If everyone is special, no one is.

Great quotes from Dell CEO Kevin Rollins Here's Classic Dell

Rollins also said Apple Computer's iPod could suffer the same fate as the Macintosh computer line if Apple continues to keep iPod technology proprietary. (Macs have a devoted following, but they garner only a small percentage of yearly global PC shipments.)

"I think they're doing a fantastic job" with the iPod, he said. But "Apple runs the risk of having the same failure with the iPod as it did with its traditional PC business" if the company continues to keep the device proprietary. In Dell's view, standard technology, which tends to be cheaper and more readily available, will win the day in most markets, including PCs, servers, storage, networking and even consumer electronics

Dell & WalMart have the same definition of failure ... selling anything other than craploads of cheap commodities
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And although 90% or more of Dell's Cost of Goods sold is sourced (design, sourced components, and sometimes assembly), he pulls the spin of have "onshore" manufacturing.

Although he joked about outsourcing Dell's catering service, Rollins said the practice of outsourcing can cause a company to lose critical knowledge, in the case of areas such as information technology, or raise costs in areas such as manufacturing
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"Philosophically, I'm opposed to outsourcing,"

Rollins said. Because he said outsourcing can remove essential skills such as IT expertise, it "seems nuts," he said. "I don't like it for Dell, clearly, because I think it makes us higher-cost, not lower-cost." Dell keeps all its manufacturing in-house. The company plans to build another manufacturing plant in the United States soon, in order to serve U.S. and Canadian customers. It has been eyeing a location in North Carolina, which is roughly in the middle of the southern and northern tips of the populous East Coast

Dells definition of manufacturing = light assy, load software, put on Dell stickers, pack and ship

And what's classic is that naive analysts, reporters, and politicians will look at the plant and call it "high tech". Just like they view Dell as a "technology" stock, instead of a retail/wholesaler stock.