The Dell Facility in Limerick was their primary European Manufacturing Facility (EMF) between 1990 and 2009. PUNCH worked with Dell on a range of projects, the most significant of which was the development of their European Manufacturing Facility 3 (EMF3) to support Dell’s “just in time” approach to manufacturing. This was a fast track project that commenced design in 1998 and was completed and opened for business in 2000. The construction process took 12 months to complete.

The development consists of 25,340m² of factory space in a 4-bay portal building measuring 188m x 135m in addition to an 8,605m² two-storey office building. Pre-fabricated structure was used extensively to expedite the project with steel portal frames utilised for the main manufacturing building and precast concrete for the offices. Part of the innovative designs employed on this project included suspending plant above the assembly line facility. This facilitated easy access for maintenance but did not affect the day to day operations of the line.

Due to the volume of steel required and in order to fast track the construction, the steel was ordered in specific lengths directly from the mill in the UK. The steel wastage was then minimised as there was very little trimming required to the steel lengths and also facilitated quick turnaround of end plates, connections and ancillary items. PUNCH was ahead of the industry here in promoting sustainable and cost effective solutions for our clients.