Electronics firms create 1,400 jobs

ALMOST 1,400 new jobs in the electronics sector are expected to be announced this week.

Dell Computer Corporation, the PC group, will today announce a £20 million expansion to its Limerick plant which will expand employment by 750 over a three year period.

Another electronics company will announce the establishment of a new plant, outside Dublin, creating between 450 and 500 new jobs. And later this week, a third electronics company will announce an expansion, which will create a further 150 new jobs.

Dell already has a 28,000 sq m manufacturing plant at Limerick and recently acquired an adjacent Pako 10,000 sq m plant which will house the planned expansion. It will bring the group's employment in Limerick up to 1,400, on top of the 350 people employed at its Bray, Co Wicklow, marketing and services centre.

Dell intends to manufacture its recently introduced high specification computers at the Limerick extension. Dell, which sells its computers direct to the public has been outperforming most companies in the industry.

Its latest results showed record figures for the second quarter to July 28th. Net profits grew by 58 per cent to $103 million (£64 million) while turnover rose by 40 per cent to $1.69 billion.

Commenting on these results, chief executive officer, Mr Michael Dell, said the company "excelled in every measure of performance" during the quarter. European sales from its Limerick manufacturing base grew by 35 per cent, led by strong growth in France and Germany, while US sales rose by 46 per cent.

This week's job announcements follow the acceleration of planned expansion by the Oracle Corporation, which employs 80 people at its new European Business Centre in Dublin. Last week, it said it was ahead of the target announced in May.

The world's second largest software company now expects to employ 400 people at its Dublin operation by the end of 1997, instead its original target of 400 within three years.

Oracle has said it is talking to IDA Ireland about further expansion beyond the 400 already announced but no final decision has been made.

The expansions contrast with the more gloomy predictions about the electronics sector last week. Mr Kieran McGowan, chief executive of IDA Ireland, said that while the majority of the jobs in the fast changing sector were safe, up to 3,000 were at risk. He stated that around 15 per cent of the companies, representing around 3,000 jobs, were currently in the "high risk category".

The challenge for managers, he added, was to be successful at convincing their parent companies to add more responsibilities to make the Irish operation a more indispensable part of the entire corporation.

"Unfortunately, effective management of existing production operations is no longer enough," he said.