Dell closing N.C. manufacturing plant

Dell is closing its desktop PC manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The cost-cutting move will ax 905 jobs, with 600 workers set to be laid off in November and the rest in January, Dell said Wednesday.

"This is a difficult decision, especially for our North Carolina colleagues, but a necessary one for Dell customers and our company," Frank Miller, vice president of Dell's Public Business Unit Supply Chain, said in a statement.

Dell had announced some layoffs at the North Carolina plant in March but gave no indication that the plant itself might be in danger of shutting down.

This plant closure is just the latest in a series of efforts by Dell to shrink expenses worldwide by billions of dollars.

In 2007, the company said it would lay off 8,800 employees, or 10 percent of its global workforce. However, the company modified that number last year, cautioning workers to expect even deeper cuts.

Over the past few years, employees in Canada, Ireland, and, of course, the U.S. have gotten pink slips.

The appetite of consumers toward laptops over desktops was a factor behind the decision to close the North Carolina plant, which opened four years ago. Last year, Dell shut down its desktop manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas.

[tyshockner]

Oh Good, Another American company laying off Americans so they can open a factory in China and pay the Chinese $0.50 an hr.

I might start collecting items that say "Made in the USA" Just because they are becoming so rare.

[BelkyB]

What do you think feeds that?

Every American wants everything for so damn cheap!

If you want the jobs to stay in America, pay the prices that will allow companies to pay American wages!

[eeee]

Oink Oink is DELL's current reply in that they took tax abatements, sales tax abatements, incentives, probably training programs to bring a workforce up to speed from the state govt and who knows how much from the local county and local govt and now they are just booking out
What a crock !
Convert to whatever the market is buying; who says that all notebook and portable PCs have to be made in China or other countries; would it not be smart for them to say they have devised a efficient manufacturing process here on American soil providing Americans with jobs and technology training.
I would be inclined to buy that PC from DELL knowing it promotes the good of our country instead of sending more profits to China who hates us but not our money.

[ckh1272]

I lived in that state for a long time and even applied there before it "officially" opened. They hired a lot of qualified previously laid off workers, so I didn't get it (had a job at the time). I was a little disappointed at the time. Looking back though, which was real easy, I quickly realized that things happen for a reason. I do feel bad for all of those people who got screwed by Dell and the state of NC, who had to bribe them with more 250 million dollars of taxpayer money. Yes, Dell has to pay it back but it doesn't help the employees who are getting the shaft. They laid off more than 200 earlier this year. Recession or not, the writing was on the wall before 2005 (when it first opened) as far as laptop to desktop sales were concerned. I hope those laid off are getting a decent severance package (somehow I doubt it though).

[timber2005]

You ought to hear what they gave Google and Apple ><

[ckh1272]

I know what they gave Google and Apple and I don't agree with that either. Corporate welfare can bite the big one.

[inachu1]

Dell to buy Perot Systems for $3.9 billion.

The above news report is the reason DELL closed the NC plant.
Greed is in action here people!
More reasons not to buy a DELL. They hate the American workforce.

[gggg sssss]

I guess you will be buying a Lenovo then? An Acer? A Mac?

[ckh1272]

Maybe you didn't see the part about that plant being for desktops, which have slipping in sales for years. Either way, Dell screwed a lot of hard workers.

[ckh1272]

@inachu1--I guess based on your logic, they hate Canadians and the Irish too. Perhaps read the whole article next time.

[goblynn1013]

I suppose this is another reason to be thankful that neither I, nor anyone in my family, left our employment to go to the Dell facility.

On top of that, they're laying off these folks right at Christmas--there's never a "good" time to lose your job, but I can't help but feel it hurts even more. These families will have an extra pain at this time of year, knowing they can't afford to give as they'd like (not just to family and friends, but to charities, too). NC hasn't ever recovered from the textile/furniture manufacturer losses, and now more workers are added to the ever-increasing need.

*makes note to donate more to local charities*

Way to go, Dell. Never buying from you, not anymore.

[ejhayes76]

So who will you buy from? They all manufacture outside the US.

IBM (Lenovo) is the worst. They are majority owned by the Chinese government.

[ckh1272]

@goblynn1013--That is part of my point. The state of NC deserves just as much blame as Dell for having to bribe them. They have been backed up against the wall for years because of all those losses, and Dell got them hook, line, and sinker.

[Remo_Williams]

Dell should be classified as a foreign company when they move the jobs outside the US. Let's see how they like paying those taxes instead.

[ckh1272]

On that logic, so should every other computer manufacturer.

[ibagoalie]

As much as I despise Dell, you have to shoulder some of the blame yourselves....yes, that includes everyone that commented here. If people were willing to pay a little bit more, perhaps companies would be able to bring manufacturing back to US soil. As it is today, most people want the cheapest possible price and that's why companies do as much as possible overseas. Pretty soon there won't be any jobs left and then the question will be...who will be able to afford to buy anything?

[Chao_Sama]

Not a good look.....btw Dell thanx for selling me an laptop who's keys are falling off and battery will not hold an charge....this is bad for the workers though...

[gggg sssss]

I guess, like the UAW, Dell workers just need to take less. And govt at all levels needs to tax less so that people can still get by. And yes, dont use tax money to give financecompany losers bonuses. Simple really.

[eeee]

the answer is that we need to enable workers to get more rights : unionize as many of the workers all over the world as possible to allow some sort of equlibrium and stop this needless moving of jobs back and forth
as long as human dignity and workers are exploited by big firms we will keep seeing this

[ckh1272]

I hate to break it to you, but most of those assembly jobs started at $18k a year U.S. Would you suggest even lower poverty level wages??

[ckh1272]

Also, unions are not the answer. Just ask the Big Three auto workers and their "dealings" with the UAW.

[gggg sssss]

@eeee unions?. See how well that has worked for auto asemblers, people who make steel, people who serve on airplanes. That only works if the jobs must be kept here in the US. Assembly can be done anywhere.Steel can be made anywhere. Airplanes can be staffed anywhere. And today, we will see the start of hummers being assembled in in china out of steel made in China. Definitely not by the UAW. The UAW thought, like ckh1272, that they were entitles to more than $18k. Now they hav e $0k

[USIT2009]

I have an interesting idea..
Why don't we just start making it VERY expensive for companies who have facililities outside the United states to do business with the U.S. Start imposing Tarriffs, fees and all sorts of penalties on the companies who try to import product into the U.S as well as impose fees and penalties on the stores that sell the imported goods.
If the United States would do this companies would start seeing the wisdom of building and maintaining plants and facilities within the United States.
This, in turn will cause more U.S. citizens to be employed and then everyone who matters is happy.

[USftw]

Maybe we should start by eliminating the tax incentives these corporate giants get for outsourcing to other countries. I saw in the news that we have officially declared the recession over in the US, but it's going to be at least another year before we start seeing positive growth in our employment rate. I have a sneaking suspicion that it would take far less time if the US government would provide incentive for these companies to hire US workers, or as previously mentioned kill the tax breaks they get for sending jobs overseas.

In a perfect world, or perfect US I should say, these companies would be charged a tax for outsourcing overseas that would be funneled directly back to the states in the form of grants and business loans for small and medium businesses to hire US workers here in the states. It's the best of both worlds; SMB getting tax credits for hiring US workers; paid for by the Enterprise businesses who still get to shell out jobs to overseas countries.

And to a point, yes, if we expect to be paid well we should expect to have to shell out some of that cash for products and services. Being cheap has a price; ironically a fairly expensive one.

[belfert]

We live in a global economy now. The USA exports a LOT of goods. Yes, we have a trade deficit, but the amount of exports and imports both is really high.

Other countries will place tariffs on our stuff if we place tariffs on imports.

I buy American when I can, but that is sometimes next to impossible. I would probably be looking for a month to find a crock pot made in the USA.