-e really means to all of the customers. When a company falls flat on their face by not courting their customers, then they should close their doors. It's pretty much straight forward and simple.

Dan

[xmo]

I'm not sure what you are saying about Omaha, but they are not a Tyco customer. The big Tyco presence in Nebraska is the City of Lincoln / Lancaster County which went with GE's second "Sweet16" [EDACS] system back about 1986.

Omaha purchased a $16M 800 MHz Smartzone 6X system a few years ago. Tyco did not bid that system since the RFP asked for 800 and P25. Tyco does sell P25 on VHF/UHF but they are sticking to their EDACS and OpenSky formats on 800.

Omaha's system has since become the basis of a regional network with a major utility and 2 other Counties joining. It was recently upgraded to Smartzone 7X and is IVD with 700 MHz HPD.

The State of Nebraska is currently in an RFP process to purchase a new VHF P25 trunked State-wide system. They put out an RFI wich had four responders: TAIT, GE Transportation/EADS, Tyco, and Motorola. Those four RFI responders became eligible to respond to the State's RFP:

http://www.das.state.ne.us/materiel/purchasing/2424.htm

[jackhackett]

At first, don't forget BC-1000/SCR-300; http://www.vk2bv.org/museum/bc1000.htm
the FIRST production FM radio ever! I still have a couple of them working, in D-Day condition.

So you're the one that has them! I was wondering why Moto keeps sending me RSS for that thing... they're up to R7349.27.01

[PDH]

Hi Everybody

Chaps I'm very glad too see that many others like myself are concerned about the future of one of the best Communication companies of the world the one with many achievements and bright performance.
I don't know if it's likely to be a replace for MOTOROLA in the future, but let's wish some small companies would be fromed by knowledgeable experts the ex-employee's of MOTOROLA in some limited fields that used to be led by MOTORALA.
Anyway can we say that this could be the end of big achievements and Inspiring ideas? Could it be the last word of the innovation?


Thank for your time