Ireland's process engineering sector supplies the world's leading companies in technological areas such as automation systems, gas analysis and test instrumentation. The sector benefits from having blue chip clients in its home market, particularly in the fine chemicals/pharmaceuticals sector, as well as being strongly active on the global market. World leaders from other industries among the client list include ABB, Intel, Rolls Royce, Siemens and Texas Instruments.

In recent years, Irish companies have invested heavily in providing product quality and innovation, as well as delivering the best in customer service, all to the highest international standards. Process engineering companies in Ireland offer a number of key advantages, including state of the art manufacturing facilities; experience of the most modern supply practices; competitive pricing with short lead times and dedicated and flexible customer service. Most of the companies are based in the Cork and Dublin areas and many have offices in the UK, servicing the market there.

The development of this sector has been greatly assisted by the presence of many multinational companies in Ireland. For example, in the pharmaceutical sector, 13 out of the top 15 global companies have manufacturing facilities based here. Total overseas investment in the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland is estimated at $12 billion which include companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Squibb. All these companies use state of the art manufacturing technology and have stringent quality control procedures, which are fully met by numerous Irish suppliers. A cluster of suppliers has developed in the Cork region to service the chemical and pharmaceutical companies there.

One area of expertise is stainless steel fabrication, making containers and vessels to specification. Products range from storage and process vessels of up to 200,000 litres capacity to heating, cooling, mixing and pressure vessels. A variety of materials are used, such as special grade stainless steel and titanium. In-house design is usually backed up with AutoCAD facilities. One firm now has one of the largest electro-polishing plants in Europe.

Another significant element of the sector is the manufacture of process control equipment and instrumentation, in which about 50 companies are involved. One of the highly specialised areas is the manufacture and supply of pipes, valves and fittings. Both mechanical contracting services, and design and installation work are provided by Irish suppliers. A number of companies also provide analysis systems such as innovative gas detection systems for toxic and combustible gases, BioTector online TOC analysers used in industries such as food processing and pharmaceuticals and liquid and powder samplers for the chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries.

The process engineering and process control and instrumentation sector in Ireland offers:

• Leading edge technology, with significant investments in research and development
• Proprietary products
• High degree of customisation
• Software development capability
• Technological expertise in:
    - Automation systems
    - Gas analysis
    - LV switchgear and motors
    - Machine vision inspection systems
• Test instrumentation in application areas spanning sectors as diverse as automotive to offshore oil and gas.