Company History Of Hp

The 30s

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard finished their studies as electrical engineersin the Stanford University in 1934. They became close friend and in 1939 they decided to start a business "and make a run for it" themselves. Hewlett-Packard Company is founded January 1939.Bill and Dave begin part-time work in a garage with $538 in working capital.

Bill's study of negative feedback results in HP's first product the resistance-capacitance audio oscillator (HP 200A), an electronic instrument used to test sound equipment.

The 40s

HP´s products won excellent acceptance among engineers and scientists.

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard create a management style that forms the basis of HP's famously open corporate culture and influences. They run the company according to the principle later called management by objective. It was based on communicating overall objectives clearly and giving employees the flexibility to work toward those goals in ways that they determine are best for their own areas of responsibility.

Bill and Dave make other important management decisions: providing catastrophic medical insurance, using first names to address employees (including themselves), and throwing regular employee parties and picnics.

HP enters the microwave field. At the end of the war, this area quickly becomes an important and growing share of the company's business,

The 50

Hewlett-Packard goes through a growing and maturing process in the 1950s, learning much about the "new" technology of electronics and about the internal effects of growth. The company goes public in 1957.The growing company begins building on the site that will become its corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

HP invents the high-speed frequency counter (HP 524A) and greatly reduces the time required (from about 10 minutes to one or two seconds) to measure high frequencies.

Over the years, frequency counters and related products will account for billions of dollars in revenues

In 1956 HP produces its first oscilloscopes. HP becomes a publicly traded company. Its initial public offering is held November 6, 1957 for $16 per share.

HP begins manufacturing in its first building in the Stanford Industrial Park, Palo Alto. The move to this site at is completed in 1960, when it becomes HP's corporate headquarters.

HP makes its first acquisition: F.L. Moseley Company of Pasadena, California, producer of high-quality graphic recorders. This marks HP's entry into the business of plotters,

Bill sees new possibilities for U.S. companies in Europe based on two developments: the 1957 Treaty of Rome and the European Common Market. HP steadily expands its European operations.