Content area
Full text
GREENSBORO - There's something Bob Bruggeworth wants to make clear right off the bat when it comes to discussing RIF Micro's fortunes.
"Remember," he says, "the stock price isn't the same thing as how the business is doing."
That's not meant to minimize the importance of RF Micro's slumping stock price, of course. Bruggeworth, like other RIF Micro employees and lots of unrelated people around the Triad, is a shareholder who doesn't like the barrel-bottom closes that have been coming with regularity for the wireless communication and global-positioning system component maker, as the overall market continues its rapid descent.
But as the new president of the company, and the man charged with overseeing an increasingly complex operational structure that now stretches from Thorndike Road in Greensboro all the way to Beijing, Bruggeworth is focused on making sure RIF Micro Devices is producing what the market demands, whether Wall Street is prepared to provide instant rewards or not.
"There is a lot going on the operational side right now," says Dave Norbury, RF Micro's CEO who turned over the "president" half of his title to Bruggeworth in June to allow himself more time to focus on strategy. "Probably the biggest thing is what's happening to gross margins. Competition is driving prices down, customers are driving prices down, and working to try to reduce costs is amazingly important these days."
Bruggeworth, who at 41 has boyish looks to match the youthful energy common around RF Micro offices and plants, is undaunted.
"Certainly today when you're launching a new phone, you go from zero to millions (of units) in a very short period of time," Bruggeworth says. "Being able to be ready for that is important, and that's why companies like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and so forth are working with RF Micro Devices. It's because they know if they say, 'give us...