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WINSTON-SALEM — Dell released hard numbers about employment at its Forsyth County factory Monday but said it couldn’t offer predictions about the future of the plant.

The computer assembly plant, lured to the city with state and local incentives worth nearly $280 million, now employs 1,140 people, 260 fewer than it did in January, said Frank Miller, Dell’s vice president for operations in the Americas.

Miller and other company executives outlined the severe strain of the worldwide recession and used careful, if not ominous, words about the outlook for production at the Forsyth plant, which has already built 14 million computers since it opened in 2004.

“We’re continuing to re-evaluate the long-term competitiveness of all our sites,” Miller told a committee of the Winston-Salem City Council. “No decision has been made.”

Dell employs workers from throughout the Triad. The plant  is close to Guilford County in eastern Forsyth. Council members asked Monday how many of Dell’s workers live in Forsyth, but officials did not have those details available.

Worldwide computer shipments were down 7 percent in the first quarter, Miller said, which is the first time in eight years they’ve declined.

Council members expressed concern but also were generous in tributes to the company, requesting a report on Dell’s philanthropy as well.

Mehran Ravanpay, director of North Carolina Operations, said the Dell Foundation has granted $750,000 to local charities since the plant opened.

Mayor Allen Joines had asked the company to appear before the committee after Dell made two rounds of layoffs but refused to disclose numbers to the media or to elected officials.

“We have to be viewed as a partner, and citizens expect us as elected officials to represent their interests,” Joines said at the time.

Committee Chairwoman Wanda Merschel said the council wants more frequent information from Dell.

“Perhaps the communication could be more frequent to your community partners,” she said.

Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke said Winston-Salem should feel good about the incentives and the achievement of recruiting Dell.

But, she said, “If Dell decides tomorrow that we will not have a (plant), we want to make sure that we can get back our incentives.”

Although terms of Dell’s agreement for $37 million in local incentives and about $240 million in state incentives require only annual reports of employment, many felt that Dell should disclose the layoffs in that spirit of partnership.

Winston-Salem and North Carolina have come under fire for the rich incentives package, which sets clear employment and investment benchmarks for the company to hit annually in order to receive payments.

Dell has already invested $30 million more than the required $100 million in plant and equipment and must employ 1,700 workers by September 2010 to continue receiving local incentives.

Citing company policy, Dell officials said they do not make predictions about financial results or expected business.

Spokeswoman Donna Oldham said she could not discuss whether the company will meet its incentives goals: “If we don’t earn it, we don’t keep it and we don’t accept it.”

David Frink, Dell’s director of corporate affairs, said after the meeting that the company does not withhold employment information for the sake of secrecy.

He said competitors could use the number of employees and the number of shifts to determine how many computers the plant is building and even where those computers are being shipped. And that’s information Dell doesn’t want them to have.

If the computer business does turn around, Ravanpay said, Dell has a “rehire” program already in place to call back workers who were laid off.

Charles Humphrey, a Winston-Salem resident who spoke briefly at the meeting, said afterward that he remains frustrated that Dell doesn’t answer more questions.

“A lot of people’s money is going to this program,” he said in an interview. “And they’re not answering a lot of questions.”
 

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com