Abbott in Ireland

Image: Abbott

• Overview of Abbott Worldwide
• Abbott in Ireland
  • Abbott in Cavan
  • Abbott in Donegal
  • Abbott in Dublin
  • Abbott in Kilkenny
  • Abbott in Longford
  • Abbott in Sligo
  • Abbott in Tipperary
• GetReskilled Graduates in Abbott
• The Future of Abbott in Ireland
• Connect with Abbott
• How to Get a Job With Abbott in Ireland

• Reported Worldwide Sales 2022: $43.7 billion
  • Sales from Diagnostics 2022: $16.6 billion
  • Sales from Medical Devices 2022: $14.7 billion
  • Sales from Nutrition 2022: $7.5 billion
  • Sales from Pharmaceuticals 2022: $4.9 billion
• Estimated R&D Spend 2022: $2.9 billion
• Global Number of Employees 2022: 115,000

Abbott was founded in 1888 by Dr Wallace C. Abbott in Chicago, USA.

The company is involved in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of a range of products. Their portfolio spans the breadth of healthcare including medical devices, diagnostics, branded generic pharmaceuticals, and nutritionals.

Abbott currently employs 113,000 people, with a customer base across over 160 countries and global sales in 2022 of $43.7 billion.

Abbott has had a presence in Ireland since 1946.

Today they employ over 5,000 people across 9 Irish locations including manufacturing sites in Cavan, Donegal, Longford, Sligo and Tipperary as well as commercial and support operations in Dublin.

Overall rating by their employees 2022 (source):

• Employees in Cavan: 250
• Activities: Nutrition

Abbott opened their nutrition facilities in Cavan in 1975.

The site is unique within Abbott’s worldwide nutrition network as it uses liquid skim milk in its products. Approximately 500,000 litres of milk are processed at the site every day to produce nutrition products for babies and children as well as for individuals with chronic illnesses.

Products from the site are exported around the world including throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Canada.

In December 2022, the company submitted plans for a proposed expansion of the Cavan site – a decision is expected in February 2023.

• Employees in Donegal: 800
• Activities: Medical device manufacturing (blood glucose monitoring)

Abbott define their Donegal site as a “Centre of Excellence for blood glucose monitoring”.

Since 2006, it has been their sole manufacturing facility for the FreeStyle and FreeStyle Lite brand of blood glucose test strips (used for ongoing monitoring by patients with diabetes).

As well as manufacturing, the company’s Donegal site also performs significant research and development into new products to help those with diabetes.

In August 2022, Abbot announced a planned expansion of the Donegal facility (see more below).

• Employees in Dublin: 100
• Activities: Commercial operations

Abbott’s Dublin operations were the company’s first in the country, opening in 1946.

Today, the Dublin site is home to the sales, marketing and distribution activities.

• Employees in Kilkenny: 0
• Activities:

In August 2022, Abbott announced plans to open a brand new manufacturing facility in Kilkenny. It will serve to manufacture the company’s Freestyle Libre 3 blood glucose monitoring system.

The site is expected to be operational by 2024 and recruitment has begun already.

Abbott gets green light for major expansion in Kilkenny https://t.co/gLLQ4dpvJI

— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) December 1, 2022

• Employees in Longford: 600
• Activities: Diagnostics

Abbott opened their Longford facility in 2004 to expand the diagnostics business that was already operational in Sligo.

The site manufactures 18 diagnostic reagents that are used in tests across a wide range of healthcare areas.

Abbott Longford was awarded IMDA Med Tech Company of the Year in 2015. In 2016, the site received the Shingo Prize – a prestigious award that recognises Operational Excellence.

Congratulations to Abbott Diagnostics Longford on winning Medtech company of the year @IMDAIrishMedTec pic.twitter.com/RO58SBca5K

— IDA Ireland (@IDAIRELAND) December 10, 2015

• Employees in Sligo: 600
• Activities: Nutritional and Diagnostics manufacturing

In 1974, Abbott opened their first manufacturing site in Ireland. Over time, the Ballytivnan site became a fully automated site for nutritional manufacturing (hosting “moulding, extrusion and high-speed assembly in a lean operation”) before moving to Finisklin in 2017.

The site received the prestigious Shingo prize for Operational Excellence in 2017 and the company now describes it as “the Abbott Nutrition Devices Centre of Excellence”.

Abbott opened their Sligo diagnostics manufacturing facility in 1994. Since then, the company have expanded the site eight times and it’s now over 170,000 sq ft. Abbott describe this site as “the second largest facility worldwide manufacturing diagnostic products”.

As well as manufacturing diagnostic reagents and accessories, the Sligo site also hosts “Process and Product Innovation laboratories”.

• Employees in Tipperary: 1600
• Activities: Medical device manufacturing (vascular)

Abbott’s Clonmel site manufactures a range of vascular devices (including stent delivery systems and catheters).

The 250,000 sq ft Shingo Prize winning facility is described by the company as a “centre of excellence in the manufacturing of vascular devices”.

In August 2023, Abbott announced a €440m investment in their Irish operations.

“We have had an outstanding experience with the Irish workforce … which means it is a sensible strategic investment for us to keep going back there.”

Jared Watkin, Senior Vice-President, Abbott Diabetes Care

This investment will see the establishment of the new Kilkenny manufacturing facility as well as expansion of the Donegal Diabetes Care site. It is expected that these projects in combination will lead to 1,000 new jobs.

IDA Ireland welcomes news that @AbbottNews is to invest €440 million and create 1,000 new jobs with the establishment of a new greenfield manufacturing facility in Kilkenny and expansion of its operations in Donegal. pic.twitter.com/oJn0p9WKVt

— IDA Ireland (@IDAIRELAND) August 12, 2022

If you already have experience in the pharma or medical device manufacturing industries, you can head straight over to our dedicated pharma jobs board and see the current Abbott vacancies in Ireland.

If you have some science, quality or engineering qualifications/work experience, check out our specialist conversion courses that bridge the gap between your current knowledge and the technical information required to work in this highly regulated industry:

• Conversion Course into Pharma for Scientists
• Conversion Course into Quality Roles in Pharma
• Conversion Course into Engineering Roles in Pharma

For all other backgrounds (including sales, retail, hospitality, etc), check out our Conversion Course into Pharmaceutical Manufacturing. This course helps you take the transferable skills acquired in any other industry and combines them with essential technical knowledge and job hunting skills, to make you an ideal candidate for entry level pharma manufacturing jobs. (Note: NO science or engineering knowledge or experience is needed!)