Hewlett Packard: The Solution Factory

The case describes how the HP plant in Herrenberg (Germany) has evolved from a lean and mean production plant to a plant central to the services offered to customers and integrating the different partners involved in providing that service. It shows how manufacturing and supply chain excellence can be used as a stepping stone in building more customer centric solutions and, in doing so, how the plant can remain competitive. This is essential in providing sufficient value so that the plant will not be outsourced or delocalised to a low labor cost country.

The case allows discussion on the value of industrial and supply chain excellence but also shows its limitations. Industrial excellence should be leveraged in order to provide more value to the customer. The case can be used to discuss the future of manufacturing operations in high labor cost countries.