A number of different firms in manufacturing have been working on growth projects with the support of Invest NI.
Six different NI manufacturing firms have been enabled to grow their operations with the support of Invest NI, creating more than 40 jobs in the region.
Big Picture Joinery, Mango Bikes, Amphora NDT, Carey Cleaning Machines, Gault Engineering and Premier Protective Coatings are all hoping to increase business turnover and export sales by adding a total of 41 roles, 12 of which are already in place. These firms represent an array of sectors within the manufacturing industry as a whole, including kitchen joineries, testing instrument manufacturers, engineering consultants and industrial cleaning solutions.
The six companies have been awarded £261,000 in total by Invest NI to go towards jobs creation and expansion. In total, these companies are making investments of £3.7m and creating jobs that will generate £1.2m in additional annual salaries for the Northern Irish economy.
Moira Loughran, Invest NI’s eastern and north-eastern regional manager, made the announcement while on a visit to Carey Cleaning Machines in Ballymena, Co Antrim. Carey Cleaning Machines is investing more than £1.1m to help its strategic growth and give a boost to sales in the Republic of Ireland. Invest NI has offered the company £49,000 worth of support to create seven jobs.
“Growing and strengthening our indigenous manufacturing businesses is at the core of our business strategy,” Loughran explained, “and these investments demonstrate that despite the global challenges facing certain areas of manufacturing, there is real opportunity for growth.
“In fact, based on data collected as part of our business strategy monitoring, the advanced engineering and manufacturing sector saw the largest jobs growth on the previous year.”
She added: “Our focus is on providing the most effective assistance to our businesses to support the development of our economy. This support is ensuring these companies have the resources available to compete more effectively and successfully, particularly in markets outside Northern Ireland.”
This announcement comes amid an avalanche of jobs news that has been revealed since Monday (11 June). To name just a few, energy services firm Crowley Carbon announced 187 positions across its offices in Wicklow and Kilkenny. Meanwhile, just yesterday (12 June) we reported that sports data company Stats will employ 150 at its site in Limerick by 2020, while Microsoft gold partner company eBecs also announced 100 remote-working jobs.
