James Truchard started National Instruments with two colleagues in a garage back in 1976. The company has grown to become one of the world’s largest suppliers of software and hardware for test and measurement applications, employing more than 6,000 people and achieving annual sales of over $1 billion. That’s not a bad performance for an organisation managed by an engineer.
Much of that success stems from what can be considered as Truchard’s “eureka” moment in 1986 when he – along with colleague Jeff Kodosky – invented the LabView system design software. LabView was different because it took a graphical approach to system design for test and measurement applications.
Previously, much of this work had been done using labour-intensive code-based products. Just as the spreadsheet provided a new way for financial professionals to work, the intuitive nature of LabView’s graphical formatting allowed users to build bespoke solutions much faster. LabView is now used by thousands of engineers worldwide.
National Instruments has also won a reputation as an excellent employer, because of the corporate culture that Truchard has fostered. The company is committed to promoting from within, an approach that opens doors for graduates seeking entry-level positions in the organisation. As a result, National Instruments has healthy staff retention rates and was recently identified as one of the top 25 “world’s best multinational workplaces” by the Great Place to Work Institute.
You’ve been at National Instruments since the beginning. How would you characterise your management style?
I have always been hands-on, especially when it comes to providing the vision for the technology that drives our business forward. That remains the case.
I tend to take a simple approach: I delegate what I think I don’t do well – such as the more administrative activities – as they are usually what I don’t enjoy so much.
That enables my focus to remain on strategy – both on the products themselves and how we present them to the marketplace.
I also enjoy interacting with customers, so I tend to do a
lot of that, which means I travel quite a bit.
The business recently went through the $1 billion turnover mark. What are the challenges in keeping that momentum going?
Keeping a business growing is an evergreen challenge. It’s vital that we keep focused and ensure that our platforms continue to deliver on what they promise.
The economy remains a challenge, though. We’ve had two big downturns in the last decade, and as a company we have done well relative to our competition. Overall, we’ve continued to grow despite the tough economy.
How do you ensure that National Instruments stays ahead of the pack?
The time it takes to do what we are doing is massive. It is not easy to catch up quickly. So that creates a significant problem for our rivals.
Typically, their instruments are designed by different groups without the tremendous common architectures that we use for products such as PXI, our open, PC-based platform for test, measurement and control, and CompactRIO, our programmable automation controller. That puts
us at a distinct advantage over
the competition.
The company puts the happiness of staff at the forefront of what it does. Why has that always been so important?
We have always tried to equally balance the success of our four stakeholders: customers, shareholders, suppliers and employees.
If National Instruments is a
good place to work, then we will attract better people. And that means our employees get to work with more talented colleagues. That’s a key factor.
Also, we have never been afraid of putting responsibility on the shoulders of young people.
What ambitions do you still have in your role at National Instruments?
I’m still focused on the development of new products, such as the next generation of LabView. That
involves a lot of interaction with customers.
That’s the thing about software – you get intimate feedback from users that acts to get your products to the right place. That sort of interaction is so valuable, because it is something that competitors may have little awareness of. So I want to continue with that.
Strategically, it’s important that I continue to help build the organisation to be as technically focused as it can be, helping our customers to solve hard problems.
You’ve always supported programmes that focus on growing science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) skills through hands-on learning. Why is that something you are so passionate about?
In general, we don’t have any problems recruiting the numbers of engineers we need, but it’s important we take a long-term view on this. So National Instruments gets involved with as much Stem promotion as it can.
We have programmes for seven-year-olds that involve the use of Lego, and ones with robots for older students. We find that it’s the best way to engage students and get them enthused about engineering.