When Mr Joe Browne first assumed the role of general manager at Xerox Ireland last November, the photocopier giant was in deep crisis.

Within a month of his appointment, Xerox stock fell below $4 from a 12-month high of $60. Facing billions of debt, some commentators believed the company could be bankrupt by mid-2001. The prospects for Xerox's $1 billion (#1.14 billion) investment programme in Dublin and Dundalk did not look good. And when a senior Xerox executive questioned the logic of choosing Dublin as its European call centre base, alarm bells began to ring. Six months on, things are looking a little better. A $1 billion cost-cutting programme seems to be working and yesterday's better-than-expected results announcement pleased the market.

According to Mr Browne, a Westmeath native who is glad to be back in the Republic after 14 years abroad with Xerox, the immediate crisis is over and the Irish operations are going from strength to strength.

"We met all of our targets this quarter and, for the last four or five months, Xerox has been very successful in implementing its turnaround strategy," he says.

The company plans to cut some $1 billion in global costs and, although the Republic has not been immune, it hasn't suffered the job losses that have afflicted other European operations. "Xerox Ireland was a classic start-up when I arrived, with little operational control but good people," says Mr Browne. "My strengths are driving this forward by `operationalising' the business."

Mr Browne joined Xerox on a graduate finance programme and this attention to budgets has defined his first six months in charge. He has implemented tight cuts in travel, consultancy, public relations and rationalisation at Xerox's state-of-the-art server farm.

"Costs are down by double-digit figures," he says.

However, Mr Browne is proud of the fact that no Irish workers have been made redundant due to corporate downsizing at Xerox and he stresses investment is on track. "Xerox made a decision to invest in Ireland and that investment strategy was and still is a sound one," he says.

The company intends to employ 2,100 staff at its manufacturing plant in Dundalk and a further 2,000 at its welcome centre in Dublin by 2003. Achieving these staffing levels will depend on several factors, including Xerox's restructuring and the global economic environment, says Mr Browne. "I'm not going to employ people to sit in the foyer because of some headline figure," he explains.

However, Mr Browne is bullish about the prospects for Xerox's Dundalk manufacturing plants following the company's plan to expand its colour portfolio.

"The future for Dundalk is very positive," he says. "The colour market will be fast growing and it seems likely that Dundalk will play an important part in this."

Mr Browne admits Xerox's Dublin centre is located in a more volatile environment and has experienced problems in retaining staff. However, he says attrition rates have stabilised at about 30 per cent and a number of incentives for staff should enable the firm to keep these under control.

"Yesterday's results demonstrate that Xerox has met its commitments to the market and management is doing things right," he says.

The next challenge for Xerox will be to achieve profitability this year. If the firm can manage this, the company's current workforce of some 2,700 will breathe easier.