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Jabil confirms multi-million pound boost for Scotland

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced 212 new jobs for the Livingston operations of US based global manufacturing services company Jabil.

During a meeting in New York with representatives from Jabil, the First Minister secured confirmation that the company’s investment of £12.5m into the Scottish plant would result in an additional 212 jobs and safeguard 147 manufacturing roles.

The investment will support Jabil’s plans to create a Centre of Excellence based at Livingston, which will be one of three worldwide.

Welcoming the announcement, the First Minister said:

“Scotland has a proud tradition and enviable global reputation for engineering excellence, built on the skills and innovation of our people, making it an attractive location for US businesses.

“Ernst and Young’s latest Attractiveness Survey showed that 2014 was Scotland’s most successful year in the past decade for attracting US investments and Jabel’s announcement is further evidence of this success.

Lena Wilson, Chief Executive Scottish Enterprise said:

“Jabil’s Centre of Excellence in Livingston will solidify its ability to deliver R&D, manufacturing and new product introduction, thus creating additional capabilities, leadership and decision making in Scotland. Jabil will also be able to tap into evolving technologies emerging from Scotland’s innovative company base and collaborate with our world class universities.”

Dr. Joseph McGee, Executive Vice President of Jabil, said: 

"We are pleased to be able to announce the expansion our long-standing Scotland site and leverage the tenured team to grow and expand our global processes and capabilities."

The technology and engineering sector plays a vital role in Scotland’s economy and the Scottish Government and its agencies continue to build an environment in which both Scottish and overseas businesses can flourish. Scottish Enterprise has supported the first phase of Jabil’s Livingston investment with £450,000 of grant funding and continues to engage with the company on future opportunities for the site. 

Notes To Editors

Jabil is the world’s third largest electronic manufacturing services provider, operating across 90 sites globally. The group provides services to some of the world’s best known brands in the aerospace, automotive, computing, consumer, defence, healthcare and communications industries. The company plans to build capacity at its Livingston site, which it has operated for 21 years, to leverage the wealth of manufacturing knowledge there and identify new industries and technologies which would benefit from Jabil’s capabilities in delivering products to market quickly, affordably and efficiently for its customers.