Note from Lionel: The following is a post that appeared today on DellenDirecto, Dell's Spanish blog. I decided to include a translated version of Raymundo's post because I thought it offered some good perspective on one of our core global business strategies—building systems closer to our customers. Pictures of the factory can be found at this link.
Update: 5/15: Gretel just published a new post about President Lula's visit to the factory. The post also contains a vlog from Terry Kahler, vice president of Dell Latin America.
Today is a special day for Dell. We are celebrating the opening of our new manufacturing plant in Brazil, located in Hortolândia, in the state of Sâo Paulo.
This is our second plant in Brazil and the result of several years of work and successes in this country, the number one in terms of our customer base in Latin America. Dell entered the Brazilian market almost eight years ago when we decided to open our first manufacturing site in Latin América in Porto Alegre, a city located at the south of Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Since that day and until now, the growth we've experienced in Brazil has been incredible. Today Dell is the leader in the corporate segment and in server sales. We have also implemented many programs for the community like “Projeto Cidadão Digital,” where we are bringing technology to young people of low-income families. Because of this great growth, we announced last year that we would expand our presence here by building a plant in Hortolândia.
The purpose of this plant, which features leading-edge technology and complies with the highest manufacturing and distribution standards, is to be closer to our customers. In Brazil, approximately 70 percent of our customers are in the state of Sâo Paulo. For Latin America, it means that we'll now be able to reduce the delivery of our products to our customers outside of Brazil. This is the first of three factories opening this year, including one in India scheduled to open in July; and our Poland factory which will open later this year to serve portions of Europe and fast-growing markets such as Russia.
To celebrate this day we have a lot of activities. A number of community, business and government leaders will be here with us, including president of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, a great honor for us.
In summary, Brazil offers a lot of opportunities for Dell. I'm personally proud of working for a company like Dell which is committed to continuing to grow and to supporting the Brazilian community.