Engineering services firm Crest Solutions has announced the creation of 80 jobs as it confirms it has secured contracts with a number of global life sciences manufacturers.
The news was announced as Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation officially opened Crest Solutions’ Customer Innovation Centre at the company headquarters in Little Island, Cork.
Solutions to multinational pharma and medical devices clients
Crest Solutions provides engineering services and solutions to multinational pharma and medical devices clients in Ireland, UK, Europe and the US.
The company has experienced exponential growth with employment growing from 20 people in 2011 to more than 135 today. They are on track to hire an additional 80 engineers, project managers, analysts and technicians by year end, with further growth forecast of 100 more roles through to end 2021.
Crest Solutions was founded in 1998 and is now amongst Northern Europe’s leading engineering services partners to Life Sciences companies.
With offices in Cork, Westport and Corby, UK, Crest Solutions invested in a joint venture with Vistalink NV in 2012 and has grown this operation to service the Benelux and Scandinavian regions, successfully internationalising the company’s European operations and reach.
Through strategic partnerships in the US the company now delivers and supports systems in multiple sites globally for pharmaceutical clients.
Established an installation and support team in the US
At the request of key customers, Crest Solutions has established an installation and support team in the US to support projects there for which it is identified as a mission-critical partner and is currently delivering projects in Brazil and South Africa.
The company is in a hyper-growth phase, growing group revenue 1,000 per cent between 2012 and 2018, to more than €40 million per annum.
An increasing proportion of this is annually recurring revenue through the managed services offerings that complement its engineering projects core specialisms in machine vision and pharmaceutical serialisation.
This has led to projects being delivered in multiple countries and sites for global leaders including J&J, Allergan, Baxter Healthcare, MSD-Merck, BD, Abbott Diabetes Care and others.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD said: “I am delighted to announce the creation of 80 new jobs at Crest Solutions in 2019 and to officially open their new Customer Innovation Centre here at Little Island.
'Phenomenal growth over last number of years'
"The company has seen phenomenal growth over the last number of years through its partnerships with multinationals and, without a doubt, they serve as an example for other homegrown businesses to follow.
"Innovation has been central to their success, and I am very pleased that the government, through Enterprise Ireland, has been able to support them with various training and R&D initiatives.
"Today’s announcement is a fantastic boost for the region, and I would like to wish Crest Solutions all the best in the exciting period ahead.”
CEO Frank Madden said: “We are announcing our plans to grow group revenue to over €150 million over a five-year period. We are proud that this will double our workforce from 150 today to more than 300 by end 2021.
"As multinationals build global teams to assess and implement emerging Industry 4.0 technologies, they are contracting Crest Solutions to partner with them to build scalable solutions for their sites internationally.
"These include innovations in virtualisation, virtual reality, augmented reality and Cobot applications, all backed by the excellence of the project support we provide through our managed services teams.
“We emphasise how important Enterprise Ireland and its global sourcing initiatives have been to connect us with multinationals in Ireland.
'Major global opportunities'
"By serving the multinational life sciences companies attracted to Ireland by the IDA and introduced to us by Enterprise Ireland, these clients have introduced us to major global opportunities in their sites in export markets around the world.”
Kevin Sherry, executive director, global business development, Enterprise Ireland said: “Enterprise Ireland congratulates Crest Solutions on its substantial achievements to date and the establishment of its new Customer Innovation Centre here in Cork.
"The company’s focus on providing customer-led solutions and innovation has enabled it to grow its business at the scale that has been achieved.
"Crest Solutions is a great example of a regionally based company that is building scale and expanding reach in global markets and Enterprise Ireland looks forward to working with the company as it realises its next stage of growth.”