HP expands design centre ex-US for first time

Gordon Peters
Tuesday, 13 April 2010 00:33

IT Industry - Market

Hewlett-Packard is to establish its first inkjet and web solutions global design centre (IWS) outside of the United States, with the setting up of a new centre in Singapore which the company says will draw on top talent from around the Asian region to design and develop inkjet printers for worldwide markets.

According to HP, the new Singapore design centre will be part of a newly formed team that will be responsible for the design and development of the entire HP IWS portfolio for worldwide markets. The IWS portfolio includes the HP Deskjet, HP Photosmart, Officejet & Officejet Pro and Retail Photo Solutions, and according to the company, in 2009 alone more than 35 million HP inkjet printers were shipped worldwide.

HP says the new design centre is expected to be fully operational by January 2011, while hiring and recruiting of top designers is expected to begin immediately.

The company says it will recruit top designers from the region and internationally to work at the new centre, including industrial, interaction and graphic designers as well as ergonomics and human factors engineers.

A spokesperson for HP said the Singapore design centre will expand the capability and reach of the HP IWS Design group from its current location in San Diego, California, and the expansion is the latest development of HP's IWS global design team headed by Sean Carney.