Bill Hewlett Engineering for Victory

Bill Hewlett spent most of the war in the Army Aviation Ordnance department, an area where his engineering skill could be put to use. In 1945, however, he was part of a small team that travelled to Japan to study that country’s technology following its surrender. His travels would show him that the Japanese military was severely hindered by a lack of compatible standards across the different branches of the military. Following Bill’s return to Hewlett-Packard Company in December 1945, Hewlett-Packard would become a leader in establishing industrywide standards for electronics, ensuring that customers could choose the best product in each category while trusting that different companies’ products would be compatible with one another.