How IT integration enables people-driven quality
Welcome to Dell Inc.'s largest computer manufacturing facility, which occupies more than 750,000 square feet in Winston-Salem, N.C. — and which made its one millionth shipment just eight months after beginning production late in 2005.
As you will learn in the customer video featured at right on this page, the Dell plant was designed to be 15% more efficient than any other Dell facility, says Travis Simpson, Dell's vice president of North Carolina operations. "And we depend on our IT systems to do that."
Building that IT infrastructure on Microsoft's .NET technologies made it possible for Dell get this factory up and running — and shipping — within a matter of months, Simpson says. Through .NET, Dell was able to integrate production and shipping systems that "enable our people to … maintain high quality and a strict inventory control" in an environment where every single unit produced is customized based on a particular customer order, he says.
"It is a direct model that is tightly integrated from point of contact with the customer all the way through the manufacturing processes, and ultimately the post sales experience," says Susan Sheskey, Dell vice president and chief information officer. "And so we’re utilizing our systems in a very integrated way, in a seamless way to sort of drive that best in class process and best in class IT systems environment."
Dell presents its most technologically advanced facility