Teradyne Company Information
Teradyne, Inc. was founded in 1960 by MIT Alumni Alex d'Arbeloff and Nick DeWolf, who revolutionized the notion of electronics testing by introducing industrial-grade, computer-operated electronics testers to replace slow manual testing by technicians using laboratory equipment. In the 40 years since its founding, Teradyne has grown into an industry-leading supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE) for semiconductor manufacturing. The company now employs over 8,000 people worldwide.In 1995, global sales for the ATE market totaled $3.6 billion. Teradyne's 22% market share in the semiconductor ATE industry brought in sales totaling $821 million that year, while total sales for all divisions, including the company's software, telecomm and board test groups, were over $1 billion.
Company Culture
Teradyne’s organization reflects top management’s philosophies in running the firm and its overall culture. Teradyne firmly believed that a large company organized in a top-down fashion and centrally run with a large planning organization would undoubtedly fail due to the highly volatile and cyclical environment of the ATE industry. Thus, it is composed of a central management team leading a series of smaller divisions that are “close to the customer, entrepreneurial, and understood the changes [in the market].”
As the central body, Alex d’Arbeloff and his management team played an integral role in developing the corporate culture of Teradyne. Although each division had unique cultural attributes due to differing personalities and product goals, the divisions still held fast to common values and goals such as work ethic and standards for production. Furthermore, the lateral movement of engineers between different divisions within the firm helped to bridge the cultural gap. Employees enjoyed the freedom to transfer to different divisions depending on their interest and skills. Also, managers could bring in top talent from other divisions to develop any new, promising projects. This practice was greatly used in the development of the Aurora Project and will be discussed later. Mark Levine characterized Teradyne’s culture as “really fair, not political, open environment. People are willing to help each other, talk to each other, encourage each other.”
More information from the Teradyne website
"The 24-year-old ATE maker learned the hard way that the world is, indeed, complex. Now it may master the $1.3 billion industry"
-Electronic Business, 1984 [7]