After I left Rockwell/Anaheim (it was bought by Boeing in December 1996), I was unemployed for a while until I got a job again in 1997 at Rockwell/Newport Beach where the company was working on our microchip-driven future at Rockwell Semiconductor Systems
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| A robotic hand bursts into our Present Moment from Tomorrow, grasping a real Rockwell-made CPU (Central Processing Unit). This clever Employee Award plaque was inspired by the compelling science fiction storyline of "The Terminator" movies. |
At Semiconductor Systems, we actually manufactured Integrated Circuits (ICs), and this quickly evolving microchip technology would soon became an indispensable part of everyone's existence
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| PSG = Product Support Group |
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| Except for the image at top left drawn by me (representing Dwight Decker, our president), the rest of these caricatures were created by our talented cartoonist, James Horvath (see his version of himself at center above) |
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| When I arrived in March 1997, this was a thriving Creative Services (MarCom) Department with more than 20 people on the staff. Over the years, this group would be whittled down to just a precious few as the company's fortunes dwindled and times changed. |
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| This is my Adobe Illustrator rendition of integrated circuitry, which was still a fairly new idea when I drew it |
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| My tech-art illustration showing a new-fangled digital camera |
In late 1997, an extensive construction project was implemented to protect the sensitive central manufacturing building from potential California earthquakes. Enormous heavy duty shock absorbers were installed beneath the entire structure, which was a formidable and expensive engineering feat that took more than a year to accomplish.
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| Recent photo of the quake-safe semiconductor manufacturing facility now called TowerJazz (formerly Rockwell) |
Below are examples of artwork we created that were enlarged to 6 feet tall, printed on canvas, and attached to the chain link fence that surrounded the facility during the earthquake-proofing activities.
I was working in the cleanroom at this facility when an earthquake hit us in 2010. Nothing broke and nobody died, so I guess the extensive retrofitting in the late 1990s was worthwhile.
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history -- with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. -- Mitch Ratcliffe
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