Regeneration Times Report / A month after HP's new CEO Enrique Lores officially took office, the CEO has already burned three fires before taking office. Enrique Lores announced that in the large-scale restructuring that began in the fourth quarter, HP plans to lay off 7,000 to 9,000 people, including the printer and computer departments.
HP estimates that the total cost associated with layoffs and restructuring plans is $1 billion, and it is expected that by the end of 2022, the company will save $1 billion.
As part of its “forward, transform, and subvert” strategy, HP is taking steps to third-party consumables. According to foreign media reports, HP plans to change the printer pricing strategy. The company will begin to increase the price of compatible third-party ink cartridge printers but lower the price of printers that only use HP brand inks.
The report does not mention laser printing products, but HP first started with inkjet products, which is a warning and a challenge for the general consumables market.
Enrique Lores said that in order to move to the next chapter, HP will take decisive action. It seems that these actions include restructuring, changing the way of working, and breaking the industry landscape.
Recently, there is another news related to HP, that is, the International Imaging Technology Committee filed a complaint with HP about the HP printer firmware upgrade to the US Green Electronics Committee. The complaint alleges that HP firmware upgrades violate the following standards in EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Impact Assessment Tool):
"4.9.2.1 Allow use of non-manufacturer cartridges and non-manufacturer containers
"4.9.4.1 (Provide) Documentation that the cartridge or container is not designed to prevent its reuse and recycling."
HP itself is one of the participants in the EPEAT standard, and according to statistics, HP released 371 firmware upgrades in 2018. The UKCRA (UK Recycling Printing Consumables Association) has also joined the International Imaging Technology Council.