Case HP Deskjet Printer Supply Chain
Introduction
In this case William Hewlett and David Packard with headquarters in Palo Alto, California founded Hewlett-Packard Company in 1939. HP diversifies its production into electronic test, measurement equipment and computers and peripherals products: in 1990, HP had over 50 operations worldwide with revenues of $13.2 billion and net income of $739 million. In 1988, the Deskjet printer was introduced and had become one of HP’s most successful products, with sales of 600,000 units/$400 million in 1990.
Summary
This case study deals with Hewlett-Packard (HP), a famous manufacturer of computers and peripherals. In the early 1990s, HP faced a so-called “Inventory/Service-Crisis” concerning one of their high volume products, the DeskJet printer. Despite growing inventory levels at the distribution centers in Europe and Asia-Pacific, customer service levels were unsatisfactory. Affected by growing competition this problem had to be handled quickly.
Brent Cartier, Manager for Special Projects in the Materials Department of HP Company’s Vancouver Division, had tried his best to find the possible solutions of the issues related with inventory of DeskJet printers that were arisen at world level especially, at Europe. He had short time for these tasks because preparation was needed to be done for Monday’s meeting with Group Management on worldwide inventory levels for the DeskJet Printer product line.
Finally opinions and reactions of different company divisions concerning the implementation of DC localization are analyzed. The solution of problems is the reconfiguration of key strategies related with channel’s management.
Improvement during the early 1980s
-Manufacturing cycle time reduced
8-12 weeks ==> 1 week
-Average inventory reduced
3.5 months ==> 0.9 months
-All finished goods inventory eliminated
-Importance of response time and transportation time increased
-Further improvements should be made on supply chain
-Manufacturing cycle time reduced
8-12 weeks ==>
In this case William Hewlett and David Packard with headquarters in Palo Alto, California founded Hewlett-Packard Company in 1939. HP diversifies its production into electronic test, measurement equipment and computers and peripherals products: in 1990, HP had over 50 operations worldwide with revenues of $13.2 billion and net income of $739 million. In 1988, the Deskjet printer was introduced and had become one of HP’s most successful products, with sales of 600,000 units/$400 million in 1990.
Summary
This case study deals with Hewlett-Packard (HP), a famous manufacturer of computers and peripherals. In the early 1990s, HP faced a so-called “Inventory/Service-Crisis” concerning one of their high volume products, the DeskJet printer. Despite growing inventory levels at the distribution centers in Europe and Asia-Pacific, customer service levels were unsatisfactory. Affected by growing competition this problem had to be handled quickly.
Brent Cartier, Manager for Special Projects in the Materials Department of HP Company’s Vancouver Division, had tried his best to find the possible solutions of the issues related with inventory of DeskJet printers that were arisen at world level especially, at Europe. He had short time for these tasks because preparation was needed to be done for Monday’s meeting with Group Management on worldwide inventory levels for the DeskJet Printer product line.
Finally opinions and reactions of different company divisions concerning the implementation of DC localization are analyzed. The solution of problems is the reconfiguration of key strategies related with channel’s management.
Improvement during the early 1980s
-Manufacturing cycle time reduced
8-12 weeks ==> 1 week
-Average inventory reduced
3.5 months ==> 0.9 months
-All finished goods inventory eliminated
-Importance of response time and transportation time increased
-Further improvements should be made on supply chain
-Manufacturing cycle time reduced
8-12 weeks ==>