THE Hewlett Packard plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare, which will employ its 1,000th person this week, was the fastest development the US multinational ever carried out, its president and chief executive, Mr Lew Platt, said yesterday.
Mr Platt said the plant, which will employ 2,000 people by the year 2000, represented a "new record in our company for building a plant this size". The plant manufactures inject cartridges for HewlettPackard printers. The company is currently employing people at a rate of 50 to 60 per month.
Total investment in the facility, now in phase two, is £328 million and represents one of the company's largest single investments. HewlettPackard began building the plant in December 1995.
Mr Platt was speaking at the official opening of the company's new plant. IDA chief executive Kieran McGowan said HewlettPackard was a very good example of a fast, responsive company.
The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton said HewlettPackard had been "the jewel in the crown" for Ireland, along with Seagate and Intel. "It has put us firmly on the map in terms of the electronics sector," he laid.
Mr Bruton said Ireland now has a good spread of firms in the electronics industry and was seen to have critical mass in Europe. He said firms such as HewlettPackard provide a great spinoff to subsuppliers in terms of helping them instigate best practice and being able to become suppliers in the first place.
Most of the company's production in Leixlip will be going into Europe, although it does have the capacity to switch destinations to Asia, for example. Mr Franz Nawratil, vice president and managing director for Europe Africa, and the Middle East, said demand in Europe had slowed this year.
He said the economies in France and Germany were experiencing some economic slowdown and this was a contributory factor.
Mr Platt said he agreed with most economic forecasts that demand in the computing industry would "firm" and that there would be a slower growth rate in the next six to 12 months. However, he said this did not affect the inkjet cartridge business to any great degree.
Although the Irish plant manufactures inkjet cartridges, the multinational is a leading supplier of computing, Internet and intranet solutions as well as medical and diagnostic equipment. Last year its revenues were $38.4 billion (£26 billion).
