back to article IBM moves Power Systems manufacturing from Minnesota to Mexico

It is the end of an era – the minicomputer era to be precise – for the IBMers who work in the company's sprawling Rochester, Minnesota facility. Their jobs are moving to Mexico. Big Blue had a meeting with the approximately 2,800 employees in the facility on Tuesday afternoon and told them it would cease manufacturing …

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  1. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    Side effects bother me: Mayo Clinic needs patients

    Just going with the trend of saving the nickel, but the side effects continue to bother me... Mayo Clinic is still regarded as one of the world's best, but good as it is, I still think it needs some local patients. IBM doesn't have the patience to help provide any patients, eh?

    Disclaimer: I'm in the big blue food chain, but nothing I say represents anything they say. Or maybe I just couldn't resist the pun?

  2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Que?

    All that, in how many lines of fuzzy IBM fanboi memories and in-jokes, and TPM just can't force himself to the simple admittance that they are cutting costs.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      Re: Que?

      Yeah Matt, IBM should go the HP Outsouring Route and sell themselves to Intel so to have a proper death.

      No, if they made Power systems with x86 compatible pinout and sold them at competitive prices, they could have 50% of the server market.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: Tasmanian Plod Re: Que?

        "......IBM should go the HP Outsouring Route....." Oh, so you didn't read the. Article then?

        ".....Big Blue also makes entry and midrange Power Systems, various storage arrays, and System x gear in its Shenzhen, China plant.....moved the manufacturing of all high-end gear from Ireland to Singapore.....Guadalajara......." For many lines IBM has already thrown the towel in and given them to Lenovo, the rest are being outsourced to the cheapest locations IBM can find, all at the expense of American jobs.

        ".......The fact that only a few hundred people are making Power-based machines to serve all of the Americas region shows you just how far shipments have fallen over the past two decades......." Oops! Maybe they should sell it to Intel before it dies! And with more bad press from the second IBM mainframe failure for RBS in less than a year I'm sure there will be few less gullible customers out there. Enjoy!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Tasmanian Plod Que?

          First outage was caused by batch, second outage cause unknown - "a mainframe problem" could be rather more than hardware, e.g. software, configuration, data, networking, permissions, and of course human stupidity which you manage to displace on a tiresomely regular basis.

          1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: Re: Tasmanian Plod Que?

            "First outage was caused by batch, second outage cause unknown....." You are thinking like a techie, most decision makers in companies that can afford mainframes don't. All CFOs, CEOs and MDs hear is "bla, bla, IBM mainframe failure, bla, bla, loss of service, bla, bla, loss of money, bla, bla, customer rep damaged, bla, bla".

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Tasmanian Plod Que?

              "You are thinking like a techie, most decision makers in companies that can afford mainframes don't. All CFOs, CEOs and MDs hear is "bla, bla, IBM mainframe failure, bla, bla, loss of service, bla, bla, loss of money, bla, bla, customer rep damaged, bla, bla"."

              I think all of the non-technical people catching a glimpse of the RBS issue articles probably think "looks like RBS continues to have problems"... next article. I doubt the CFO of large bank XYZ heard about the issue and suddenly began to question their mainframe environment which has been up for the last 40 years.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Tasmanian Plod Que?

          "The fact that only a few hundred people are making Power-based machines to serve all of the Americas region shows you just how far shipments have fallen over the past two decades. Oops! Maybe they should sell it to Intel before it dies!"

          Computers have automated the processes and run the production equipment. The number of people involved in manufacturing has nothing to do with volumes. Every company has a fraction of the number of people involved in manufacturing than they did 20-30 years ago. Second, how many 1995 Unix servers can fit within a single Power 795 today? There will probably be fewer servers by raw number because today's computers can run 10, 20, 100x more workload than a generation earlier.... IBM Power has been dominating the Unix market for several years.

          HP made this move many years ago, so pot meet kettle.

          "And with more bad press from the second IBM mainframe failure for RBS in less than a year I'm sure there will be few less gullible customers out there"

          Are you really blaming IBM for all of the operational issues at RBS? Every other major bank runs on mainframe. I haven't read about any issues.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All software in Mulhuddart now

    > IBM used to make high-end Power Systems and System z mainframes as well as entry and midrange Power gear in a factory in Mulhuddart, outside of Dublin, Ireland, to serve European customers.

    Indeed they did - I'm typing this seating inside a software lab built inside one of the old manufacturing buildings here. The end of manufacturing doesn't have to be the end of use (or employment at a site), but unfortunately it often is.

    Anon (well obviously)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All software in Mulhuddart now

      IBM's contract with the IDA means they have to maintain a minimum employment on that site for a certain number of years or they have to repay startup grants. Once that time period expires, expect an offer to relocate or leave. (Seen GNK recently?)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Linux

      Keep Going !

      I know it is tough to battle the economies of scale of Intel x86, but I sincerely hope IBM will continue to develop Power CPUs, as they have been leading edge for a long time.

      I bet you can beat Intel even with the handicap of a TSMC process. Keep doing the good work !

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More great engineering

    Got to get Ginni and the other greedy forkers to their 2015 target by hook or by crook. Engineering - of the financial kind - seems the only way to do it.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Try Power Systems FOR FREE !

    "IBM Virtual Loaner Program"

    http://www.ibm.com/systems/vlp

    A real eye-opener for every software engineer, even if there is no Power business in sight for you.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What is with the weather comments?

    skiing in Guad is not very good.

    How many cockroaches die in Guad because of low overnight temperatures?

    Not everybody in the world is a total wimp.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, I have been to IBM Rochester several times. It isn't that bad at all.

      Btw, manufacturing servers is a relatively small part of Rochester's operations. They do finance, design work, support, services, etc in that facility. All of the IBM i design, engineering, support is done in Rochester. It is one of the reasons the IBM i (aka System i or AS/400) is so incredibly rock solid, IMO. The software teams sit next to the hardware design teams. The servers are/were manufactured in the next building over. The customer support people are in the same building as development. They literally went, and still go, from CPU design concepts to support calls in the same building. If a support rep has an issue they can't figure out, they can walk down the hall and ask the engineer who originally designed that feature the question.... It is a shame that manufacturing will not be done in Rochester anymore.

  7. thebert

    Buy American?

    ..so my takeaway from this is that it's now as patriotic to buy Fujitsu as it is to buy IBM. IBM's become International in every sense of the word - no longer really American. Makes my job easier, thanks.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Buy American?

      All of IBM's higher end systems are made in America. Power Enterprise class, 770/80/95s, as well as all of System z and high end storage. All of their CPUs are engineered and made in America.

      Not that I agree with every IBM decision, but no company makes lower end class servers in the US/Western Europe. Not HP, Dell, Oracle/Sun or IBM. People sometimes say they want to "buy American", but not many are willing to pay a premium for it, not even a small premium. They want American... provided the price is the same as HP/Dell's Chinese made servers.

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Angel

    LOL!

    It seems drawing attention to the fact that IBM mainframes are fallible, or that the UNIX market is shrinking, reduces the resident IBM fanbois to shrieking fits of panic. So, to avoid any further unpleasantness, I am going to have to ask all The Reg forum readers to erase from their memories any occurrence at RBS that may have been mainframe related, ignore any possible moves to cut Power production costs, and simply adopt a TPMesque unquestioning acceptance that all things IBM are proper, right, and inviolate. Please try and ignore the Sunshiners weeping in the corner that used to uphold the same for Sun.....

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