There was more good news on the jobs front in Sligo yesterday, Wednesday, with the announcement that an extra 50 staff are being recruited for the Stiefel plant at Finisklin.
Photo by Brian Farrell.
It is a remarkable turnaround for the fortunes of the facility, which came close to closure in 2009.
And it comes hot on the heels of the recent announcement by another multinational healthcare company, AbbVie, of 50 new jobs at its plant in Ballytivnan.
GSK, the global healthcare company, which operates the Stiefel plant, announced yesterday, Wednesday, that in 2015, it will recruit 50 permanent and temporary people, half of whom have already been hired, with the remaining 25 to be recruited before the end of the year.
“This considerable recruitment drive will increase the total number of people employed at the site to 250 by the end of the year.”, a statement from the company said.
Kevin Wright, Site Director of GSK Sligo, said: “It is fantastic to be celebrating our 40th year in Sligo with such positive news on the jobs front. It is thanks to the dedicated staff here in Sligo that the business is growing.” Stiefel established its manufacturing facility in Sligo in 1975. Stiefel was taken over by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2009 and four months later it was revealed that the plant would be closed on a phased basis. But in 2012 GSK announced that it was reversing its decision to close the facility and was investing €10m in it. The plant is now a dedicated supply site for Stiefel skincare products. It manufactures a wide range of skin healthcare products for over 70 markets globally.
The new jobs are spread across a variety of disciplines including engineering, quality, technical, validation, logistics, finance and project management. The company says the majority of new recruits are required to support the site’s transition to a single state of the art manufacturing operating model.
