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As one of the latest multinationals to choose Cork as its Irish base, Thermo Fisher Scientific has started as it means to go on — implementing ambitious growth plans that benefit its customers, employees, and the patients it serves.
The world leader in serving science, Thermo Fisher is already having a significant impact on the Cork economy and life sciences ecosystem. Since acquiring the GSK pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Currabinny in 2019, the company has brought many new international customers to Cork, invested €12 million in upgrades and hired over 90 new colleagues.
“We are bringing to life our mission of enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer globally by supplying life-saving and life-enhancing medicines to patients around the world — and locally through our corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities,” explains Peter Ercoli, General Manager of the Cork site for Thermo Fisher. “The ambition for the future is to deliver continued growth every year, serving science and patients worldwide.”
Though still relatively new to Cork, Thermo Fisher has significantly impacted the local economy — both directly and indirectly.
“When we purchased the site in 2019, we secured the future of a facility that was under-utilised and secured over 400 jobs for the region.
“With support from the IDA and others, we are already delivering our stated ambition to grow the business, having significantly increased the utilisation of the site and creating a significant number of new roles.”
New life and energy have been breathed into the site, with great career development opportunities and a bright future ahead.
The site now employs approximately 500 highly skilled colleagues and makes a significant contribution to the local economy.
“What we do matters — we are enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer by supplying the active ingredients for a range of already approved medicines to treat a wide range of diseases from cancer to Parkinson’s and potential future medicines, including an antiviral in clinical studies for COVID,” Peter Ercoli underlines.
“Thanks to our relentless application of science, our talented team and world-class facilities, we manufacture in excess of 2,000 tonnes of material each year to supply to global markets. We take great pride in the work we do, knowing that our success in delivering our mission will improve the lives of some patients and will save the lives of others.”
Driven by integrity, intensity, innovation and involvement
It is not just what Thermo Fisher does that matters, but how it does it. Having brought new customers to Cork, the company is investing in innovation and new ways of working, enabling business growth.
While supplying many new medicines to patients, it will continue to expand its product portfolio to improve the lives of more patients globally.
A state-of-the-art contract pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, the company is dedicated to supporting its customers in bringing new medicines to patients globally through the relentless application of science in process and analytical development.
“We take medicines from laboratory scale development through to large-scale commercial supply, work enabled by our employees — a team of highly skilled chemists, engineers, analysts, operators and crafts personnel.
“The facility meets with the most stringent production, compliance, safety and environmental standards. Our customers range from large pharmaceutical companies to small biotechs. Our Customer Experience Management programme ensures that we continually improve our service to better meet customer expectations, deliver on our commitments, and ultimately provide an exceptional customer experience.”
With a huge emphasis on diversity, there are many senior STEM roles.
“We have a highly engaged workforce, but we’re not taking that for granted and are investing in training and development that will allow individuals to flourish and improve the talent pool in Cork. We’ve made significant investments in improving our sustainability, but we will continue to strive to deliver further ambitious CO2 emissions reductions.”
Mr Ercoli adds that while a great start has been made in Cork to turn around a site that was under-utilised, the site’s leadership team is not resting on their laurels. “We are targeting continued strong growth, bringing new business to Cork that would otherwise have gone elsewhere in the world.”
Committed to local community and environment
Thermo Fisher is committed to supporting the local community and to protecting the local environment. The company is a very active contributor to STEM South West and it partners with WiSTEM at UCC to nurture future leaders.
“We are using our STEM expertise to inspire the next generation, from Transition Year work experience programme to donating science kits to local national schools. In addition, we are supporting the local community through our Volunteer programme and Community Partnership Grant,” Peter Ercoli added.
The company remains focused on minimising its impact on the environment by reducing and recycling waste, generating sustainable energy and reducing water usage.
At its manufacturing facility in Currabinny, the global life sciences company inspires and nurtures the next generation of scientists, engineers, thinkers and leaders through the funding of two PhDs, the placement of 30 students from universities across Ireland, and an apprenticeship scheme with employees giving fun STEM workshops in primary schools.
A scholarship programme, open to children of employees, is also available to those wishing to study STEM in selected universities abroad. To mark their first year of operations and to celebrate Science Week 2020, Thermo Fisher Scientific provided 60 science kits to Shanbally National School and Ringaskiddy National School as part of its commitment to both STEM education and the local community in Cork’s Lower Harbour.
Peter Ercoli concludes: “Our values of integrity, intensity, innovation and involvement drive us to do more and to do better every day. We chose Cork as our Irish hub because of its reputation as a life sciences centre of excellence, and we are proud to be benefiting from, and contributing to, that reputation.”
Dedicated to inspiring tomorrow’s innovators
As the world leader in serving science, Thermo Fisher Scientific is investing in developing future Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) talent, the innovators that will solve tomorrow’s health challenges.
In partnership with Educational Institutes, the company invests in nurturing STEM talent from national and secondary schools through to 3rd level — e.g. Transition Year work experience programme and partnerships with national universities and colleges.
Thermo Fisher also hosts approximately 30 third level student internships each year.
Proud to be seen as ‘a great place to work and build a career,’ it operates an ethos passionately committed to creating an open and inclusive work environment that incorporates improving gender diversity and targeting increased numbers of women in management roles; training managers to avoid unconscious bias in selecting candidates; creating more employee resource groups (e.g. Millennials and Working Parents); and mentoring (including reverse mentoring) programmes to help guide talent in their career choices.
In the areas of Health and Wellbeing, the company’s award-winning wellness programme is tailored to employees’ needs and includes a trail-blazing Mental Health First Responder initiative. It has also invested significantly in supporting employees to adapt to the ‘COVID workplace.’
A good neighbour and corporate citizen
Thermo Fisher Scientific sustainability initiatives include:
- Zero waste to landfill, with 40% CO2 reduction and 50% reduction in water usage.
- Wind turbine delivering 24% of site's electricity requirement.
- First pharma site in Ireland to receive European Gold Award for Water Stewardship (2019).
- Best in industry energy monitoring - accreditation ISO 140001 & 500001 - Environmental & Energy Management.
- Site Biodiversity Plan since 2019 " Engaged employees championing Sustainability ERG.
Leader in Corporate Social Responsibility
From donating science kits to local national schools to mark Science Week, and Easter Eggs to local nursing homes, to Volunteer Days to support community projects, and the annual Community Partnership Grant, the company is committed to playing its part in the local community.
“We are committed to being a good neighbour and have made significant investments in the local community where we work and live, from sustainability to corporate social responsibility (CSR),” said Carol-Anne Sheehy, Operational Excellence lead for the site.
“We are working hard to minimise our carbon footprint and the impact we have on the environment through our Wind Turbine that has reduced CO2 emissions equivalent to 610 households and is saving circa €1m per annum in energy cost.
“The site also contributes significantly to local charities and community projects through our Volunteer programme and annual Community Partnership Grant (€50k awarded to 49 charities in 2020).”
Thermo Fisher Scientific benefits greatly from the world-class STEM talent pool in Cork and is playing its part in developing it for the future through involvement with STEM South West, STEM Lower Harbour Group, and through close collaborations with UCC and MTU.
The company offers 30 annual student internships for third level undergraduates, sponsors two PhD students, and has an established Apprenticeship programme.
“We are ambitious for the future, expanding and growing year on year and creating new high-skilled roles. As a world-class CDMO, we are attracting significant new business to Cork that would otherwise go to other parts of the world,” concluded Carol-Anne Sheehy.