Build your own notebook computer

HP Moving Towards Build-Your-Own Notebooks

Hewlett-Packard Co. will allow customers of its Pavilion and Omnibook notebook PCs to fully customize them, eventually down to the level of the pointing device.

HP, Palo Alto, Calif., is going to what is known as a "one-touch" supply chain, building and shipping products worldwide from one location in Taiwan via Federal Express. The idea is to simplify HP's manufacturing process, passing configurability and cost savings onto consumers.

"This model pulls a lot of cost out of the process," said Jim Burns, director of worldwide supply-chain operations at HP, Palo Alto, Calif. "Here we can bypass steps used in the supply chain by going through HPyou're cutting out all the handling costs. It pays for itself.

"In addition, it offers customers additional buying options," Burns continued. "Maybe they don't want features like the biggest display, or they don't want the biggest hard drive."

Online vendors like Dell Computer Corp. already offer this degree of flexibility in their notebooks. But HP, which Burns said has the "fastest supply chain in the business," hopes to eventually fine-tune the process so that individual components can be tweaked, such as the inclusion of different types of pointing devices.

HP competes with its merger partner, Compaq Computer Corp., in retail, and also plans to adapt the program to the channel. Buyers will still have the option of purchasing a finished notebook off the shelf. However, HP is installing kiosks in retailers including Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Office Max and Staples, and allowing users to configure and purchase the notebooks directly from the stores. Final delivery can be either to a customer's house or to the retailer itself, Burns itself.

The arrangement benefits the retailer, Burns said. "Retailers don't like to carry inventory," Burns said, even more true by the recent decision of Staples to eliminate PCs from its store shelves.

The program is currently being rolled out on HP's business shopping site and will go live on its consumer site, hpshopping.com, next week.