US firm announces cash boost for North
A US technology company today announced a £120m (€150m) investment in a factory in the North as it prepared to make nearly 1,000 workers redundant a few miles away.
Seagate Technology said it was using the investment to turn its Derry plant into “the global technology leader in the production of read-write heads for hard disc drives”.
Just 15 miles away, it is closing its plant in Limavady in a matter of weeks with the loss of 900 jobs following a decision announced last October.
No new jobs will be created by the investment in Derry where Seagate is one of the key employers with a workforce of 1,400.
The company said money would go into “new equipment, research and development, infrastructure and IT systems that will enable the factory to retain its position as the lowest cost and biggest producer of read-write heads in the world”.
Despite the closure of the Limavady factory being announced last autumn, the vast majority of the workers – 800 – are still there.
Redundancy terms of six weeks’ pay for every year served were offered to those who stayed on to closure, and two weeks less to those who jumped ship early.
Seagate made no reference to the shutdown when they announced the new investment.
John Spangler, Vice President at the plant in Derry’s Springtown, said: “This investment will allow our Springtown factory to remain at the forefront of the technology and efficiency battle that is waged in the disc drive industry.”
It would allow the plant to continue supporting the company’s market-leading position in the ever-expanding hard disc drive market.
“Springtown is already one of the leading producers of read-write heads in the world and is the primary supplier of heads for Seagate. This is a position that will be enhanced by this new investment.”
The success of the factory was evidence of the North’s capacity to compete in the global marketplace, he said.
“Northern Ireland has all the right ingredients, including a business-friendly environment, a wealth of talent from a well-educated, flexible and committed workforce, and an understanding of the importance of the knowledge-based sector for future economic development,” said Mr Spangler.
Despite his praise of the North, the closure of the Limavady plant was announced just weeks before Seagate opened a new facility in the low wage economy of Malaysia – and where it makes the same products as in Limavady.
The Northern Ireland Executive is understood to have been trying to get back some of the many millions it had provided towards the Limavady plant.
