Tech firm Logitech positioned for further growth in Cork

Pandemic sees surge in demand for gaming and work-from-home products

Logitech’s office in Cork was first established in 1988 and moved to its current site on Airport Business Park, Kinsale Road, in 2013.

Technology company Logitech said it could possibly grow its presence in Cork further than the planned 50 new roles at the company.

The computer-goods manufacturer has seen a surge in demand for its work-from-home products, including web cameras, keyboards, headsets, and video conferencing equipment. 

In January, the Swiss company said it planned to hire 50 new people over the next three years at its site in Cork in design, engineering, IT, and supply chain roles bringing its overall headcount to 250.

Speaking at the Cork Chamber Business Breakfast, Logitech's head of global supply chain and site lead in Cork, Elaine Laird, said that could grow further as the site has become a key office in its global footprint.

Elaine Laird Logitech’s head of global supply chain and site lead.

"Cork is now a strategic centre for Logitech," she said. "Growing from 10 to 200 people and plans to grow to 250 and possibly more."

Its office in Cork was first established in 1988. It moved to its current site at Airport Business Park, Kinsale Road, in 2013. 

It initially began as a manufacturing site, employing 400 people at one stage, but when these roles moved to Asia the company's presence was reduced to just 10.

Since then the Logitech centre in Cork has pivoted to provide a range of other services. 

"The decision was taken to diversify the work Logitech carries out in Cork. We did not just want to be an operations centre," Ms Laird said.

We have to be more meaningful in the long term for strategic areas for the company.

Last month, the company announced a three-fold jump in operating income and forecasts sales in 2021 will increase by more than 60%.

Ms Laird said that the company's operations in Ireland are well-positioned for future technologies and changes in the working environment. 

"We have a strategy to focus on areas that are not just growing today but ones that will grow in a few years time," she said. 

"We have a research and development programme in VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) which we really believe will be the next wave of computing.

"That’s really at the high end that we are looking at and how Logitech can play in that new environment and market for the long term."

We are building our expertise in that area which is quite niche at the moment.

Ms Laird also spoke about the impact Covid had on the company, both in Cork and globally. 

"For the wider company, we experienced disruption across the world. We had a manufacturing shutdown when the pandemic started. It put a hole in our production for about five weeks.

"Then we went into a supply shortage. As the world worked from home they needed communication devices and productivity tools and the demand just skyrocketed.

"At one point we were getting notes from hospitals, school and nurses saying 'Can you help us? We need to figure out how to do our work in a different way'.

"One thing I am proud of is that, at that moment in Logitech it was not about 'how can we make the most money' but how do we allocate our products to have the most impact so we can get through this as a global society."