The Hindu Business Line : Work begins at Dell facility near Chennai

EIGHTH MANUFACTURING UNIT GLOBALLY: (From left) Mr Steve Felice, President-Dell Asia Pacific; Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communications and IT; Mr Kip Thompson, Vice President-Worldwide Facilities, Dell; : Mr M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; and Mr L.K. Tripathi, Chief Secretary, in Chennai on Tuesday. — M. Vedhan

Chennai , Dec. 5

Dell Inc, the US-based personal computer manufacturer, today commenced work on its manufacturing facility at the Sriperumbudur Hi-Tech Park near Chennai. The facility will start shipping products, initially desktops, from June next year, according to a company official.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, launched the project by unveiling an architectural model of the proposed facility.

Eighth facility

This is Dell's eighth facility globally and third in Asia-Pacific after Penang (Malaysia) and Xiamen (China). It is also setting up two more in Brazil and Poland.

It may be recalled that in September, Dell signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu Government to set up the facility. Dell will invest $30 million (Rs 135 crore) over five years in the plant with an initial capacity of 4,00,000 units a year.

The facility would cater to the Indian market, according to Mr Rajan Anandan, Vice-President and General Manager, Dell India.

Mr Simon Wong, Vice-President, Asia Pacific/Japan manufacturing operations for Dell, said that in addition to Dell's 50-acre site, another 100 acres have been earmarked for suppliers.

Vendors supplying materials and components to Dell are expected to bring in 5-7 times more investments than Dell's.

The manufacturing facility here would cut down the delivery time by at least a third. For a consumer in Chennai, the company now takes 12-13 days to deliver its product from the time of receipt of the order because its products have to be imported from the plant in Penang.

However, once the facility is ready here, the orders will be met in two-three days, he said.

Addressing the launch function, Mr Karunanidhi said the Chennai plant would generate about 1,000 direct jobs and another 4,000 indirectly.

Dell sells computers through the Internet. A consumer, visiting its Web site, can order a PC of any configuration. Dell would assemble the customised PC at Sriperumbudur and deliver the unit across India.

Advantage TN

According to Mr Steve Felice, President, Dell Asia Pacific and Japan, Tamil Nadu was the ideal location for the facility in India. The State's advantages include rich history of manufacturing excellence, education and experience, fast improving infrastructure, access to port and "pro-business and supportive Government, which is important for long-term success," he said.

Dell's turnover in India is about Rs 1,800 crore, of which 70 per cent comes from sale of desktop computers. Dell has about 13,000 employees working in its call centre operations, research and development, and in sales and marketing, said Mr Anandan.

More Stories on : Hardware | New Projects | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page