Mid-west readies for wider Dell fallout

SCORES of companies throughout the mid-west are already preparing to close up shop with Dell contracts drying up over coming months.

Many have issued workers with protective notice.

This is likely to decimate the wider economy in the mid-west with estimated knock-on job losses of between 8,000 to 10,000.

Some of these workers are employed in large companies supplying components to Dell. A host of smaller enterprises, who supply the main Dell suppliers and other services, also face a grim future.

One of Dell’s biggest suppliers in Limerick is Banta. It packages computer parts and sends them to Dell, their neighbours at Raheen industrial Park.

Last November when Dell announced it would not be rehiring up to 700 seasonal temporary workers, Banta was forced to lay off 65 of its 700 workers.

Now that the Dell production lines are set to close, Banta has been left without its main customer.

Workers at the company are already preparing themselves for another recession announcement.

The prospects for Raheen-based Flextronics which announced last November that it would have to lay off 100 of its 290 workers after Dell decided to slash its temporary work force, also look bleak.

Other big name companies which face huge job decisions include Setcom Solutions, Turnkey, Walsh Western, Resource Cleaning and Federal Security.

Hundreds of other companies who supply these also have an uncertain future.

One small company which employs about 40 people collects and recycles the cardboard boxes used to ship in all kinds of cargo to the Dell assembly lines. Every week it comes to about 130 tonnes.

The loss of 1,900 Dell jobs on Thursday made national headlines. But most of the Dell casualties will go silently and without a fanfare onto the live register.