Talking Points: Patrick J. Byrne

Since taking over the helm of Intermec Technologies Corp. in
2007, Byrne has boosted research spending and accelerated product development
to exploit an expanding market for the Everett company’s hardy mobile devices. The
devices are used for everything from issuing parking tickets to reading the
barcodes on package deliveries. 

Early Education: I grew up in Silicon Valley when it was
still apricot orchards. My father was a research scientist at Stanford Research
Institute. Once, he bought a broken Volkswagen engine, took it apart and laid
the pieces out on the kitchen table and showed us how each part worked as he
put it back together. Because of that experience, my brother became a heart
surgeon: He repairs engines while they are still running. I became a design
engineer at Hewlett-Packard [HP].

Management Training: To develop its managers, HP would
rotate people through different areas. I worked internationally and in
marketing. I learned that often the highest tech stuff doesn’t sell. It’s not
about technology; it’s about customers. You have to get close to customers to
know what problem you are solving and what value you are offering. [At HP] I
saw the customer demand for the Windows platform and ended up managing that
transition.

The Mobile Future: At Agilent, an HP spinoff, I managed a
several-billion-dollar operation that included testing cell phones. I chose to
be CEO at Intermec because it was clear to me that the cellular network would
become a major IT platform. Everywhere in the world, you have this incredibly
pervasive, interoperable, always-on data network that’s consumer-subsidized but
can be used as a business asset.

The Great Recession: Everybody has gone through significant
restructuring and reductions in forces. Now, they are asking how to grow the
business with the workforce they have. How are they going to differentiate
themselves? CEOs are compelled by what they can do to create competitive
advantage by using mobile technologies.

The Mobile Worker: There are tens of millions of “mobile
workers” around the world. Think of the cable guy. After installing the cable,
maybe he offers you an upgrade package. Suddenly, a transaction becomes an
interaction. The blue-collar worker becomes a white-collar worker. He becomes a
salesman. Every interaction with the customer becomes a sales opportunity. The
educational level of the people who use our products might not be high, but
they are sharp. Offer them a tool and they know how to maximize their pay like
any salesperson.

Product Cycles: Since I joined Intermec, we’ve transformed
every function in the company. We

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