NI Connections

Based in Perth, Australia, Tribe Technology designs, manufactures and sells Autonomous drill rigs to the minerals industry. In September the company announced the opening of a new design and manufacturing facility at Enterprise Way Mallusk, creating 120 engineering jobs for Northern Ireland.

Charlie King, Managing Director of Tribe Technology, is a Northern Irish Diaspora, originally from Crossgar, Co Down.

Speaking about the company’s decision to set up this new facility in Northern Ireland, Charlie said: “I have spent more than a decade working in the contract drilling industry in Australia. We identified the opportunity to develop an innovative new product that will revolutionise the drill rig industry for the global minerals industry. Tribe Technology will remove all operators from the dangers of drilling operations, reduce drilling costs and increase drilling uptime.

“This new drilling system will be manufactured in our new Belfast manufacturing facility here at Enterprise Way Mallusk, and then shipped to our first customers in Western Australia and later globally. We took to decision to locate the manufacturing in Northern Ireland as there is a wealth of heavy manufacturing industrial expertise here.

We spoke to Charlie about why Tribe Technology chose Northern Ireland as the location for their new manufacturing facility and why as a Diaspora his feels proud to give something back to Northern Ireland.