Shannon has been selected as the location for the establishment of a European Centre of Excellence by exida which will create 25 jobs in the process.
Certification, lifecycle engineering, and lifecycle-based knowledge product firm exida specialises in safety-critical/high availability automation systems, control system cybersecurity, and alarm management.
In what is the first virtually managed investment for a regional location during COVID-19, exida has announced 25 new jobs for Shannon as part of a move to create a European Centre of Excellence. The roles will be created over the next five years.
Initial hiring has already been completed, Iwan van Beurden, Director of exida IRL confirmed. “Our plans are to bring the total staff count up to 25 in the next 3 to 5 years. This staff will allow us to expand our software development capability and resource EU projects. The process of setting up a new office completely virtually was quite smooth, IDA Ireland was there to help and provided excellent support through many net meetings”.
Claiming to have performed more process control safety certifications than any other company in the world, exida’s main offices are located in Pennsylvania and Munich with subsidiary offices in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Kingdom
CEO of exida, Chris O’Brien outlined, “There were several factors that led to choosing Ireland for this expansion including; proximity to European customers, strong local talent pool to recruit from, support from IDA Ireland, and the country’s proven track record for foreign direct investment”.
Funding from the Irish Government through IDA Ireland supported the project. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar (FG) stated, “This will bring 25 highly skilled jobs to the Mid-West over the next 3-5 years. exida is a world leader in a highly specialist field and it will be a welcome addition to the business ecosystem in the region.”
Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland explained, “Due to travel restrictions imposed following the global outbreak of COVID-19, the US-based team at exida experienced Shannon and the Mid West’s unique value proposition and pro-business environment, through IDA Ireland’s Remote Site Visit hub”.
exida provides certification, services, assessments, and tools to Automation, Automotive, Robotics, and Machinery equipment manufacturers as well as Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Petro-Chemical, Oil & Gas, Subsea, Metals and Mining, Pulp & Paper, and Power Utilities customers.
