Manufacturing

In the 1980s Dell became a pioneer in the “configure to order” approach to manufacturing – delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. In contrast, most PC manufacturers in those times delivered large orders to intermediaries on a quarterly basis.^[50]

To minimize the delay between purchase and delivery, Dell has a general policy of manufacturing its products close to its customers. This also allows for implementing a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing approach, which minimizes inventory costs. Low inventory is another signature of the Dell business model – a critical consideration in an industry where components depreciate very rapidly.^[51]

Dell’s manufacturing process covers assembly, software installation, functional testing (including "burn-in"), and quality control. Throughout most of the company’s history, Dell manufactured desktop machines in-house and contracted out manufacturing of base notebooks for configuration in-house.^[52] However, the company's approach appears to have started to change. The 2006 Annual Report states “we are continuing to expand our use of original design manufacturing partnerships and manufacturing outsourcing relationships.” The Wall Street Journal reported in September, 2008 that “Dell has approached contract computer manufacturers with offers to sell" their plants.^[53]

Assembly of desktop computers for the North American market takes place at Dell plants in Austin, Texas (original location), Lebanon TN and Nashville, Tennessee (opened in 1999), Winston-Salem NC (opened in 2005) and at the Miami, Florida facility of its Alienware subsidiary. Dell servers come from Austin TX. Dell has moved some of its desktop assembly into Mexico (near the border with El Paso, Texas) for computers that sold in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Dell assembles computers for the EMEA market at Limerick in the Republic of Ireland, and employs about 4,500 people in that country. Production at the Limerick facility will cease in 2009 and will relocate to facilities in Poland and Asia. European Manufacturing Facility 1 (EMF1, opened in 1990) and EMF3 form part of the Raheen Industrial Estate near Limerick. EMF2 (previously a Wang facility, later occupied by Flextronics, situated in Castletroy) closed in 2002,^{[citation needed]} and Dell Inc has consolidated production into EMF3 (EMF1 now contains only offices^[54]). Dell’s Alienware subsidiary also manufactures PCs in an Athlone, Ireland plant. Construction of EMF4 in Łódź, Poland has started^[update]: Dell started production there in autumn 2007.^[55]

Dell opened plants in Penang, Malaysia in 1995, and in Xiamen, China in 1999. These facilities serve the Asian market and assemble 95% of Dell notebooks. Dell Inc has invested an estimated $60 million in a new manufacturing unit in Chennai, India, to support the sales of its products in the Indian subcontinent. Indian-made products will bear the "Made in India" mark. In 2007 the Chennai facility had the target of producing 400,000 desktop PCs, and plans envisaged it starting to produce notebook PCs and other products in the second half of 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Dell moved desktop and PowerEdge server manufacturing for the South American market from the Eldorado do Sul plant opened in 1999, to a new plant in Hortolandia, Brazil in 2007.^[56]

Dell began manufacturing in Limerick in 1991 and went on to become Ireland's largest exporter of goods and its second-largest company and foreign investor. On January 8, 2009, Dell announced that it would move all Dell manufacturing in Limerick to Dell's new plant in the Polish city of Łódź by January 2010.^[57] European Union officials said they would investigate a €52.7million aid package the Polish government used to attract Dell away from Ireland.^[58]