HP Innovation Journal Issue 09: Spring 2018 | Page 49

Innovation Spotlight
HP’s printing prowess is legendary. The
company invented the commercial laser
printer in 1980 and followed with the
first thermal inkjet printer four years
later. These breakthroughs transformed
the printing industry and established
HP as a major game changer. Since
then, the company’s record of industry
firsts continues to grow, typified by its
motto to “keep reinventing.”
This keen focus on reinvention
sharpened in 2016 when HP shipped
its first production units of HP’s Jet
Fusion 3D Printing System in North
America — to Jabil’s Blue Sky Innova-
tion Center in San Jose, CA. Heralded
as a major step in bringing disruptive,
digital manufacturing solutions to
market, HP’s 3D printing technology
promises unmatched speed, quality,
and cost savings to transform how
products are designed and made.
According to Stephen Nigro, Pres-
ident of 3D Printing, HP, partnering
with a manufacturing expert is cru-
cial to propelling the market forward.
“If we’re really going to transform the
$12 trillion manufacturing industry,
we can’t do it on our own,” he explains.
“We embraced a different develop-
ment model, so others can innovate
in spaces where they have a point of
view and expertise in high-volume
manufacturing. In terms of foresight
and thinking, Jabil was way ahead.”
John Dulchinos, VP of Digital
Manufacturing, Jabil, agrees that
revolutionizing an industry like man-
ufacturing is a tall order for any one
company. “What it really takes is an
end-to-end solution,” he says. “We
really appreciate HP’s open approach
because it’s inclusive and leverages a
full partner ecosystem.”
Wanted: Partners in Innovation
HP’s vision for transforming man-
ufacturing is guided by a series of
business imperatives, starting with
a technology roadmap to ensure the
highest levels of product quality,
consistency, and reliability. “We built
a value chain of innovators,” recalls
Virginia Palacios, Director of Strate-
gic Customer Engagement, HP. “We
wanted to partner with the best — in
software, materials and manufactur-
ing — so we could extend the number
of applications and use cases to really
explode the market. Jabil is a great
partner; they know what it takes to
scale manufacturing.”
“If we’re really going to transform
the $12 trillion manufacturing indus-
try, we can’t do it on our own. We
embraced a different development
model, so others can innovate in
spaces where they have a point of
view and expertise in high-volume
manufacturing. In terms of foresight
and thinking, Jabil was way ahead.”
S TE P H E N N I G RO
Pre sid e nt, 3 D Printing B usin e ss , H P
What stood out most about Jabil
was its long-running partnerships
with scores of market leaders in a
variety of industry sectors. “Jabil’s
work across lots of industries
provided unique insight into partic-
ular customer needs,” Palacios adds.
“Jabil’s engineers had all the data at
their fingertips to help us understand
where we could make a difference as
well as where it made sense econom-
ically to use 3D printing instead of
traditional manufacturing methods.”
Equally important was Jabil’s
vision of how 3D printing could
accelerate the digital transformation
taking place in manufacturing. “In a
traditional manufacturing environ-
ment, you make and move fixtures
and tooling through a set of discrete
processes,” says Dulchinos. “With
additive manufacturing, you put
materials into the printer, eliminat-
ing that additional time and cost.
We immediately saw the potential
to create a supply chain of the future
where production could be moved
from one location to the next by shift-
ing a digital file.”
Manufacturing Rigor Moves
3D Printing Forward
In addition to its early interest in
additive manufacturing, Jabil was
well positioned to work with HP
based on a long and successful part-
nership. “We have a lot of confidence
in Jabil because of our history,” says
Nigro. “But it was their commitment
and vision that led to Jabil becoming
an HP Multi Jet Fusion foundational
partner. In fact ,  t hey called us!” In
that pivotal role, Jabil helped HP
validate its technology as teams of
engineers worked together in Barce-
lona and Jabil’s Blue Sky Innovation
Center in San Jose. “It was a real
collaborative effort,” says Palacios.
“Jabil’s production, quality, and
supply chain experience provided
great input for developing the printer,
ensuring part quality, and getting us
ready for manufacturing.”
Moreover, Jabil’s team embod-
ied the strict discipline needed to
develop rigorous end-to-end process
control capabilities for ensuring the
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