This is how Dell decides which computer to build and when...

Well, I had a theory that someone else in this forum had...and another one of my friends also was thinking the same thing. Today when I called Dell to ask for the status of my order (as it still says ESD 8/2/07 on the site) and got into a discussion with my rep about how they assemble computers since many people after me (among many others) ordered after us and got their laptops first. Before I get to that, the rep told me that the delay was (again) because of colored lids, which I'm sure many of you know.

I asked her why my friends were getting their laptops before me and she said that the way she thinks the system works is that Dell does not hold parts. For example, if you ordered in June but since then one part or another hasn't been available, they won't assemble part of your laptop, push it to the side, and continue when the missing part(s) come in. They just won't start it. Next, for the computers that were missing a specific part(s), when the part(s) do arrive, Dell will be fulfilling orders in the order they were received. For example, if someone ordered a Blue 1520 way back when but the LCD screens were on backorder, and if I did the same except at a later date. My friend would receive his 1520 before I receive mine. However, if someone ordered after both of us and chose and LCD screen that wasn't on backorder, provided the lids were in stock, he would get his first.

I hope this helps anyone else who was wondering!

Edit: This post doesn't cover expedited orders...I didn't ask my rep about those, but I imagine those would be completed before my friend and I's orders for the 1520 (in the last example) but after the person who would have received his computer before both of us.

 

I can confirm that yes indeed, Dell has no stock whatsoever...they only order what they have orders for - and have nothing laying around. Everything is based on what their suppliers can get for them, and when...

 

i thought this was common sense? ... i mean it even says on their site "may delay shipping" on certain type of hard drives/lcds etc

 

They don't officially have any parts on site - the parts are in facilities owned by the various parts manufacturers on the same site and only become Dells responsibility when they cross the white line to enter the manufacturing plant.

 

haha wow. i didn't think anyone replied to this thread. surprise!
@mxl180: i don't think the way they decide to send out orders takes common sense; i disagree with dell's methodology.

 

That's Just-in-Time manufacturing baby

 

As preisendanz says.....

Dell has been doing this since the beginning of time....


This has been one of the primary reasons Dell has been able to keep prices down....

Minimal inventory....

-LQ

 

I also thought this was common knowledge - Dell does not hold components for a specific build if all the components aren't available to finish the build. That would be both inefficient and require Dell to hold more inventory for the multitude of partly completed systems which cannot sell and cannot charge for.

The anomaly is when two systems are identical, down to the lid color, but the one ordered later gets built and shipped earlier. That's the cause of concern. It's widely known that Dell will not hold your parts while waiting for the rest when other machines can be made to be available now. May as well have someone benefit right?

 

The only problem when they use your parts to build another machine is when they recieve your back ordered parts and they run out of another part... this is the problem with M1330 orders.

I have been waiting for every part imaginable. Everytime the CSR calls they say your are back ordered XXX. They finally stopped telling me what was back ordered after I said "first it was the display, then the processor, then the battery, then the palm rest, hinges..."

So does this system work... not for me.

 

it works most of the time. The probability of a particular order starving because of this process is very very low unless many parts are in short supply at successive invocations of the round robin. Of course, if all the parts are in short supply, that's another extreme and the process again becomes fair. Seems like a normal probability curve and probably well understood by dell statistically.

 

I am doing MBA and actually currently taking an operations class.

On a typical product as much as 24%/year of the mfr. cost can be the holding cost for it so having inverntory is not food for keeping low prices.

Dell uses JIT so they only place order based on demand and do not hold any inventory. So if a part for computer is short them my guess is they will schedule all other parts to come at the same time as the short part so not to have to hold inventory untill the short part comes in.

Pretty good way to cut down approx. 10-20% cost of the product. Downside is if you do not manage your suppliers and make sure they have small lead time you will run into problems like the one with Vostros where it was taking them almost a month to ship a product that they can typically do in a couple of days on mature laptops.