A Publication for Mostek Employees     June 1979

New products' new uses keep sales growing

From his office in a corner of the Southwest Building, Berry Cash can look back on it all and smile.

"There we were in 1969, right before a recession, trying to start a new company," he recalled 10 years later. "MOS did not have the best reputation because many of the companies in the business were not delivering what they sold."

Back then, Cash was "it" for Mostek. He was vice-president of marketing, sales manager, and head salesman of a fledgling company dealing in a fledgling industry in uncertain economic times.

It would appear that Cash and Mostek had every playable card stacked against them. They would have if it were not for the Sprague Electric Company which agreed to invest money in Mostek and take the company under its wing as an affiliate.

Through Sprague, Cash was able to sell a custom circuit design to the Burroughs Company-his first sale and Mostek's first customer.

From that first account grew the basis of over $100 million in sales, a figure that is going to continue to grow according to national sales manager Dick Konrad.

"That demand," said Konrad, "is due primarily to the number of different products offered by the company as well as the number of different customers who are using Mostek circuits."

Distributor sales will top $20 million

Distributor sales for Mostek products increased at a rapid pace as the demand for Mostek products continues to grow and as the variety of products grow.

According to Jody Damron, Distributor Marketing Manager, distributors will account for over $20 million in sales this year with the top five distributors doing over $1 million and two of the top five selling over $4 million.

Damron estimated that distributors are among the company's top customers.

A distributor is an independent businessman who sells components to smaller customers.

"He operates just like a wholesaler, which most people are familiar with," said Damron. "He'll buy our product and sell it to a wide base of smaller companies."

There are now 77 distributor branches spread across the United States.

The top five are; Arrow Electronics, Kierulff, Schweber Electronics, Bell Industries and Sterling Electronics.

From his office in Stuttgart, West Germany, Dietrich Erdmann started a ball rolling which brought about Mostek's recognition as a worldwide leader in the semiconductor industry.

Erdmann opened the Stuttgart office in 1971 and parlayed that beginning into business operations which touch 27 countries whose industries clamor for Mostek products.

"We do especially well in microcomputer systems and telecommunication products," Erdmann said.

Mostek International, which deals with the worldwide market and of which Erdmann is vice-president, began in Stuttgart as Mostek GmBh. The German operation was Mostek's first wholly-owned sales subsidiary.

Mostek GmBh established sales offices in Hamburg and Munich to serve customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

In 1973 Mostek Italia, the second sales subsidiary, was formed with Pietro Provolo managing operations from Milano, Italy.

The Milano office soon began handling the needs of one of Mostek's biggest international customers-Olivetti S.P.A. of Italy.

"Olivetti has been a major user of Mostek memories since we began the international operation," said Erdmann. "They started with the old MK4006 and have used the 4096, 4027 and now the 4116 in large quantities."

The establishment of Mostek Italia allowed company sales to branch into Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece.

A year later, in 1974, Mostek France was formed in Paris under the leadership of Claude Roule and began marketing products in Belgium as well as France.

In 1975 Mostek International crossed the channel to England and Paul Mayes established the London office of Mostek, United Kingdom. In 1976 European headquarters were shifted from Stuttgart to Brussels, Belgium with Stuttgart operations being shifted primarily to warehousing, import-export licensing and customs services.

Charles Carling was named European Controller and Administrative Manager and K. Raebiger was put in charge of customer service for the operation.

Mostek International completed its western European coverage when Mostek Scandinavia formed in 1978. Lennart Eriksson manages the Stockholm, Sweden headquarters which markets products in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

This summer Mostek expects to travel around the world to form Mostek Japan KK.

The overseas operation of Mostek has grown to 75 employees working in nine

Mostek sales companies with 38 additional representatives and distributors franchised to sell Mostek products.

This often represents an interesting diplomatic problem for AI Schuele who heads the home-based Mostek International in Dallas.

With customers scattered throughout the world, Schuele often plays host to a continuing stream of international customers who come to see the Mostek manufacturing facilities.

As part of their VIP treatment, Schuele sees that the visiting customer's home flag is flown on the flagpole in front of the Southwest Building. With the steadily increasing number of foreign customers who pay visits, however, Schuele is often confronted with the problem of having two or more customers visiting on the same day.

Which flag takes priority?