Mr. Wayne L. Bledsoe
President, retired
Litton Microwave Cooking
Upon graduation from Purdue in 1950, Wayne L. Bledsoe joined the RCA Corporation and remained with the company for 22 years. His first assignment at RCA was as a technical foreman in the television production operation, one of only two such operations in existence in the United States at that time. Bledsoe became involved with test equipment design engineering and component failure analysis for the operation and was promoted to manager of plant manufacturing engineering.
No other consumer product during the 1950s and 1960s could compare with the technical sophistication of color television, and the manufacturing operations directed by Bledsoe became the largest in the world. Bledsoe took full advantage of the advent of transistorized circuitry and integrated circuits to ensure high reliability and low costs.
In 1972, Bledsoe joined Motorola, Inc. as director of manufacturing with responsibility for six plants in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. He joined Rockwell International in 1974 as vice president of electronics operations for the Admiral Division and in this capacity exercised responsibility for all engineering and manufacturing operations for plants in the United States and in three other countries. Bledsoe later assumed the presidency of Litton Microwave Cooking, the position he held at the time of retirement.