US medical firm to create 250 jobs in Shannon

MORE than 250 jobs are to be created in Shannon by US medical company Zimmer Holdings.

The company has decided to invest €50 million over two years developing a manufacturing operations base in the Shannon Free Zone.

It will focus on the manufacture of Zimmer-branded knee and hip products.

Zimmer has operations in 24 countries worldwide and sells products in more than 100 countries. In 2007, it had sales of $3.89 billion. The company employs more than 7,000 people.

“Winning this prestigious investment is the result of a significant collaborative marketing campaign undertaken jointly by Shannon Development and IDA Ireland,” said Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin.

“We are delighted to be adding a new location to our global network in Ireland,” said Richard Stair, senior vice-president, Global Operations & Logistics at Zimmer Holdings. “We are constantly assessing our worldwide operations and logistics network to maximise efficiency and customer service, and this project is a result of that process. We are grateful for the co-operation and encouragement of the national and local officials in Shannon and look forward to building a facility that utilises the tremendous skills and expertise of the workforce to produce high technology medical devices.

“The rationale for this expansion is to diversify our manufacturing network and reduce risk, take advantage of a lower tax jurisdiction and prepare our supply chain for additional future unit volumes. This will provide us greater flexibility in scaling our capacity for future demand and reversing the upward pressure on our effective tax rate over the long term.”