Re DELL tour, Friday 7 November, 1997
10 'DELLheads' met at 1300 at the DELL Optiplex factory in Austin, TX.
Turnout was lower than expected, probably due to the fact that since the tour date was during the 'quiet period', members of top management were unable to accompany us.
Tour members included
Annette Mosely
Klaus (a lurker on the DELL thread, whose last name I forget and whose first name I may have misspelled)
Judith (JUJU1015)
Jan and Sig Stembol (SIG)
Donnie Yeagin (Venkie)
Rosemary and David Alyea (Rosemary)
J. B. and Alison Nabors (JBN3)
Two top executives of Venkel Corporation
There were numerous tours scheduled for that day, for various types of groups. Because of the size of our group, we were divided into two sections. There were several reasons for this including: 1) the fact that the assembly floor is quite noisy, so that smaller groups made it easier to hear the guide; 2) operations are continuous, and space on the assembly floor was designed and engineered to be efficiently used, so smaller group sizes allow operations to continue with minimum impact on operations flow; 3) smaller groups allow the tourists to have a more personal relationship with their guide.
However, because we were divided into two groups, input and impressions will vary. Here are some of the impressions and information which I received.
First, to correct some false impressions and statements which have been made on this thread.
1) The Optiplex Factory is run using DELL servers, not Tandem or Compaq, as we had been led to believe.
2) The plant produces about 8,000 machines a day, working two eight-hour shifts a day, five days a week. In case the order backlog becomes excessive, the plant expands capacity by overtime, using extended shifts and week-ends as necessary. The facility which produces servers is working a similar schedule.
3) The assembly lines are push, rather than pull, so new component kits are started at timed intervals. The intervals are measured to allow the workers to work at a continuous, measured, and steady pace, without causing undue fatigue and consequent errors.
4) The workers are happy--they can buy DELL stock periodically (I did not determine with what periodicity or in what amounts) at 85% of the lowest share price of the last six months. They also participate in an exceptionally nice profit-sharing plan. Personnel down to the rank of supervisor have some options exposure. As I recall, last year's profit sharing amounted to about 11% of their annual pay. They also receive a bonus for (I think) attaining low-defect targets.
5) DELL's cash flow contains some nice features. Customers pay for machines when ordering. DELL uses just in time (JIT) assembly, so that components are not delivered until immediately prior to use. Vendor trucks back up to the factory on one side (west?) and serve as temporary storage until the contents are exhausted, when they are replaced with new, fully-laden vans. An inventory storage area in the factory is being converted to an assembly line because there is no need for internal storage. DELL's pays its suppliers on a 30- or 60-day basis.
6) DELL uses various vendors for its components. The only single source supplier that my guide could think of was Intel.
7) DELL has qualified four vendors for hard drives: Western Digital, Quantum, Seagate and Maxtor. All have approved DELL as a 'zero defect' manufacturer: they participated in the design of handling procedures for the assembly process. Thus, if a Disk Drive is bad, it is because it was defective leaving the production factory, and not due to mishandling at DELL. It gets replaced, no argument.
8) The beginning of the assembly is the assembly kits area. (Actually, the beginning is the receipt of the order, when it is checked for obvious hardware and software incompatibilities.) There are four or five (I think five) kits assembly lines. The server prints out an order, including a bar-coded list of components for the next machine. The appropriate casing is selected (tower, minitower, etc) and the components are laid in the casing. As the casing proceeds down the assembly line through the kitting area, the bar codes are read off by computer, and lights flash indicating the correct 'bin' of components to be selected. The line-worker pulls each one, and, if appropriate, bar-codes it back to the server, so that the server retains a complete record of all the components and serial numbers for each machine. This also allows the server to track the current status of all components and initiate re-order procedures.
9) After 'kitting', the next step is the assembly area, where a team builds each machine from the kit it receives. DELL computers are designed for ease of assembly. It looked marvelously simple: the power supply flips out of the way to clear access to the mother board and other internal 'organs'. Only one screw is used, to minimize the risk of a screwdriver slipping and scraping across a mother board, and to save time.
10) Once the machine hardware has been assembled, it gets connected to the server, its ID# gets read in, and the server installs the appropriate software specified in the order. It then undergoes a rigorous testing program, checking for hardware and software problems. Although there were also a number of problem analysis stations in the room, I saw no activity at any of them.(!) Our guide told us that if a machine fails the server testing program three times, it is 'junked'. I do not know what program, if any, is in place to resurrect or salvage individual components.
11) The machine then gets placed in a shipping carton. Once again the ID# is read in, and the server indicates specifically which documentation and accessories are to be included in the order before the container is closed and sealed.
12) After the package is sealed, another Quality Assurance program opens packages randomly in order to check the accuracy of the included components and documentation with those specified in the order. Machines are then placed in vans on the other (east?) side of the building for shipment. The whole process takes less than seven hours, and except for the burn-in, where the hardware/software is checked, less time than it took me to type this message.
13) DELL makes an effort to build all machines of a specific order with identical requirements using similar components (i.e., using only WDC or Quantum hard drives), so that the purchaser has only one configuration and potential problem set to deal with.
14) DELL has just purchased land in Austin to build a new production facility dedicated to servers.
I have tried to make this account as accurate and factual as I can, but we saw a lot in a short time, so there may be errors because my on-board computer is subject to bugs such as Alzheimers and otherwise defective aural and optical I/O devices. I would appreciate very much if Annette, Donnie, Judith, Rosemary, and Sig would correct any misstatements and add items I may have missed, forgotten, or which were told to the other group.
PS. Steve owes us 10 steak dinners.
Regards to all, 3. |
