Attacks strengthen relationship with US

Northern Ireland is no stranger to the devastation caused by acts of terrorism but the unprecedented attack on New York's financial heart has strengthened the bond between two business communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Business bodies, such as the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, have offered support and sent messages of condolences to sister organisations in the US.

But nowhere is the connection more strongly felt than in American-owned companies in Northern Ireland where US flags now fly at half mast and special donation funds have been set up to enable employees to help people in New York. Like many US firms Caterpillar Incorporated has promised to match the equivalent of every pound donated by the employees of its Northern Ireland subsidiary, FG Wilson.

According to Mr Tom McDaniel, the American-born, vice-president of manufacturing operations at FG Wilson, the close relationship between the Northern Ireland operation and its US parent brought the impact of the New York attack closer to home for employees on this side of the Atlantic.

"We are an American company, we have American nationals working in Northern Ireland but we also have a lot of people from Northern Ireland working in the US and other parts of the world, so we have all been affected by this terrible tragedy," he said.

"FG Wilson is a key organisation in our business strategy. Caterpillar acquired 100 per cent of FG Wilson two years ago and we are one of the largest employers in Northern Ireland with a workforce of more than 2,500 people," Mr McDaniel added.

Mr McDaniel believes American companies have helped to "internationalise" business in the North and in doing so created closer links with the global business community.

There are close to 70 US-owned companies with subsidiary operations in Northern Ireland.

According to Mr McDaniel, American companies are attracted to locate in the North because it offers investors a combination of people plus values. "American companies come to Northern Ireland because of the quality of people and also because it is a cost-effective location. Family values are still very strong in Northern Ireland and that is a very positive thing for investors.

"It is mostly about people in Northern Ireland but Caterpillar has made significant investments in Northern Ireland with the help of the UK government and we reckon we are pretty cost effective. We can ship components into our US factories and be cost effective to sources in the US which is pretty good by my reckoning," Mr McDaniel said.

He believes the partnership between Caterpillar and its workforce in the North is one of the reasons for FG Wilson's international success today.

The company, which is the largest diesel generating set manufacturer in Europe and third largest in the world, exports more than 90 per cent of its output in Northern Ireland to 170 countries worldwide.

It is a far cry from the company's early beginnings when it was first established as a family-run manufacturing firm in 1966 in the premises of a former textile mill in Belfast.

In the early 1970s FG Wilson decided to specialise in the manufacture of diesel-powered generating sets and grew a worldwide exporting business from the North.

In 1994 the founding Wilson family sold the company to Emerson Electric which in 1996 established a new joint venture operation with Caterpillar which eventually acquired 100 per cent of the Northern Ireland company.

Since Caterpillar took over, it has opened two new facilities in the North, one at Monkstown and another in Springvale in west Belfast which has created almost 1,000 additional jobs.

According to Mr McDaniel, FG Wilson, which is now headquartered in Larne, will continue to grow. "Caterpillar wants to do $6 billion (€6.56 billion) of electric power business around the world by 2006 and FG Wilson has a key role to play in achieving that."

"This speaks well for the quality of the professional people we have in Northern Ireland, the quality of engineers and IT, finance people, to our people on the shop floor and our skilled areas," he said.

Mr McDaniel said Caterpillar wanted to grow its electric power business dramatically and he expects FG Wilson to double its business by the year 2006.

"The Wilson family built the structure of the company but Caterpillar has made it more of an international company, we have expanded on a very solid base.

"We have been able to create an environment where our attrition rates have been reduced dramatically as have our absence rates.

"As a company we respond to people in need - Northern Ireland has responded to us," Mr McDaniel added.