Yet another computer firm turns its back on manufacturing in favor of turning itself into a ‘systems and services’ supplier. This time, NCR Corp is to sell its manufacturing assets in three cities to Solectron Corp, the company that has been busy buying up surplus plants from the likes of IBM Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co (CI No 2,849). Solectron will pay an estimated $100m for NCR’s manufacturing capacity in Columbia, South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and Dublin, Ireland, which manufactures NCR’s servers, retail scanners and point-of-sale terminals. The deal also provides for NCR to outsource the manufacturing of its computer and retail products to Solectron for at least five years. As part of this arrangement, some 1,200 NCR employees will be taken on by Solectron. The deal is expected to close in early Spring next year. NCR says this will speed its transformation into a business systems provider, bundling software and professional services with computer hardware. NCR says this announcement does not impact its manufacturing operations for the financial industry in Scotland, China, Brazil and Canada, or its 16 Systemedia Group facilities worldwide.
