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Aguadilla
is located 81 miles west of San Juan on the island’s
scenic west coast. Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island
of 3.8 million American citizens (a Latin American
country with U.S. federal laws). As a commonwealth
of the United States, Puerto Rico is probably the
U.S.’s best-kept business secret.
With a solid buying power of well over $25 billion
and a population larger than half the states of the
Union, the island offers an unrivaled Latin American
market for U.S. goods and services—without the
need for foreign or domestic customs clearance. As
the U.S.’s eighth largest trading partner and
the world’s fourth largest purchaser of U.S.
goods per capita, Puerto Rico purchases more products
than many larger countries, such as Italy, Russia
or China. In 2001 alone, Puerto Rico purchased $16
billion worth of U.S. goods, fueling the creation
and maintenance of over 270,000 U.S. mainland jobs.
As a hub for dynamic enterprise, the island offers
few parallels. U.S. companies not only benefit from
Puerto Rico’s strategic location in the Caribbean,
but American companies established in Puerto Rico
also enjoy tax incentives and a readily available
skilled and mostly bilingual workforce, as well as
a U.S. dollar-based economy and a steady political
and economic environment. It’s no coincidence
that 53 U.S. Fortune 100 companies are already operating
on the island.
In Aguadilla lies a manufacturing research and development
outpost officially known as Hewlett Packard Puerto
Rico, but commonly referred to by locals as “HP”.
This center has been described as a city-like complex.
Here more than 1,800 employees work in the company’s
Ink Supplies Business (ISB) and Puerto Rico Manufacturing
Operation PRMO). ISB produces ink-jet printer cartridges
while PRMO manufactures printed circuit assemblies
and accessories for HP’s worldwide internal customers.
The complex has averaged an 80,000-sq.-ft. (7,400-
sq.-m.) expansion in each of the last five years.
An interesting historical note: on November 19, 1493,
Christopher Columbus arrived in Aguadilla.
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