A MAJOR US electronics group, Dallas Semi Conductor Corporation (DSC), is set to generate almost 500 jobs in Drogheda. However, another project, announced last year by the Rhode Island-based group, APC, which was to provide 300 jobs in the area has now been shelved.
The new jobs, will be announced in Drogeda today. Dallas manufactures telecommunications equipment and the project entails a £17 million investment by the group and the IDA.
Drogheda will be its European headquarters where it will operate what is known as a fully-integrated plant, making telecommunications digital switching equipment. The plant will be responsible for all aspects of production, including software, and technical support.
Dallas will employ 200 people initially and expects to be trading after Christmas. Employment will rise to 475 over four years. Around 40 per cent of the jobs will target graduates and 40 per cent will be manufacturing jobs.
Dallas, which employs 6,000 people worldwide, is moving into a 120,000-square-foot plant at the Donore Road Industrial Estate in Drogheda. The plant was originally earmarked for APC which makes power converters. It is understood that APC is not proceeding with its plans in Drogheda.
Contacted yesterday, an APC spokeswoman said: "We have no statement available as of yet. I cannot say what the position is because the vice-president manufacturing, Mr Ed Machala, is en route to Ireland at the moment."
An announcement on the matter is expected in the next couple of days and will end months of speculation about the fate of the APC projects.
Last November, APC announced a £40 million investment plan for three new plants in Ireland, creating 1,000 jobs in Drogheda, Clare and Castlebar.
Problems about the suitability of the Clare plant have apparently resulted in the delay in proceeding with the total investment. It is believed the company is restructuring its original plan.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton revealed yesterday that the Canadian company NTS Computer Systems is to establish a plant in Shannon creating 93 new jobs within 12 months.
These new projects follow the announcement on Monday that the Dell Computer Corporation will undertake a £20 million expansion in Limerick. This is expected to add 750 new jobs over three years.
NTS Computer Systems is based in Vancouver. The company is investing £3.5 million to set up a manufacturing, distribution, marketing and research and development centre in the Shannon Free Zone.
NTS develops and makes laptop computers dedicated to word processing for the education sector. Its main product the "Dreamwriter" laptop computer, is designed to offer a low cost method for teaching students key and word processing skills. The company was established in 1992, employs 45 people and had sales of $6.8 million Canadian (£3 million) for the first nine months of the year. NTS was launched on the Vancouver Stock Exchange earlier this year and has raised just over $10 million (£4.54 million) on the market.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)