"Quality is everyone's job," the poster in the Dell staff canteen declares, "Quality underlies every single task". The message is directed at 450 workers in Dell's tele-sales and technical support plant on the industrial estate off the Vevay Road in Bray, who were only formally told by management yesterday of the doubling in size of the facility.

Already the call lines have been inundated with would-be employees, asking to be put through to "HR [Human Resources] and looking for application forms", said receptionist, Ms Celia O'Connor. "They are ringing from England and America."

The Dell plant is a mini-city of twentysomethings working in an open plan area on the "transactional part of the UK market". Orders and technical queries are all processed through the centre, which is the largest Dell support office in Europe.

Workers were not surprised at the expansion news, just at its scale. Orders were flooding in and they had been busier than ever.

Working at the plant has the advantage of rapid promotion and often the choice of working elsewhere. Ms Anna Breslin, from Arklow, manages a "Business Transition" team of 12 plus an Internet team of four after joining the company in 1994. "From my own team's point of view, it will allow for more expansion. There will be more career prospects," she said of the news.

Mr Pat O'Duffy, from Dublin, works in the so-called "European Products Specialised for Notebooks" section. He is moving to the Limerick plant and has one eye on his twin passions of potholing and surfing which he can indulge in neighbouring Co Clare. Mr Mel McWeeney, from Longford, has worked in technical support at the plant for five years. For him and for many others, the concrete news of the expansion was proof of the efficacy of the operation and that the company was here for "the long haul".

Dell, the biggest employer in the town, has made its impression. The car park is full and the nearby Bellmount Estate is described as the Dellmount Estate.

Like many US corporations, the company has conscientiously gone about putting something back into the area. A local charity benefits from an annual cabaret show, while the Family Day had 600 visitors last year. Staff receive awards on special days held quarterly which are followed by a party.