Hewlett-Packard To Sell Operation

Hewlett-Packard Co. has told employees at its printed-circuit assembly unit in Vancouver that it will seek a buyer for the operation.

The division employs 200 to 250 people and serves H-P’s printer-manufacturing operations.

By early 1998, the company expects to determine whether the unit is marketable. If H-P cannot find a buyer, it likely will use a contract manufacturer to assemble the internal circuitry for its printers.

In that case, the affected employees likely will be absorbed by other parts of the company.

“We don’t have a whole lot of details in terms of what the future holds,” H-P spokeswoman Beth Quartarolo said Thursday.

The decision to explore the sale of its printed-circuit assembly unit is part of H-P’s long-term strategy to focus on operations that relate to its expertise.

Hewlett-Packard, which designs and manufactures computer printers, employs 3,000 people and occupies about 1.2 million square feet on two campuses in Vancouver. It has 5,750 workers in Oregon, most of them in Corvallis.