---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 11:46:34 -0800 (PST)
From: "Camp. Resp. Tech." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: articles on Intel
Greetings and happy holidays--
Here are two articles that were forwarded to us that we thought you would
find interesting. One in the Albuquerque Journal, INTEL BOSS URGES END TO
RED TAPE, and the other in the San Franccisco Chronicle, BOSS PARANOIA AT
INTEL FANNED BY WEB PAGE.
INTEL BOSS URGES END TO RED TAPE
By Sherri Chunn, Journal Staff Writer
Intel Corp. President Craig Barrett has one message for New Mexico -- or an˙
y
other state -- streamline regulatory processes or face losing a chance to
win future Intel sites.
>State and federal agencies move too slowly for Intel and others in the fas˙
t
paced, ever changing computer industry, said Barrett, who spent Monday at
Intel's Rio Rancho site.
Barrett tries to visit the company's major manufacturing sites at least onc˙
e
a quarter. He flew into Albuquerque on Monday morning, reviewed Rio Rancho
operations, toured Fab 7 and met with a few hundred employees before gettin˙
g
on another plane to Phoenix.
One of the questions asked during Barrett's open-forum meeting with about
250 workers was whether Intel has plans for a second New Mexico site.
His answer?
"Figure out what you want to do about the regulatory process and we'll
talk," Barrett said during an interview following the forum.
Intel can't afford to slow its operations as it works through layers of
reviews and clearances "just to move a piece of equipment," he said.
The company has to endure time-consuming red tape just to make minimal
changes, he said. In an industry where equipment changes are fast and
furious, those delays can be deadly for business.
Richard Draper, a spokesman for Intel, said the Rio Rancho site is still
waiting for a public hearing on its modified air-quality permit it requeste˙
d
>from the New Mexico Environment Department in January, nearly a year ago.˙
Barrett said he voiced his concerns about the regulatory process and the
U.S. business climate during a conversation with Vice President Al Gore.
He told Gore that if the federal and state governments don't update the
regulatory process so that it moves with nearly the same speed as the
businesses it deals with, then Intel will build its factories overseas.
Barrett also addressed a problem closer to home that has vexed the
computer-chip maker since it built its first New Mexico plant -- water, or
lack of it.
"You've got to figure out what you want to dowith it . . . a long-range pla˙
n
would be useful for us," he said.
The state Engineer's Office in November rejected Intel's bid to resurrect
old water rights south of Socorro for its Rio Rancho plant, saying the wate˙
r
did not exist.
Intel needs to buy rights to Rio Grande water to offset losses to the river
caused by Intel's ground-water pumping.
Intel has not decided how it will replace the water, said Draper.
Water is a finite resource, and residents need to determine the best use fo˙
r
it, whether it's manufacturing-- and the jobs it brings -- or agriculture
and watering the lawn, he said.
The company announced Nov. 12 that it will invest $1 billion to upgrade Fab
9, but it will also cut its New Mexico work force by a "few hundred" as par˙
t
of a
reorganization of the Rio Rancho site.
The work force reduction involves workers at Fabs 7 and 9, which manufactur˙
e
the bulk of Intel's flash-memory chips. Flash-memory chips, which store
information when a product is turned off, are used in hand-held devices suc˙
h
as digital cameras and cellular phones as well as more sophisticated comput˙
ers.
Fab 7 and 9 employ nearly half of the 6,500 workers in Rio Rancho. The rest
work in Fab 11, which produces Intel's Pentium chips.
While the changes lengthen the lives of both Fab 7 and Fab 9, Fab 7 --
Intel's oldest New Mexico plant --will likely close within five years,
company officials said.
But Barrett said he believes Rio Rancho will remain one of Intel's top
manufacturing sites for the next 15 to 17 years.
The site is undergoing a "maturation," but Intel's investment in the plant
should reassure employees and the community that the company has made a
commitment to the area, he said.
Copyright İ 1997 Albuquerque Journal
___________________________________________________________________________˙
-
Wednesday, November 26, 1997 San Francisco Chronicle
Web Site Takes On Intel's Rating System of Workers
Giant chipmaker says the content is `defamatory'
TOM ABATE
It's the time of year for holiday feasts, gift lists and, yes, year-end job
evaluations.
I recently came across a Web site dedicated to a stinging critique of the
``ranking and rating''system Intel Corp. uses to evaluate its 60,000
employees.
The site -- www.igc.org/faceintel -- is called FACE Intel, short for Former
and Current Employees of Intel. It's run by a few ex-employees, several of
whom have filed lawsuits alleging the Santa Clara chipmaker wrongfully fire˙
d
them. FACE Intel charges that Intel's evaluations pit employees against eac˙
h
other, grading them on a curve --which means a certain percentage of
employees must fail. Older, higher-paid workers fail and get fired most
often, the site claims.
This discriminatory quota system is part of an unjust ranking and rating
policy,'' according to the FACE Intel site.
Not true, says Intel attorney Coeta Chambers. Yes, Intel compares employees˙
,
creating three groups: the successful, the exceptional and those in the
``Improvement Required'' ranking who have 90 daysto get with it or get out.
``There is always going to be a curve, some at the top and some at the
bottom, but there's no quota,'' she said. ``That is one of the many
misrepresentations on the site.''
Intel is so miffed at what it considers ``defamatory'' statements by FACE
Intel that it uses special software to block its employees from accessing
the Web site via Intel's computer network.
That seems a petty act for the world's most powerful chipmaker, a company
praised for generous pay, benefits and annual bonuses. Does Intel really
fear that the mass of its employees will heed these Web-based gadflies? The
answer may be that Intel is paranoid from the top down. CEO Andy Grove is
the guy who believes only the paranoid survive.
FACE Intel argues that the corporate culture has changed since Grove
replaced Intel's co-founders Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore.
Brian Santo of Electronic Engineering Times, a trade pub which has followed
Intel's evaluation practices, says other high-tech firms may be copying
Intel's rating and ranking process.
This process seems harsh to me, but maybe this is what it takes to run a
high- tech company in today's competitive market. What do you think?
-- More Web rebellion: Speaking of anti-corporate Web sites, yesterday's
item about layoff rumors at Cnet Inc. prompted several readers to e-mail me
the address of an anti-Cnet Web site -- http://members.tripod.com/~cnet_tru˙
th.
In addition to gripes about overwork and low pay at the San Francisco Web-
based news service, the site features sarcastic commentary about the e-mail
memo Cnet Vice President Robin Wolaner sent out to calm workers upset at
having to pay $45 to bring a guest to the Christmas party.
-- Stop making sense: Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison recently addresse˙
d
a Churchill Club dinner in Santa Clara where he demonstrated that, as a
speaker, he only comes alive when he is battling questioners, mano a mano.
After opening with his customary diatribe against Microsoft Corp., Ellison
took questions for more than an hour continuing even after the club turned
on the
lights so the staff could clear the tables. When one person questioned
Ellison's role in Knowledge Universe, the Burlingame educational software
firm, the CEO showed that he is best when he thinks global. Saying that U.S˙
.
colleges graduate
far fewer computer scientists than the industry needs, he asked: ``What doe˙
s
it mean when there are more electrical engineers in China than in the U.S.?
. . . It's going to fundamentally change the balance of power in the worl˙
d,
if you believe information is power.''
