Zeus, Inc., a U.S.-based flouropolymer extrusion designer/manufacturer, announced it will establish a 28,000-sq ft, multi-million dollar production facility in Letterkenny, Ireland. The company is also involved in discussions to purchase an adjacent 2.9 ac lot for future expansion.
The state-of-the-art plant will be the first European manufacturing site for Zeus. It will be focused on meeting growing demand for the Company’s precision extrusions in the European Union’s medical, electronics, semi-conductor, aviation and aerospace industries.
Zeus will join a growing list of global companies with plants in Ireland. Today, 16 of the world’s top 20 medical device companies, nine of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and seven out of the top 10 software companies have operations in Ireland. Among them are Abbott, Baxter, Boston Scientific, Dell Computer, Intel and Johnson & Johnson.
Making the announcement, Zeus President and COO John Worley attributes the Ireland expansion to the recovering global economy and the need for closer proximity to medical device customers in Ireland and in the European market in general. “Zeus reviewed potential locations throughout the world for this new manufacturing facility. We chose Ireland because of its reputation as a country with a highly educated and motivated workforce; two factors that are important in the production of hightechnology products,” Worley said. “Letterkenny was chosen based upon Ireland’s favorable business environment and extensive medical technology industry cluster, which has grown to more than 80 medical device manufacturers. Ireland also is more accessible to our established European customer base, which utilizes our extrusions in highly specialized medical and industrial applications. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of IDA Ireland, the Irish Government’s economic development agency in relation to our investment in Letterkenny.”
When the Ireland plant becomes operational, Zeus will have nine facilities on six campuses in North America and Europe, making it among the largest volume producers of precision fluoropolymer extrusions in the world. “The plant in Ireland builds upon our announcement in July of a multi-million dollar expansion at our production facility in Aiken, South Carolina. Ireland is a hot bed for medical device manufacturing and as the leader in our industry, Zeus needs to be there. At the same time, corporations want to partner with suppliers that can deliver large volumes of application-critical extrusions anywhere in the world, whether its Europe, Asia or the Americas. Zeus meets this profile. Strategic expansion will reinforce our leadership position in the world marketplace.” Worley said.
Source: Zeus, Inc.
