Minister for State at the Department of Enterprise and Innovation, John Perry, officially opened Zenith Adhesive Components (ZAC ), a new manufacturing company in the IDA Business and Technology Park, Dublin Road, Athlone last Thursday.
ZAC specialises in the manufacture of adhesive and tape diecuts and rolls for use in medical devices, automotive parts, electronics, and general industry.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Perry said, “The story of your company is the story of great Irish entrepreneurship. You have made a journey from being part of a large multinational operation that closed last December to being an exciting new indigenous Irish enterprise.”
ZAC, started by MD Pat O’Neill and engineering director Jonathan Whately, is made up of some of the staff and management from M&C Specialties (Irl ) Ltd which had been closed by its owners ITW resulting in the loss of 19 jobs. A number of these jobs have been saved by setting up the new Irish-owned business, which has already acquired its own customer base in Ireland and is beginning to export to the USA and the UK.
Mayor of Athlone Gabrielle McFadden offered her congratulations to the team and praised their commitment and bravery in starting a new enterprise in a difficult environment, while offering all the assistance and encouragement she could on behalf of Athlone Town Council.
Pat O’Neill said, “We are delighted by the progress to date and are very optimistic that we will reach 10 or more full-time employees next year with rapidly increasing turnover outside Ireland”.
Expressing delight at the growing customer base, Mr O’Neill said, “We added two new customers this week and this is down to the flexible ‘can-do’ attitude of the staff and our ability to turn around ideas and orders in a timely fashion. There have been some very exciting new technologies brought on board in this new business in collaboration with local hi-tech companies and we look forward to further announcements on these in the near future.”
