• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • IBM Moves Power Systems Factories from Ireland to China and Singapore

    October 25, 2010 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    The inevitable shift of electronics manufacturing to Asia continued apace last week as IBM began the final phase out of its Power Systems manufacturing in Ireland.

    According to a report in the Irish Times last Thursday, Big Blue is set to move the server manufacturing that it was doing in its factory in Mulhuddart, west of the capitol city of Dublin, to a factory in Shenzhen, China. IBM has been making Power-based servers (including the Smart Cube appliances) in China for some time, but entry and midrange Power Systems machines for the European, African, and Asian markets came out of the factory outside of Dublin.

    The entry and midrange Power machinery for the Americas region is made in IBM’s Rochester, Minnesota, facility, while the high-end Power boxes, System z mainframes, and high-end System x and BladeCenter servers are made in its Poughkeepsie, New York, factory.

    The cessation of manufacturing of entry and midrange Power Systems in the Dublin facility means the loss of 190 manufacturing jobs at the IBM plant, according to the Times, and IBM told the paper that the move would put IBM closer to its growth markets and suppliers, “providing greater operational efficiency and cost savings.” IBM expects to cease making Power-based servers in the Dublin factory in February, with operations likely done in March. (European labor laws are tough, so you cannot just stop on a dime like you can elsewhere in the world.)

    The Dublin facility used to make high-end Power and System z machines, but earlier this year, those operations were shifted to a brand spanking new $90 million factory, which opened in May. That Singapore factory also absorbed the manufacturing of IBM’s disk arrays and various tape storage products for the EMEA and Asia/Pacific regions. The shift of high-end Power and mainframe manufacturing from Ireland to Singapore cost the Emerald Isle another couple hundred jobs, but to be fair, Big Blue opened up a Smarter Planet research center in Dublin in March to cover its assets with the Irish government, adding 200 jobs, and in June boosted its software labs in Dublin, Galway, and Cork with another 100 jobs.

    I have said this for a while, and I will say it again. I will not be at all surprised when IBM sells off all of its Power Systems manufacturing to a third party, as it quietly did with its entry and midrange System x business many, many years ago to Sanmina-SCI. (It wasn’t even called System x back then.) IBM was a genius of electromechanical design, but has never been a high-volume or low-cost manufacturer. And to put it bluntly, so few of the components that go into a Power Systems box these days are actually made by IBM, so the difference is nadda. IBM makes the Power Systems chips and related chipsets and does system assembly. That’s about it. The value is in the software, not the hardware, as far as the profit line is concerned.

    Of course, I would argue–and maybe Oracle co-founder and chief executive officer, Larry Ellison, would, too–that knowing how to build integrated systems requires expertise on components as well as systems design expertise and assembly prowess. That’s how you extract the most money from the stack. So maybe IBM won’t be so quick to let go. I have my doubts, though. The top brass at IBM are obsessed with software and services at a time when Apple and Intel show that you can extract a lot of profits from hardware.

    RELATED STORIES

    Power Systems Not Quite Rebounding Yet in Q3

    Big Sam Is Worried About Oracle–And For Good Reason

    IBM Reorganization Tucks Systems Under Software

    IBM Revenues Hurt By Server Transitions and Currency in Q2

    Transitions Push Systems and Technology Group into the Red

    Palmisano Says IBM Will Double Up Profits By 2015

    IBM Boosts Dividend and Share Buybacks, What About i Marketing?

    Power Systems Slammed by Power7 Transitions in Q1

    IBM Looks Back on 2000s, Sets Sites on Next Decade

    IBM Starts Cutting U.S. Jobs Again

    Power Systems i: The Word From On High



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 19, Number 38 -- October 25, 2010

    Sponsored by
    RPG & DB2 Summit

    Summit Hands-On Live! Workshop Series
    April 27 – May 20, 2021

    In-Person, Interactive, In-Depth — Online!

    Master critical IBM i development skills at record speed with the Summit’s full-day Hands-On Live! workshops.

    Teaching live online via video meeting, instructors Paul Tuohy, Jon Paris, Susan Gantner, and Mike Pavlak take you deep into the best ways to use your favorite technologies, cementing your knowledge with guided, hands-on labs and personal attention.

    Choose from 7 different workshops to hone your skills.

    • SQL Procedures, Functions & Triggers
    • Intermediate SQL for RPG Developers
    • RPG Procedures & Service Programs
    • Building Modern RPG Applications (2-day workshop!)
    • RDi Quick Start
    • RDi Beyond the Basics
    • Python for RPGers

    Check out the workshop abstracts and prepare to take your productivity to new heights!

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    How Do I Record a PC5250 Macro? Numina Voice Picking Boosts Productivity of Wisconsin Warehouse

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 19 Issue: 38

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM i Competes with AIX/Oracle on Power 720s, Gets Beat on 750s
    • iManifest Powers On in Japan
    • Power Systems Not Quite Rebounding Yet in Q3
    • As I See It: My Name is Bond–Jane Bond
    • Job Site Data Shows IT Jobs Down Across the Board
    • Reader Feedback on Google Trends: IBM i Traffic Piddling Compared to iSeries
    • IBM Moves Power Systems Factories from Ireland to China and Singapore
    • Gartner Says IT Spending Growth to Be Tepid Through 2014
    • Selected Power Systems Features and Upgrades Get the Axe
    • IBM Snaps Up Another BI Tool Maker

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • Why Open Source Is Critical for Digital Transformation
    • mrc Refreshes IBM i Low-Code Dev Tool
    • Unit Testing Automation Hits Shift Left Instead of Ctrl-Alt-Delete Cash
    • Four Hundred Monitor, March 3
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 9
    • Doing The Texas Two Step From Power9 To Power10
    • PHP’s Legacy Problem
    • Guru: For IBM i Newcomers, An Access Client Solutions Primer
    • IBM i 7.1 Extended Out To 2024 And Up To The IBM Cloud
    • Some Practical Advice On That HMC-Power9 Impedance Mismatch

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2021 IT Jungle

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.