Just to update your info, this is how much a new 747-400 Cargo costs in 2006 $ in Millions:

747-400/ -400ER Freighter 219.5 -- 247.0

And yes it is cheaper to charter a plane than own one. The person paying the charter fee doesn't have to worry about maintenence and making sure all the chacks are taken care of. Just to pre-flight a 747 takes about 8 hours and you have to pay the people to do that. After that it's cheaper to charter.

I'm a mechanic for a cargo airline, so I know a little bit about what you are talking about. Airplanes are not cheap. I have WORKED a 747-400 a little back in the early 90's. I'm still amazed at how big they are.

It doesn't take 8 hours to pre flight a 747. Airlines would be losing money left and right. When it lands, it takes about 30 minutes to unload pax and cargo. Cleaning and refueling takes another hour or so, the next crew jumps in and starts loading the FMS, doing preflight checks, etc. Loading pax and cargo for the return is another 30-45 minutes and out we go. Normally about 2-3 hours turnaround. Remember, a plane is not making money on the ground...

So in all of your research did you find out how you can tell which plant made the laptop you (I) own ?

Is one plant better than the other?

I understand that all DELL laptops are made overseas.
Where are the laptop plants located?

fathergoose

Cool read. I got my XPS M1210 from Ireland and am in the UK. From telephone call to delivery was thursday and i got it the following Tuesday, only cause i wasn't home when they tried to deliver it on Monday. So my system went through all that in a matter of hours. Thats why i suppose that DELL are so reliable..Thanks for the info

I also enjoyed the read.

Very nice read, I had wondered about the motherboards.

Amazing process they have. I guess when you are as big as they are, you can require that sort of response from suppliers.

Wow, very good read indeed.

Dell has 4 major plants located in Austin, Nashville, Limerick and Penang. The 4 plants distribute various jobs among each other and each specialises in something. Penang for eg, specialises in Laptops, so most of the laptops manufactured by Dell would be made in Penang. That does not mean they r not made in the other plants at all, they r made there as well, but in smaller numbers catering to a different market sector. All 4 plants can manufacture a majority of models, but in varying capacities. They r located in 4 different timezones and the quality of order will dictate which plant caters to it. This means, some laptops are manufactured in USA too, but not necessariy for you and me.

Behind the order process, is the procurement process, which is an extremely complicated inventory system that computes which plant is allocated the order based on a variety of parameters.

Soul

Thanks,.....Soulkeeper

fathergoose

Americans cost a lot of money. Dell WAS an American company. It is now a global company and understanding a global company is a hard pill to swallow. By putting more Americans to work in Dell, the price of computers will increase, and in this competitive market, a price increase in its products is like shooting urself in the foot. Forget it, no more looking back to taking tech support to the USA. There arnt as many tech agents available to add enough value to the notebooks they sell. There is however, one sort of tech support, that is when you purchase the Gold Tech Support which costs twice the price of the notebook. That is located in RoundRock. I can tell u that for sure. So go and buy a $1000 notebook and pay $2000 for the support, and u can get ur support from the USA. That will be ur contribution to keep americans working. Either keep the cake, or eat it, cant have both.

And yes, its growing in India. Dell's fifth plant is being setup. And you guessed it right. Its being setup in Chennai, India, and with the 3 Dell-owned support centres in India, a fourth one is being setup in Gurgaon near Delhi, which will take the total Indians working for Dell in India upto 15,000 and another 12,000 tech with the outsourced partners of Dell. Its a numbers game my friend, Americans cant match up at this game yet. This is just one story.... go look for stories about the centres in El Salvador, Penang, Dalian and Rio de Jan and you'll see that American techs arent worth the money for support (unless you buy the Gold Tech Support). I know 5 Americans who came to Bangalore to work for Dell. Not everone understands fully the concept of a "global" company.... and cant blame you for that.

Soul

I was so appalled when I read this I had to ask you....

Do you live in the 21st century or have you been locked away in a padded room for the past 30-40 years. It's called globalization/industrialization/whatever you want to call it. Dell has LAID off workers in the U.S. but has also created jobs in a country that desperately needed them. Dell also uses an IMPORTANT concept called JIT (just in time inventory) which was "invented"/created by the Japanese. Most of the parts were and still are manufactured in Taiwan, China, or possibly even Japan depending on what it is. The US economy would never have taken off so quickly in the past 10-20 years if it wasn't for these other countries so explain to me WHAT dell did wrong? Lay off overpaid American workers who organize unions and complain about their already bloated wages and benefits? Give me a break. I see nothing wrong in being efficient and trying to make money WHICH IS THE HEART OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM. Go get a white table cloth, cut out some holes, and put it over your head.

EDIT:
And you mention the "economy"? How can you even say that? Do you even know the dynamics of a global economy? Our current economy would be worse off without other countries. That is the SIMPLEST concept in macroeconomics: SPECIALIZATION. And if you want to keep Americans working, get them out of Iraq and back with their families/jobs and keep the inflation in check instead of waging a self-righteous war.

Soulkeeper:
Agreed, everyone DOESN'T understand it BUT EVERYONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND IT. Their entire life revolves around goods from all over the world. I understand someone who refuses to buy Chinese/Sri Lanka made clothing due to child labor but refusing to buy a product just because it doesn't have American workers on the assembly line? That's just pure arrogance and ignorance in this time and age.

They must have smaller plants right? I ordered and e1505 and it shipped from Patrick, Nevada USA

enjoyed the read, thanks!