|
LETTERKENNY, IRELAND – Zeus’ new production facility in Letterkenny, Ireland is moving ahead as planned, according to company officials. The plant, which opened its doors in 2006, was needed to meet the growing demand for Zeus’ precision extrusions in the European Union’s medical, electronics, semi-conductor, aviation and aerospace industries.
“Looking ahead to the rest of 2007, we expect PTFE and melt extrusion to be operational by the end of the first quarter. Our heat-shrink capabilities, we expect to be ready to go by the end of February,” said Zeus President and COO John Worley.
The company expects to have approximately 65 to 70 employees working at the Letterkenny site by year’s end.
Worley also said that he’d be remiss if he didn’t mention the assistance Zeus received from Industrial Development Agency (IDA) Ireland in securing and establishing the facility.
“We received tremendous support from the Irish Government. Our decision to locate in Letterkenny was based on a number of factors, particularly the availability of highly skilled and educated people, the favorable business environment and infrastructure and the strong support and cooperation at local and national level, and we haven’t been disappointed,” he said.
The 28,000-square-foot, multi-million dollar production facility allows Zeus to join a growing list of global companies with plants in Ireland. Today, 16 of the world’s top 20 medical device companies, nine of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, and seven out of the top 10 software companies have operations in Ireland. Among them are Abbott, Baxter, Boston Scientific, Dell Computer, Intel and Johnson & Johnson.
Joe McHugh, Manager for IDA Ireland in the North West region, said “Zeus’ progress is excellent news for Letterkenny and, indeed, the whole region. When Zeus’ investment was announced in September 2005, its expectation was to create over 150 jobs by the end of 2010. Now, it appears that almost half of these high quality positions will be filled by the end of this year – I congratulate the company on this achievement. IDA is delighted to support, and to work with, an international company of the caliber of Zeus, whose total commitment to Ireland and in particular to Letterkenny, is demonstrated by the speed of this start-up. In the North West region, developments in the infrastructure have created the ecosystem to meet the needs of international companies such as Zeus. IDA sees partnership as key in this area, and we will continue to work closely with all the providers to achieve the most beneficial outcome for the region.”
|
|
