Dell in-houses production, dumps Celestica in Ireland

Exclusive Dell EMC is terminating the contract it had with electronics manufacturer Celestica to take production in-house at its Cork-based facility in Ireland, with hundreds of jobs said to be at risk.

According to sources, Celestica was providing various services for Dell including server builds and labelling hard drives from its Galway site. The shift is taking place place right now.

“One of our customers at Celestica’s Galway facility has made the decision to discontinue its demand for services out of Celestica’s operation in Galway,” Celestica PR told us in response to questions we sent about Dell EMC’s switchover.

The contract manufacturer said it does not comment on customers’ businesses and “cannot disclose any details or make any comments pertaining to this specific customer".

The spokeswoman added: “The scope and timing of this activity is still to be determined. Celestica is pursuing new business for its site in Galway with both new and existing customers.”

Similarly, Dell also told us it does not comment on the business or operations of any of its suppliers but offered up a generic statement.

“Dell continuously evaluates its operations with a view to ensuring that it has the right structure in place to provide the best value support to its partner and customers.

“Cork continues to be a strategic and important location for Dell,” a spokeswoman for Dell added.

Insiders claimed that up to 300 people will be impacted by this decision and though Dell may increase its own headcount in Cork, Celestica employees are unlikely to make the move as there is a near-200km distance between the two sites.

We are told the migration to Cork was done “with cost savings in mind” because of the spending on logistics. ®