New drive to stop loss of manufacturing jobs

A bid to stop the loss of Irish manufacturing jobs to eastern Europe and Asia was launched today by Enterprise Ireland.

A partnership project with Engineers Ireland will help businesses design and develop their products in the engineering, food, pharmaceutical, chemical, bio and services sectors.

The programme will feature a series of six training modules covering all aspects of market-focused innovation and design.

Enterprise Ireland spokesman Dermot Murphy said the initiative is aimed at design engineers, R&D staff and executives who want to improve the design and development function in their businesses.

“We are living in an age of accelerating change and there is a need for manufacturers to sharpen their competitiveness in developing designs for new products,” he added.

Engineers Ireland, which has 21,000 members, said big and small firms must give more attention to product design if they are to survive and grow.

The modules begin in Dublin this week and will continue in April, May, September, October and November.