HEWLETT-PACKARD GAINS CONTROL OF INVENTORY AND SERVICE THROUGH DESIGNFOR LOCALIZATION

At Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, design for manufacturability has rece ntly been adopted as a principle for product design and development. F requently overlooked is the relationship between design and the eventu al customization, distribution, and delivery of the product to multipl e markets. Different markets may have different requirements for the p roduct due to differences in taste, language, geographical environment , or government regulations. We use design for localization or design for customization for design processes that take into account the oper ational and delivery service considerations for the multiple market se gments. We developed an inventory model that the HP's Deskjet-Plus Pri nter Division used to evaluate alternative product and process designs for localization. Significant benefits can be obtained by properly ex ploring the opportunities in this design for localization concept.