Hewlett-Packard Co’s plant in Barcelona would appear to be strongly placed to receive a new production line of printers that the multinational is planning to transfer to Europe from the US in 1997. The line is one of the four divisions currently set up in the US aimed at the desktop printing market segment, and if transferred across the Atlantic would further the firm’s efforts to attack the European market, in particular in eastern European countries. The other possible candidate for the project is Ireland. The Spanish plant has put forward a plan through which it hopes to win the opportunity to produce small-sized printers for a broad European market. Sources at Hewlett-Packard’s Barcelona Division expressed their optimism but said there were no plans as yet to extend the current plant facilities. A final decision is expected from the Palo Alto company by the end of the year. At present the Barcelona plant has global responsibility for the HP DesignJet plotters and responsibility for European production and distribution of the HP DeskJet printers. Thus Barcelona management is arguing that it would be easier to extend production where there is already a suitable infrastructure rather than set up new facilities. Hewlett’s decision to transfer the line comes as a response to the saturation of the North American market, where the percentage of homes with a desktop printer is four times the figure for Europe. Hewlett-Packard Espanola’s Barcelona Division employs 1,100 staff and reported export sales up 59% at $766.3m for fiscal 1995, confirming Hewlett-Packard as the top manufacturer and exporter in the Spanish computer equipment sector. In the first half of the current fiscal year to November 1, the division has already achieved sales of $460.9m.
