Philips Nat.Lab.

Introduction

1) The Research Department in Context,

2) The Birth of Industrial Research Laboratories,

3) Philips Nat.Lab.’s Knowledge Management

Discussion

The Philips Company

The start of Philips in Eindhoven 1891

The Philips Company

The Philips Company

The Philips Company

The expansion and diversification in the 1900 - 1920

The Philips Company

Philips Idezet Radio Tube

The Philips Company

Radio as a commercial product – 1927

The Philips Company

The Industrial Research Laboratory

The historical context of scientific Research Institutes

Francis Bacon’s (1627) ideal:

- science as servant of society in Salomo’s House (Nova Atlantis)- knowledge is power

- science and technology as a siametic twin,- fundamental research versus applied research.

Industrial Research Instituties:

The birth of University Research Labs

                                  

       

Johannes van der Waals

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

Liquidization of Helium (~ 1905)

The birth of Industrial Research Labs

- Scientific Research in Industry:

At the end of the nineteenth century: invention changed from an individual act into an outcome of an organizational process. Teamwork became important.

- Big industrial labs emerged around 1900:

- GE, Bell, Kodak, Siemens, Philips Nat.Lab.,- patents (outcome of scientific research) as market instruments,- scientists in servant of capitalism? - (Knowledge) Management problem.

Science, technology: the researcher and the institute

Thomas Edison in his lab

The Industrial Research Laboratory

Definition of an industrial research department:

‘…set apart from production facilities, staffed by people trained in science and advanced engineering who work toward deeper understandings of corporate-related science and technology, and who are organized and administered to keep them somewhat insulated from immediate demands yet responsive to long-term company needs’ (Reich, 1985).

Its importance:

The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention (Whitehead).

Philips Nat.Lab.

Period 1914 – 1945, director Gilles Holst.

- humble start as a small organization,

- diversification and organizational growth,

- ‘Knowledge Management’.

Nat.Lab. Research and Products

Nat.Lab. Products

Penthode tubeMetalix tube

Philips Nat.Lab.

The Nat.Lab. Under Holst Early period (1914 – 1923)

- Patent Law, 1910,

- Hybrid character with respect to types of work,

- Small population,

- Organizational growth after 1923 due to the companies diversification strategy.

total number of Nat.Lab. employees 1928 - 1946

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100

200

300

400

500

600

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800

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emp

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Philips Nat.Lab.

The Nat.Lab. under Holst Period 1923 – 1946

- Enabling Philips’ diversification program,

- Increase of means,

- Formal management with informal aspects,

- ORCO meetings, R&D networks.

Knowledge Management at the Philips Nat.Lab.

K.M. at the Nat.Lab. on three levels:

- the individual researchers,

- groupwork,

- organizational embeddedness.

Philips Nat.Lab.

R&D Knowledge Management on Three Levels

Individual researcher

professional scientists with colloquia and notebooks in a growing academic culture, increasing importance of scientific activities, R&D leadership.

Groups inside the laboratory

diversification of products and (selection of) research groups, group responsibilities, protocols for innovation patterns.

Organizatio-nal embedded-ness

participation in committees with other departments in the company and the upper management, contacts with universities for personnel and knowledge exchange, standardization activities, participation within R&D networks.

Successful scientific research: teamwork and products

Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain: the invention of the transistor at the Bell labs.

First Period: Embedded

A small Institute as a servant for the company with Holst as director:

- Anton Philips as dominant company leader,

- diversification and internationalization,

- publications and patents.

Second Period: Isolated

A famous international research institute with Casimir as director:

- science as the endless frontier,

- growing company and lab with formal structure,

- fundamental research and scientific freedom,

- isolated from production, bad communication.

Hendrik Casimir

Booming Science at Philips

Philips Cyclotron

Third Period: Contracted

Closely connected to the Company with Pannenborg as director:

- economic crisis, bad sides of industries (environmental polution),

- contract research (2/3 of the budget), free research (1/3 of the budget),

- technology roadmaps.

The Philips Nat.Lab.

An industrial research laboratory as a paradox:

- an investment in uncertainty,

- organizational context:

- entrepreneurial behavior, - scientific research as a promising investment.

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