Recruitment is under way at Swords plant

Recruitment of 500 new staff at Celestica, the electronic manufacturing services company based in Swords, Co Dublin, is under way after the announcement of a £26 million expansion plan.

The company, which specialises in printed circuit assembly, already employs 260 people at its Swords facility and says that with 500 extra staff and plans to double production, extra manufacturing space will also be needed.

The jobs will mainly be for nongraduates, with the increased production required to service new European customers.

The £26 million is part of a fiveyear investment plan, supported by the IDA and announced yesterday by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney.

She described Celestica's business as "high end electronics" and said every job created would produce another indirect job. Mr Iain Kennedy, Celestica's senior vicepresident worldwide, said the main reasons the company chose to expand in the Republic was the availability of people with the relevant skills and the "highly developed electronics infrastructure".

Celestica decided to increase employment at Swords because the electronic manufacturing services sector is experiencing annual growth of about 25 per cent and could be worth $178 billion (£263 million) by the year 2001.

Celestica, which is the third-largest electronics manufacturing services company worldwide, purchased the Swords facility in February from Madge Networks, which was set up by the current manager of Celestica Ireland, Mr Don O'Callaghan.

He said the increasing trend for companies to outsource parts of their manufacturing operation would fuel much of the growth at Celestica.

The current plant at Swords is 50,000 square feet, but Mr O'Callaghan said it was likely the 3.3 acres surrounding it would now be developed as production increased. Mr Kennedy said Celestica was actively looking at making other acquisitions in the Republic, if the right opportunity arose. Celestica Ireland is currently examining the idea of forming links with Blanchardstown RTC, which is currently being built.

Celestica Inc, the parent company, buys from an established base of world suppliers and is able to "leverage purchasing power". This means Celestica in the Republic can avail of cost savings not available to some of its competitors. Its main competitor in the Republic is Dublin-based company, Solectron.

After the five-year plan was completed, Mr O'Callaghan said the company would assess whether further staff were needed. He said "no cap" would be put on the numbers employed at the facility.