The concept of financial packaging and transportation revolves around design of products for efficient packaging and storage. Since most of Hewlett-Packard’s products are shipped, it is advisable to “ship the goods in bulk and complete packaging at the warehouse or the retailer”. This results in a reduction on transportation costs since it is more efficient to ship bulk goods (Simchi-Levi et al., 2008).
In concurrent and parallel processing the focus is mainly on modifying the manufacturing process in order to reduce manufacturing lead time. This eventually “ lowers inventory costs through improved forecasting and reduces safety stock requirements” (Simchi-Levi et al., 2008). This component is especially useful in the case of Hewlett-Packard in Europe where the company reportedly suffered an enormous magnitude of forecast errors.
When it becomes impossible to reduce the lead-time any lower, standardization may be used. In part standardization, common parts are used for many products thus reducing part inventories and costs. This would suit HP that was seeking to keep low inventory, but maintain high availability of its products (Ivanov & Sokolov, 2010).
This a strategy used in supply chain management that involves producing a general product that is later differentiated into a particular and unique product. It is postponing the differentiation of products until late in the supply chain and is, therefore referred to as postponement. This process also reduces manufacturing lead-time.
Most of HP’s products such as personal computers and monitors required integration to suit the user needs for each specific destination country. This included the addition of an appropriate keyboard and manual. Delayed differentiation could be used, and the assembly process left to distribution centers. The distribution centers would have to be re-designed to support manufacturing processes.