Vancouver

Division name: Vancouver


Founded: 1979
Address: 2400 NE 65th Avenue, Vancouver Washington
Vancouver Division Entrance

Description:

In October of 1978, HP obtained an option to purchase a 190-acre site near Vancouver Washington. At the time of taking the option, no division was named to occupy the site. In May of 1979, Jim Doub was named general manager of the Vancouver Division. The Vancouver Division was part of the Computer Systems Group with its initial responsibility being printing terminals. The first product from the new division was the 2675A "Therminal" portable terminal in 1980. Other early products for the Vancouver Division included the 267X thermal printers (1981). Responsibility for the 2631/5 printers was transferred from Boise to Vancouver in 1980. The 8290X printers (OEM'd from Epson) were transferred from Corvallis to Vancouver in 1983.

The Vancouver Division developed the mid-range system impact printers (293X family) that were introduced in 1983. The first product of significant contribution from VCD was the ThinkJet in May of 1984 (using a printhead that had been developed at HP Labs and Corvallis). Inkjet printing was an exciting new business for HP and would prove extremely lucrative in the future. But, that future was still a few years away.

The workstation printer business jumped dramatically (65 percent) in 1984 to over $120M, but declined to just over $90M in 1987.

The ThinkJet and the follow on QuietJet printers (1986) were not big money makers, especially when compared to the runaway success of the LaserJet printers from Boise.

The Vancouver Division continued to bring to market products OEM'd from other suppliers. In 1985, the division introduced the 2603A daisy wheel printer made by Olivetti.

The Vancouver Division really started making its impact on the company in February of 1988 with the introduction of the 300-dpi DeskJet (“Laser quality for under $1000"). Two months prior, VCD had introduced the Ruggedwriter impact dot matrix printer. The Ruggedwriter was to become HP’s most troublesome printer. In October of 1988, Dick Snyder was appointed general manager of VCD.

The DeskJet more than doubled VCD revenues in 1988 to just under $200M. By 1990, revenues had jumped to $350M.

VCD introduced the DeskJet 500 in 1990. The DeskJet 500 quickly became the world's top-selling printer. In 1991, VCD introduced HP's first 300-dpi color printers - the DeskJet 500C and the DeskWriter C. By the end of 1993, HP had sold over ten million inkjet printers. In 1994, HP produced 600,000 inkjet printers each month.

Employment at the Vancouver Division peaked at 3000 in 1998. That number was down to 600 by 2009.


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