10-23-2013: Meg Whitman publicly and officially confirmed for the first time HP’s entry into the 3D printing sector with its proprietary technology.
A year later, that technology turned out to be Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)
On October 23, 2013, Meg Whitman – then CEO of HP, announced during the Canalys Channels Forum in Bangkok that the company would enter the 3D printer market in mid-2014. This was the first official confirmation of information that had been circulating publicly for several months prior. Whitman’s words came to fruition first on October 29, 2014, when the first prototype of a 3D printer was shown during a conference in New York and the concept of MJF technology was described. Its market debut took place on May 17, 2016. Unfortunately, by that time, Meg Whitman was no longer HP’s CEO.
"We are excited about 3D printing," Whitman said during the conference, adding that it was a natural business for HP to enter given its legacy in printers. "We want to lead this business. HP Labs is looking at it." She also highlighted production time as a key factor holding companies back from adopting 3D printing on a larger scale. "To print a bottle can take eight to ten hours. That's all very interesting, but it is like watching ice melt," she said. "3D printing is in its infancy. It is a big opportunity, and we are all over it. We will have something by the middle of next year."
Today, with the benefit of hindsight, we can say that all of these bold predictions were fulfilled. HP is now one of the undisputed leaders in the global additive manufacturing (AM) market, and MJF has revolutionized how parts are made using powder-based technologies. This was quite a success, especially considering the turbulence HP was experiencing at the time.
Meg Whitman is a highly experienced manager. In the 1980s, Whitman worked with Procter & Gamble, followed by Disney and Hasbro. In 1998, she joined eBay when the company had 30 employees. By the time she left a decade later, the company had grown to 15,000 employees. During her tenure, eBay also acquired Skype.
In January 2011, Whitman joined HP and took over as CEO in September of that year. It was not an easy time for the company. In May 2013, Bloomberg L.P. named Whitman the "Most Underachieving CEO" – alongside Apple's Tim Cook (ranked 12th) and IBM’s Virginia Rometty (ranked 10th). On the other hand, in 2014, Whitman was named 20th on Forbes’ list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. Since the late 2000s, there had been speculation about her potential political career – The New York Times even considered her among the women most likely to become the first female president of the United States.
In 2015, HP split into HP Inc. and HP Enterprise, with Whitman becoming CEO of HP Enterprise. She left the company in 2017. She briefly served as CEO of Quibi before, at the end of 2021, transitioning to politics by assuming the role of U.S. ambassador to Kenya.
Source: www.theregister.com