WINSTON-SALEM, NC- Dell Inc. (Round Rock, TX) has begun construction of a new assembly plant on a 189-acre site in Winston-Salem's Alliance Science and Technology Park.

The 527,000-square-foot facility-Dell's third U.S. manufacturing site-is scheduled to open in the fall and employ 1,500 people within 5 years. The North Carolina facility will produce Dell's OptiPlex and Dimension desktop computers.

"Dell has an aggressive timetable to begin production at this facility," says Ro Parra, senior vice president of Dell Americas. "This new factory is critical to meeting the needs of the increasing number of Dell customers who live in the eastern United States."

Dell's other U.S. manufacturing operations are located in Austin, TX, and Lebanon, TN. Dell also has manufacturing facilities in Limerick, Ireland; Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China; and Eldorado do Sul, Brazil.