Abbott chair and CEO Robert Ford and Taoiseach Simon Harris, TD attend official opening of Abbott’s new Kilkenny facility. Image: Julien Behal Photography.
The site will serve as the company’s global hub for its diabetes care business.
Abbott today (18 November) officially opened its new manufacturing facility for diabetes care in Co Kilkenny.
The site was previously announced by the medtech giant just over two years ago, when it said that it planned to create 1,000 jobs across two sites in Ireland – Kilkenny and Donegal – through an investment totalling €440m.
The company, which creates healthcare products focusing on diagnostics, diabetes care, medical devices and nutritional products, has said that 800 jobs will be created as a result of opening the new diabetes technology manufacturing site.
According to a spokesperson for Abbott, of the 800 jobs in Kilkenny, 400 are already in post and 400 are being recruited for.
The spokesperson also said that the new jobs will cover engineering, quality, medical device manufacturing and other science-based roles, as well as human resources.
Abbott currently employs about 6,000 people across 10 sites located in Dublin, Donegal, Clonmel, Cootehill, Galway, Kilkenny, Longford, and Sligo.
The new 30,000-sq m facility will produce FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors, which are the newest product in Abbott’s glucose monitoring portfolio for people living with diabetes.
According to Robert Ford, chair and CEO of the medtech, the new site will have the “highest production of Libre sensors in the world to help meet the growing global demand” of the company’s FreeStyle Libre portfolio.
An Taoiseach Simon Harris attended the opening today. He described Abbott’s investment as a “vote of confidence in Ireland as a location for world-class advanced manufacturing and healthcare businesses”.
“With the opening of this new site, Ireland is now at the global centre of diabetes care.”
The new site is fully electric, powered by six air-to-water heat pumps and has nearly 600 solar panels on the roof. The facility also features tanks for collecting rainwater to use on site.
Abbott said that it plans to expand its manufacturing capacity across Europe, with a further £85m investment to be directed towards its Witney facility in Oxfordshire, UK.
In 2021, the company announced plans to invest €37.8m at its Clonmel site to develop cardiovascular devices.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
Updated 12:49pm, 18 November 2024: This article was amended to include Abbott’s clarification of the new roles in Kilkenny.
