Winston-Salem is Getting Dell :)

On December 22, 2004,  Dell Inc. announced that they will build their third US manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem.  The company will invest $150 million over the next five years and employ up to 1,500 people at the facility.  The new 500,000 square-foot facility will be located on a 189-acre site at the new Alliance Science and Technology Park.

“Winston-Salem’s Alliance Park location is best suited to bringing our new operations online in time to meet growing customer needs, providing good proximity to an available workforce and supporting our logistics objectives,” said Ro Parra, senior vice president and general manager of Dell Americas. “We also appreciate the community’s continued support in helping us complete our project on time and we are looking forward to getting to work on the new facility so we can begin to put Triad residents to work before the end of the next year.”

The announcement was the culmination of almost a year of analysis by the company.  A key issue was the ability of the community to meet an aggressive time schedule for construction of the facility.  Dell expects the plant to be operational by fall 2005.  To that end, Winston-Salem Business Inc. moved quickly after the announcement.  A grading contractor was mobilized on-site by December 31 and site work is well underway.  The building pad was completed by the end of January.

“We are thrilled that Dell has selected Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and we look forward to assisting them with the start-up of this new facility.  This announcement has been widely anticipated across Winston-Salem, the Piedmont Triad and North Carolina,” said Bob Leak, Jr., president of Winston-Salem Business Inc.  “We appreciate the confidence the Dell team has in our community’s ability to deliver a world-class site location, comprehensive infrastructure and talented workforce.”