Ennis to gain 50 'Monster' jobs over five years

US-owned Monster Cable Products (MCP) is to create 50 jobs with the establishment of a Shared Services Centre in Ennis, Co Clare, with the support of IDA Ireland.

The centre in Ennis will be responsible for a range of business support activities for the company on a worldwide basis, outside the Americas. The 50 high-quality jobs will be created over a five years period and will be in finance, order administration, technical support, engineering, merchandising services and supply chain management. Over 40% of the positions will require degree or certificate qualifications.

Located at Ballymaley Business Park, the operation is already underway with the appointment of Mr. Paul Condon as General Manager and the recruitment of a small number of people necessary for the start-up.

Initially the Centre will support the European market and as it develops it will take responsibility on a worldwide basis, outside the Americas. Its activities will include order placement, merchandising services, customer services, finance, and development and supply chain management. MCP has had a presence in the European market since the early 1990's.

Welcoming the jobs Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney said: "MCP will provide an important boost to the economy of Ennis, which is a key focus town for development by IDA since its selection as a `hub' town for the Mid-West Region in the Government's National Spatial Strategy. Ennis, with its advanced integrated telecommunications infrastructure, is ideally suited for this project, which will be dependent on telecommunications for its successful operation."

MCP's high performance cables are used to connect audio and video systems for home, car and professional use and also in the computer and computer games industries.

MCP also has a range of power conditioning and stabilisation products for the audio and home theatre markets to minimise the degrading effects caused by voltage fluctuations in the mains AC power supply.

In choosing Ireland as the most suitable location for this international Centre, MCP carried out extensive research, which involved ranking most EU countries across factors like business environment, taxation and infrastructure.

MCP's preference was to locate in a town within twenty miles of a city/airport. It viewed Ennis as the `best fit' to its objectives, having a definite advantage over other locations due to its advanced integrated telecommunications infrastructure and its proximity to Limerick City and Shannon Airport.

Ms. Nancy Riddle, Chief Financial Officer of MCP, said: "MCP has strategically focused on European sales in recent years. We have come to the view that the European market is a growth opportunity and must be addressed with a local presence - the result is the establishment of this Centre in Ennis. As part of our plan to further significantly increase our European business, the Ennis Centre will be the vehicle through which we will manage this growth and support our European customers."

Monster Cable Products, Inc. of Brisbane, California, US, is a privately owned company and was established in 1979.

MCP differentiates itself from its competitors by the quality and features of its products and through working with retailers on attachment selling, where MCP cable and power products are attached to the equipment being sold by the retailer.