One year later, free to talk
I was contractually obligated not to discuss or divulge details about my former employer, Dell, as part of a severance package I took when I left the company at the end of July last year. However, I am no longer constrained by that contract so I feel like I can say whatever I want. Plus, the money is already spent, and they can sue me if they want, but you can’t get blood from a turnip as they say.
I bring this up after coming across an article about Dell wanting to sell its manufacturing plants. I saw this writing on the wall last year and was actually a bit relieved that I was offered a severance package. I’m not so sure many of my former coworkers will share that fate as they are unceremoniously dumped on the street after the sale.
This actually started about a year and a half after I was hired by Dell when they built a laptop factory in Malaysia. At first they insisted that only 10% of laptops would be produced there and the remainder would be produced in the US. I saw the writing on that wall too and immediately jumped at the chance to move to desktop manufacturing. Within a few months 100% of laptop manufacturing was moved to Malaysia and Ireland. It was a good business decision considering the 10 year tax holiday provided by the Malaysian government, but it showed me that Dell was no longer committed to US manufacturing.
So I spent the rest of my career at Dell in desktop and server manufacturing. At first things were going extremely well, but then the desktop market started to slide as laptops became cheaper. That slump then combined with a move to tech support in India. Customer outrage at the poor service level rose and the reputation of Dell took a big hit. Another big hit came when it was discovered that Dell was cooking its books.
Due to these things and other factors, my satisfaction with the company began to wane and I have to admit, my performance began to suffer. I began making big mistakes and was generally unhappy while I was at work despite the great group of people I worked with. It was not a good situation for me and I was unhappy to the point that it made me physically ill on occasion. I decided that if the chance arose, I would leave the company.
In Spring 2007 it was announced that Dell would start selling computers at Walmart and other retail locations. At that point I knew it was over and actually started working on my resume again. I actively cautioned my coworkers that this was just a prelude to the end of US manufacturing at Dell. The only reason Dell even manufactured in the US was due to its direct model, and if that model was going out the door, manufacturing couldn’t be far behind.
Shortly thereafter, my shift was eliminated and severance packages were offered. I took one and considered myself lucky to have been offered one. Since then, Dell has announced the closing of a whole factory which was the building next to mine in Austin. Last report has it closing towards the end of this year. It was one of four factories in the US producing desktops and the volumes just didn’t support that many facilities.
So the news that Dell plans to sell off its manufacturing isn’t really news at all to me. The clues have been there all along. I just thought I’d offer an insider’s view of the story behind the story. It feels good to get that off my chest and maybe I’ll tell more later.
Yeah, I remember even back in 2001 Dell had several laptop systems that came mostly pre-manufactured from Compal. Compal was (and is probably still) making laptops for Dell, HP, Toshiba, and at one time Apple (not sure who does their stuff now). As far as desktops go, most of the components were off the shelf stuff with the exception of the motherboards and power supplies which were made to fit the Dell chassis form factors and might have also had non-standard power connections, but I could never determine if that was a rumor or not.
People should just skip the middlemen and buy straight from Asus. Constant news like this is why flip flops are overtaking boots in the fashion world.
No, Dell had standard connectors; they just had non-standard pin-outs (I repaired a couple of them). It was not at all obvious, and I think they didn’t even use the non-standard components on all models. If Dell had used proprietary connectors, so it was obvious something was hinky before motherboards started frying and/or exploding, it wouldn’t have been as big a deal. This particularly heavy-handed marketing tactic is the reason I stopped recommending Dell.
It’s sad that companies like Dell move production offshore in order to squeeze out only a small increase in profits. The same was true of blue jeans and shoes. I saw an automated machine once that made jeans. It took less than 2 minutes of human labor to make a pair. Even at $20/hr, that is still less than a dollar! It will come back to haunt them. I just saw a new store near my house that only sells Chinese brand shoes! No fees to Nike or Raebok. I wonder how they will react when their sub-contractors overseas start to market their own brand and cut them out?
@Steve
I think the thing to remember here is that companies DO care about that few dollars they save and DON’T care about any American workers they might lose their jobs. These large companies are multinational in nature and have no allegiance to their country of origin. Their only allegiance is to money. They concern themselves only with making the most money as fast as they can. They don’t even do any real planning ahead. I’d say most companies today have only about the next 5 years planned out, if that. Only the oldest and largest companies plan further down the road which is why they continue to stick around I guess.
I got out several months ago. Best move I have ever made. Joey you are spot on!