HP cuts contract manufacturer use for printing growth

HONG KONG, June 29 (Reuters) - The printing division of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), the world's largest PC firm, has been cutting down on the number of contract manufacturers it is using since the downturn hit in 2009, a senior executive said.

Cost savings derived from simplifying its supply chain have gone into spending on research and growing its sales team, Vyomeh Joshi, the global head of HP's imaging and printing division, said in an interview late on Monday.

HP's imaging and printing division is one of the company's most lucrative businesses, accounting for about one-fifth of its revenue but about a third of its entire operating profit.

It is launching a series of web-enabled printers in Asia that will allow users to print remotely from mobile devices such as an iPhone or a laptop PC to continue to drive growth.

The new products will help the company meet its previously announced target of double-digit percentage growth in the number of printer units sold this year, Joshi said, with some 2,500 companies already customers of its printing solution business.

(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)