This article is from page 14 of the 2012-08-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A SENIOR executive of Microsemi in Ireland has said the company is considering expanding its operations in Ennis.
In light of Ennis being named Microsemi’s European headquarters, Vice President Richard Finn said operations at the plant could be increased further.
Ennis was selected as a base to consolidate many of Microsemi’s legal and human resources functions.
Microsemi also recently moved a new product line to Ennis, boosting the number of people employed by Microsemi in Clare to 300.
Mr Finn sees similar developments as crucial to the growth of the Ennis plant.
He explained, “Since January we’ve taken on 50. We’ve moved a product line out of Lawrence, Massachusetts, just 20 miles north of Boston, in January.
“We’re still hiring a few engineers and technicians. Hopefully it will continue to grow.”
Asked if the designation of Ennis as Microsemi’s European headquarters could aid expansion of the plant, Mr Finn said;
“Absolutely. My job is to find what the next thing is that we can move in here because we do squeeze some efficiencies in here and we do have economies of scale in what we do which is primarily the test and burn- ing of discreet semi-conductors, which is a fairly narrow field. But we’re the best in the world at what we do. If we can bolt on something else, then so much the better.”
Mr Finn said there was no shortage of skilled workers in the labour market.
He added, “Generally yes. We’ve had a great response.
“We advertised in January and got a great response. We got huge numbers.
“We got maybe 400 people for 30 jobs in terms of people applying. We interviewed about 100. There is no shortage of people looking for work or willing to do it.
There’s always going to be a scarcity in a specialised field.”