Dell's future?
City site tops sales chief's list for expansion
City site tops sales chief's list for expansion

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By Don Mecoy

Published: May 16, 2008

Dell Inc. remains committed to its Oklahoma City facility even as the company continues to restructure and cut costs, the head of the company's small and medium business unit said Thursday.

"I am pleased with where Oklahoma is,” said Frank Muehleman, head of the computer company's sales, marketing and customer service activities. "I'm happy with the partnership with the local community. Those are all positives for us.”

The local Dell site recently has added capabilities to help online customers through chat tools, and the ability to remotely monitor and maintain computer systems and dispatch workers to service and upgrade those systems, Muehleman said.

The local Dell site employs about 1,800 people, about 1,000 of whom work with small and medium businesses. Many of the remainder help support those efforts.

Muehleman said any negatives surrounding Dell's efforts under his supervision "are not unique to this site.”

"Of course I have criticisms,” Muehleman said. "I'd like to see us move faster on things. If we don't move as fast as we can, someone will pass us.”

Dell is in the midst of an effort to cut $3 billion in expenses. The company laid off about 250 employees at the Oklahoma City facility in January as it consolidated its consumer sales unit at other locations.

Michael Dell, chairman of the company, said last year he expected to cut employee levels by about 10 percent as he reconfigured the company. Hewlett-Packard recently surpassed Dell as the world leader in making computers.

Dell also has made some significant acquisitions in recent months.

"We're in a period of transformation,” Muehleman said.

The four-year-old Oklahoma City site is one of four in the U.S. and Canada that Muehleman oversees and regularly visits, but it's not the company's top-performing small and medium business site. The Nashville, Tenn., facility generally registers the best results, he said.

Muehleman said it takes about five years to "ramp up” a facility.

"There are weeks when Oklahoma surpasses Nashville,” he said. "Is Oklahoma consistently, always out-performing Nashville? No. Is it performing at a level that makes me want to invest here? Yes.”

Muehleman said there are no plans to expand the site he oversees in Round Rock, Texas, where Dell is based and employs some 15,000 people.

"Where I'll continue to grow will be Oklahoma and Nashville,” he said.

Muehleman met Thursday with local business leaders, political officials and Dell employees to quash rumors that Cox Communications would buy Dell's Oklahoma City facility. Such rumors gained traction after the January lay-offs and rekindled when Dell recently laid off about two dozen employees.

"There's no truth to the rumor about Cox Communications,” Muehleman said. "There is nothing happening there.”

From its inception until mid-2007, Dell has produced an economic impact of $631 million on the region, according to a Chamber of Commerce study from last year.

Related Topics: Business, Economic Indicators, Labor Market, Small Business, Job Losses