The new direction announced for Xerox Corporation yesterday is expected to lead to additional employment at the company's Irish operations. Xerox, associated for years with photocopying, unveiled 17 new IT-based products which the company hopes will re-ignite revenue growth and propel it into the digital information age. The company has decided to blend its traditional paper-processing technologies with new offerings of software, Internet connectivity, networking and other services.
The new services will be offered across Europe and will be supported by the European back-office operation at Ballycoolin Industrial Park, near Blanchardstown, which has recently finished recruiting more than 700 people.
The Ballycoolin facility includes a customer service centre, which is expected to handle the trebling of activity which will be created by the new moves into information technology.
Mr Brendan Garry, general manager of Xerox Ireland, said that apart from the likely increase in employment in the customer services division at Blanchardstown, the company's sales operation in the Republic expected its turnover to treble in five years as a result of the new direction.
A manufacturing plant is also due to open in October in Dundalk, with more than 1,500 people currently being recruited.
This facility is not affected by the new plans as it will manufacture equipment and colour copier toner.
Mr Garry said the new strategy for the company worldwide would "solidify" the Irish operations. At a press conference in London, the chief executive of Xerox Corporation, Mr Richard Thoman, explained the new direction.
"It could be the most significant announcement since we sold our first copier 50 years ago," he said. He added that Xerox Corporation envisaged the new products producing 50 per cent of its turnover in coming years. "The document market is a good market," Mr Pierre Danon, the head of Xerox Europe said, referring to Xerox's traditional paper-handling business.
"But it has yielded only sluggish growth of late and Xerox is aiming higher," he said.
