HP boosts Saudi exports with local assembly plant expansion and increased in-country resources

The investment in HP's local assembly plant strengthens Saudi Arabia's position as a regional hub for IT production and key senior-level appointments in the Kingdom increase the on-the-ground presence of one of its largest multi-national IT companies.

During the roundtable event, Anil Ghandi, General Manager of HP Personal Systems Group Middle East, announced that the local assembly plant, based in Riyadh, will now act as a hub for regional production of desktop PCs, following recent enhancements to its infrastructure. The plant, which opened in 2003, was designed to meet an increasing market demand for locally assembled computing products - giving consumers faster access to technology tailored for their region.

Ghandi explained that the expansion was a reflection of Saudi Arabia's continued importance to HP and one of series of investments designed to meet increasing demand in the region:

"HP was the first multi-national to establish a PC assembly plant in the Kingdom, demonstrating our ability to anticipate the market potential before our competitors. By listening closely to our customers' needs we have been able to predict demand levels and ensure our capacity to supply grows ahead of this demand."

Specifically, the increased capacity of the plant means that HP now supplies its distribution network in parts of Africa as well as the Middle East, directly contributing to the Kingdom's economy and increasing employment opportunities at the plant.

"Ultimately, what the expansion means is more convenient and faster access to technology for consumers in the Middle East and Africa and a boost in computing exports for one of the region's largest countries," concluded Ghandi.

As the Middle East's largest technology and solutions provider, HP has also made significant human resources investments in the Kingdom. At the conference, Ghandi explained that alongside the employment opportunities which would be created by the plant extension, HP is committed to investing a substantial amount of regional headcount to its offices in Saudi Arabia.

During the roundtable, Amr Hassan, General Manager, Imaging and Printing Group HP Middle East explained that HP were rapidly expanding its on-the-ground resources and ramping up its market presence in the Kingdom, in order to take advantage of the growing market potential in Saudi Arabia. Significantly, Hassan announced the creation of a new position to oversee the Imaging and Printing business in Saudi Arabia:

"The objective of increasing our presence in Saudi Arabia is to interact more closely with our partners and customers, in order to continuously grow and strengthen our leadership in imaging and printing. The new Saudi Country Manager, Khaled Kamel, has been with HP since 2000 and was instrumental in the growth of the Gulf region. His latest challenge will see him managing one of the region's largest and most diverse consumer portfolios across Saudi Arabia," said Hassan.

Hassan explained that enhancing in-country resources was a strategic response to the increasing importance of Saudi Arabia and anticipated future growth within digital imaging. He announced that new resources in the fields of retail, marketing and channel development had also been added to the Saudi team, in order to meet the burgeoning consumer demand for up to the minute digital imaging and printing technology.

"Every customer we have at HP is unique and in order to continue our leadership position, we need to ensure we are as close to our consumers as possible, in order to listen to their individual needs and deliver the right technology and products to them,"

said Hassan.

"For this reason we are strengthening our on-the-ground resources and working even closer with our channel to make sure our innovative products and solutions are accessible to consumers and convenient to buy," added Hassan.

As part of its strategy to engage more deeply with its consumers, HP has run a series of customer initiatives in the Kingdom, responding to the needs of various consumer groups. In a related announcement, HP revealed the success of an ongoing initiative to improve IT literacy in Saudi women and train them on HP digital imaging and printing products. The initiative, run in cooperation with HP retailer eXtra has seen 2,300 women trained to date. Additionally the company runs innovative consumer promotions in the Kingdom with exciting prices such as Harley Davidson motorcycles.