Dell To Sell Its Computer Factories

Anti-Globalism sends us to a Wall Street Journal for a report that Dell plans to sell its factories in an effort to revamp its production model. Quoting: "Dell's plants are still regarded as efficient at churning out desktop PCs. But within the industry, company-owned factories aren't considered the least expensive way to produce laptops, which have been the main driver of growth lately and are complex and labor-intensive to assemble. Rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. years ago shifted to contract manufacturers -- companies that provide production services to others -- to build their portable computers. H-P builds "less than half" of its PCs in facilities it owns, wrote Tony Prophet, H-P's senior vice president for PC supply chain, in an e-mail. Contract manufacturers can generally produce computers more cheaply because their entire operations are narrowly focused on finding efficiencies in manufacturing, as opposed to large firms like Dell, which must also balance marketing and other considerations."

Comments

Re:Apple

[Jorophose]

All of Apple's parts are Foxconn, except the intel processors, and $somebody's hard drives.

Congratulations, you have parts made from the bottom-of-the-barrel of the shittiest components maker, Foxconn. Nobody would touch that with a 10-foot poll when they have Gigabyte.

Apple cuts its costs to make a profit, too. Or you thought an iMac really costs 1000$ to make?

Re:Made in China

[maxume]

It takes more fuel to truck something from LA to Chicago than it does to ship it from China to LA. No doubt trains improve on trucks quite a bit, but fuel costs aren't particularly onerous for objects that regularly retail for $100/pound (maybe worry about it when you see bananas go for $5 a pound instead of $0.70).