14 DAY TRIAL // Along its long carrier as one of the most successful computer hardware manufacturers and vendors, Dell occasionally encountered some bumps in the road like failing supply chains or unresponsive customer service. Now there is a new bump to add to Dell's list: dust. A while back, the company announced a brand new line of laptops that came in some very vivid and bright colors. As it was expected, they proved to be a real hit on the laptop market, fans placing a huge number of orders.
As the demand for Dell's ultra thin XPS M1330 laptops grew over the weeks, the manufacturer started having troubles with the glossy finish and vivid colors needed by the laptop casings. Dust contamination in the paint used to coat the casings is the reason a number of customers have been left waiting even for two weeks before their orders were honored. According to the news site APC, when Dell was experimenting with pre-production models and during the first phase of the production, the paint procedure worked very well, but as the orders pilled up and production accelerated, the very same procedure started causing big problems.
Alex Gruzen, Dell's consumer product group senior vice president, explained that the only color that passes the quality assurance inspection is Tuxedo Black, while Crimson Red and Pearl White are the root of all problems. "The finish on the XPS M1330 is similar to a custom paint job on a car, but with one additional complexity - on a car, typical viewing occurs from several feet away (but) with a notebook, the typical viewing range is much closer... sometimes a foot or less.There was no problem painting hundreds at a time. But as we increased the volume, otherwise manageable factors like dust contamination caused our successful yields to decrease". As it takes up to five separate layers of paint to get the glossy and shiny surface the customers expect and the white laptops were posing ever increasing problems, Dell decided to stop taking orders for them, at least until the problem is solved.
According to a spokesperson from Dell Australia, the delays were affecting customers everywhere but the company was doing everything it could to overcome the obstacles. "Our people are working around the clock to decrease the number of systems affected by delays but we realise there is no substitute for shipping product and regret any inconvenience this may be causing our customers".
Coming back to a well known problem that plagued Dell for years, it looks like at least part of the delays are caused by the introduction of the optional LED backlit LCD displays that can be added to the M1330 series of laptops. As the LED backlighting technology is relatively new, Dell had some problems finding enough suppliers for all the needed displays.