Dell to open Polish facility

Dell has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Poland as part of an effort to meet growing demand in central and Eastern Europe.

The hardware maker said it may invest as much as €253m in the growing Polish economy, along with its key suppliers.

The facility in Lódz will be a Polish first for Dell and is expected to open with around 1,000 workers in autumn 2007.

Speaking this morning, Paul Bell, senior vice president EMEA at Dell, said "the logic was to get closer to the customer", adding that the facility could also serve parts of Germany and Scandinavia.

Bell said the decision to settle on Poland, over other countries was the result of "long discussions with the central government and city government. The focus has been on employment and training in high-quality areas". He wouldn't be drawn on whether Dell had received payments from the Polish government.

Dell's EMEA growth over the last three years has included establishing a new R&D centre in Ireland and customer service centres in Germany, Morocco, Scotland and Slovakia. Dell already employs 100 people in its sales, marketing and technical support operations in Poland.

silicon.com's Tony Hallett contributed to this report