UK: HP V.P. SAYS LASERJET DROUGHT WILL BE OVER BY SUMMER

[Anonymous]

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/03/26/240735/Laserjet-drought-will-be-over-by-summer-says-HP.htm
UK: HP V.P. SAYS LASERJET DROUGHT WILL BE
OVER BY SUMMER
The UK head of HP’s printer
division expects the LaserJet drought to be all-but-over by the summer,
almost a year after it first emerged.At the same time HP is working on a
blueprint to improve forecasting to prevent future shortages.Norman
Richardson, HP UK and Ireland vice president for the Imaging and
Printing Group (IPG), said the “unprecedented” downturn in the industry
had forced it to “make some big calls” about production capacity.”As we
ramped down things started to pick up,” he said.It has re-opened some
production lines and plans to crank up more.”Availability will certainly
be much better through Q3 and I’d expect that by Q4 you’d see us get
back to a much higher level than before,” said Richardson.

He
insisted that contrary to speculation, HP remained committed to the
laser business and had not prioritised supply to its direct managed
print services sales team.One lesson the vendor appears to have learnt
is the need to better forecast market demand through channel
partners.”The demand forecasting process never needed to be as good as
it needs to be now, things were different then and that differing world
required less depth and connection on the forecasting,” said
Richardson.”We are already starting the process to get the right demand
signals going back into our manufacturing forecasts; account by account
forecasting by SKU. People may not like that but in this world that is
the level of detail we need,” he said.The laser shortages have presented
partners with a significant challenge since last summer and will be
willing to work closely with HP to resolve the issues but one warned
“entry level products are difficult to forecast a long way
out.”Richardson said he wanted to “thank the channel for its continued
support” during these times of great shortage.

[Author]

March 29, 2010 at 11:23 AM