The OEM’s President for the EMEA, Nick Lazaridis, looked over the “historic” last 12 months in an interview.
HP Inc’s MultiJet Fusion 3D printer and post-process station (Credit: TCT Magazine)
CBR interviewed Lazaridis, noting that post-split, the OEM and HPE have “moved to establish their new brand and identity”, with Lazaridis noting that he’s found the first year of business to be “simply incredible”, adding that “we set out to reinvent everything”, and that “in that time we’ve come such a long way, and forged a very firm foundation for our future”. For him, “taking the helm of EMEA’s largest start-up has been hugely exciting, and a privilege”, as well as “extremely rewarding”.
The OEM, he noted, has “achieved a phenomenal amount in such a short space of time”, and “in a time of market softness and rapid change”, with the “biggest achievement” said to be “building such a strong team” and having “harnessed the energy of the new HP”. On the market’s struggles and declines, he stated that the OEM’s strategy is to “be selective in where we play”, and “remaining strong in our core, seeking relevant growth opportunities” to help customers and partners.
For the EMEA, he noted that the strategy “has not changed in the last few years”, as “we don’t believe in changing a winning strategy”, with the region to “continue to play a lead role in product and service introductions”. The OEM will also “continue to reinvent our relationship with the channel”, including a focus on “services and solutions”, but will also be “more focused than ever on our core business”, with PC market share the “highest we have ever had” in the region.
On the Samsung printer business acquisition, Lazaridis noted that the OEM “set out to disrupt an outdated copier market with superior multifunction printing technologies”, and to create a “powerful portfolio of superior and secure A3 multifunction printers in a part of the market that has not seen innovation for a long time”. He added that “we won’t stop there. We’re planning to continue transforming the market, both in the short and long-term future. Watch this space!”
On 3D printing, he pointed out that the market “is a big focus for us”, with the first machine delivered to a customer and the industry “at a tipping point”, with 3D printing a “world-changing technology” in the “early stages of disrupting entire markets, and their manufacturing and supply chains”. This includes increased efficiency and “removes the need to hold onto large parts inventories and reduces supply chain complexity”, with spares created “on-demand, on-site”.
His view is that there’s a “huge appetite for growth in this market”, and on the consumer 3D side, he reiterated that the OEM’s machines are aimed at business, with plans in the next five years and beyond to “reinvent the manufacturing sector through wide-scale adoption of 3D printers”, specifically through its ‘blended reality’ of 2D and 3D.
On the split, Lazaridis noted that it “has allowed us to be more focused and to be able to invest all of our R&D into our own technology”, with an “immediate impact seen” and innovation “better than it has been for years”. The channel meanwhile “has never been more important to HP than it is today”, while his key goal for the business in the next year is to “deliver technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere” by “reinventing everything”.