The fate of over 1,500 Dell employees in its Penang factory has been put into doubt after recent news disclosing the possibility of the company selling its factories to potential buyers.
The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times were among the first international media which covered the news, followed by local newspapers yesterday, including NST.
It is said that Dell has approached a number of contract and EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) manufacturers about the possible plan of taking over the plants’ operation. It wasn’t clear about which countries will be affected with the move but it will be one or more from 6 of the countries Dell currently operates in – United States, Malaysia, China, Brazil, Ireland and Poland.
Many see it as a move by the company to follow their closer rivals – Hewlett Packard (HP) and Apple in outsourcing their manufacturing function and instead focus on the design and marketing work.
Presently, Dell employs close to 30,000 people worldwide. Between 2007 and 2008, under the helm of the come-back CEO Michael Dell, the company underwent a series of plant closures and redundancies of workers, which slashed the company’s workforce by 9,000 people, representing a 10% shrink in employee size.
Apart from the manufacturing facility, Dell also has a cell center and customer support operation in Bayan Lepas, Penang, employing more than 1,000 staff working around the clock. Dell is often considered among the top manufacturing companies to work in Penang as well as Malaysia.
In 2006, Dell was ranked by Fortune among the world’s 25 largest companies, and was in the top 10 in the most admired companies listing.
Other posts you may want to read:
- Dell To Cut 1,900 Ireland Jobs
- Dell Malaysia “To Stay”
- Dell Malaysia Cut 700 Jobs
- Penang Factories Shutting Down Plants
- Penang Gets New Factory in Gloomy Economy
- Globetronics To Expand Employee Size
- DELL opens Cyberjaya Centre
- B Braun Penang to Expand
Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.
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12 comments ↓
Even an MNC like Dell is considering selling its’ factories. All the more reason to be vigilant in controlling one’s spending & saving for a rainy day. Hope the economy recovers soon.
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Zul reply on September 9th, 2008:
Hi Avatar, everything looks to be going haywire now… the economy, politics… even weather also joining… Let’s just pray for the best.
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This is not-so-encouraging news; what’s with the economy and political situation:(
So sad the MNCs are all starting to consider leaving the bountiful and beautiful Penang island…first Motorola, now Dell….
Let’s hope this will be dropped or there will be a new and better future soon for all those worried Penangites-working-in-MNCs!~
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i work in dell penang.. it’s not only the APCC2 will be closed but also the APCC1 in bayan lepas. tsk tsk.. APCC1 i think will be moved in the Philippines..
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dellian reply on September 19th, 2008:
well expat,
you claim to be working in dell and said that apcc1 is going to be closed too.
if you’re not too sure what is going on in dell, better shut up and stop spreading nonsense up in blogs.
yes dell is not doing so good now but dell is still dell, it’s not some small company that gets shutdown overnight. apcc2 will be off but not apcc1.
-dellian-
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Another Dell-person reply on September 22nd, 2008:
I would like to know how “expat in dell penang” got the information about the closure of apcc 1. Dell is only working to close manufacturing plants in several places and not its entire operations in Penang. And let me remind you that closure of Apcc2 plant does not mean the end of Dell in Penang. If manufacturing affects Dell so much, then the closure of manufacturing floor in Apcc1 several years ago would have led to entire Apcc 1 shutdown. But did that happen? Instead, we expanded, used the manufacturing floor to build office space and hired more people to work.
If you are truly from Dell then you should know towards which direction Dell is moving right now. Stop spreading rumors, if you don’t know what is really going on.
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Dear Expat,
So what’s going to happen to the workers? Anything being planned to assist them? Times are tough especially when such a big MNC decides to sell of its’ factories.
Rgds
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expat in dell penang reply on September 18th, 2008:
they will be paid 3months of their pay… end of life for apcc1 is on dec 1, moving to philippines. apcc2 will be moved to china
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Avatar reply on September 18th, 2008:
Well, that’s pretty sad. It’s not going to be easy for the workers to find jobs in the current environment. Three months of salary won’t last long. Thanks for sharing.
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[...] fate of Dell’s employees, on the other hand are still in doubt after a report that the company has been reported to be [...]
[...] maker made headlines a few months ago when reports said the company was looking for an exit and was talking to a few interested buyers for their [...]
can u assist me where can i get dell mini pcie ssd hard disk????that hard disk is made in malaysia…but where can i find it in malaysia?
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