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Tribe Tech to create 120 jobs at new manufacturing facility
Tribe Technology is to create 120 jobs in Northern Ireland after establishing a new design and manufacturing facility in Mallusk.
Based in Perth, Australia, Tribe Tech Group designs, manufactures and sells autonomous drill rigs to the minerals industry.
The 120 new engineering roles will be created over the next five years and will offer the opportunity to be involved in developing and manufacturing innovative new drilling systems. Invest Northern Ireland has offered £984,000 of support towards 82 of the new jobs.
Tribe Tech Group is to create 120 jobs after establishing a new design and manufacturing facility in Northern Ireland / Picture: NI Dept. for the Economy
Charlie King, managing director of Tribe Technology, said: “I have spent more than a decade working in the contract drilling industry in Australia. We identified the opportunity to develop an innovative new product which will revolutionise the drill rig industry for the global minerals industry. Tribe Technology will remove all operators from the dangers of drilling operations, reduce drilling costs and increase drilling uptime.
“This new drilling system will be manufactured in our new Belfast manufacturing facility here at Enterprise Way, Mallusk, and then shipped to our first customers in Western Australia and later globally. We took the decision to locate the manufacturing in Northern Ireland as there is a wealth of heavy manufacturing industrial expertise here.
“It is great to finally see the new factory up and running and work well underway to manufacturing these new rigs. Even though we are just getting started, we have already recruited 14 people to the team. The market demand for our technology has been outstanding and we look forward to ramping up to full production capacity ahead of schedule.”
Gordon Lyons, economy minister for Northern Ireland, added: “Northern Ireland has a diverse advanced manufacturing and engineering sector which, in recent years, has grown almost three times faster than the rest of the UK. I am delighted to welcome Tribe Technology to this vibrant and highly sophisticated sector.
“Tribe Technology plans to create 120 new engineering jobs over the next five years. These roles offer the opportunity to be involved in developing and manufacturing innovative new drilling systems, as well as attractive salaries. Once all the roles are in place, this investment will generate in excess of £3m in annual salaries to the NI economy.”
Anne Beggs, director of trade and investment, concluded: “There are around 2,200 advanced manufacturing, materials and engineering companies in Northern Ireland involved in a wide variety of activities. This project by Tribe, however, is a new area of manufacturing for Northern Ireland. We are pleased to have been able to support and secure such a pioneering manufacturing project for Northern Ireland.”