'Derry came out on top' says Philip O'Doherty as 200 new Vertiv jobs announced

Around 200 highly skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs will be created by Vertiv at its base at the former Fruit of the Loom plant in Campsie, with support from Invest Northern Ireland.

The investment announcement was made on site in Campsie on Thursday morning by Vertiv and Invest Northern Ireland.

Vertiv operates in more than 130 countries, providing an extensive portfolio of power, cooling, and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network.

Speaking about the investment, Karsten Winther, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Vertiv, said: “We are delighted to be making this investment which will support our EMEA and global business growth and help us to meet strong market demand for our infrastructure solutions, mainly driven by digitalisation and AI adoption. Vertiv’s focus is on solving the most important challenges facing today’s data centres, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions. This new investment will support our goal.” 

Philip O’Doherty, Managing Director for the E+I business at Vertiv, added: “Derry was not the only location we considered for this facility, but it came out on top when we realised the quality of the local workforce, the cost-competitive business environment and the ease with which we can establish links and work with colleges and universities to support our research and development plans. The support from Invest NI was also crucial to our decision to choose Northern Ireland.”

The Department for the Economy’s Assured Skills Academies will assist in filling 72 of the jobs by providing training across skills areas in Electrical and Mechanical Installation.

Mike Brennan, Permanent Secretary at the Department for the Economy, welcomed the investment by Vertiv, saying: “This announcement of new jobs by Vertiv is excellent news for the North West, endorsing Northern Ireland’s place in the Advanced Manufacturing sector and further developing our sub-regional economy.”

“Assured Skills Academies have a track record of equipping participants with the skills employers need to flourish and grow. Furthermore, participants on these Assured Skills Academies who complete the training are guaranteed a job interview for a role with Vertiv and will be strongly positioned for success.”

Welcoming the investment, Mel Chittock, Interim CEO of Invest NI, said: “September’s Investment Summit showcased Northern Ireland’s innovation and technological strengths across a number of sectors. Today’s announcement by Vertiv demonstrates the attraction of Northern Ireland for international companies that are seeking an optimal location for growth.

“Invest NI is working to realise the Department for the Economy’s 10x Vision of creating a productive, innovation-based, export-driven economy in Northern Ireland whilst also achieving a fairer distribution of opportunities for all our people through regional balance. This investment in the advanced manufacturing sector in the North West, which is one of our priority clusters, takes us a step closer to achieving this.”

Vertiv is now actively recruiting for vacancies in engineering and other roles.

The company has a robust diversity and inclusion strategy and is welcoming and encouraging women to apply for positions, with the goal of attracting more women into STEM careers at Vertiv. It will also use this opportunity to build on its already successful apprenticeship programme to attract graduates and apprentices into full-time skilled roles.

For more information about Vertiv and recruitment in Derry visit Vertiv.com.

Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs.

It is now two years since it was announced Vertiv was to acquire one of the north west’s largest employers, E&I Engineering, in a deal worth $2billion.

E&I was founded in 1986 by Derry businessman Philip O’Doherty and at that time in 2021, it employed 2,100 people at its plants at Burnfoot and Campsie as well as its operations in South Carolina in the United States and Ras-al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

Headquartered in Ohio, Vertiv offers power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services to customers in the data centre, communications, commercial and industrial markets. It employs over 20,000 people across over 130 countries.

Back in 2021, Mr. O’Doherty said: “This transaction brings together two highly complementary businesses and represents a great outcome for E&I’s employees and customers.

“We are excited to join the Vertiv team and continue to grow our business through Vertiv’s global reach, strong channel presence and great customer positioning in critical digital infrastructures.”

Chief Executive Officer of Vertiv Rob Johnson said at the time back in 2021: “The acquisition of E&I represents a key milestone in Vertiv’s strategy, completing our portfolio of in-building power train offerings for data centres and vital Commercial & Industrial markets.”