More than £6 million (€8.8 million) is to be invested in an expansion by a Co Down dairy company which is targeting new and bigger markets in Europe as well as Asia.
LE Pritchitt, a subsidiary of the Lakeland Dairies Co-operative, specialises in UHT dairy products and produced some 70 million litres of milk annually.
The expansion is supported by some £1 million from investment body Invest Northern Ireland and was announced by Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Nigel Dodds during a visit to the plant near Newtownards yesterday.
However, the precarious nature of manufacturing in the North was also highlighted yesterday with the announcement that 75 engineering jobs in east Belfast are in doubt after electric motor and pump manufacturers Scott ElectroMech went into receivership.
Attempts to find a buyer for the company as a going concern have failed and Ernst & Young were appointed receivers on Friday, after the workforce was told that the company would close.
East Belfast Assembly member and Progressive Unionist leader Dawn Purvis and SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell said that the announcement was regrettable.
However, Mr Dodds emphasised the potential of the expansion at the Newtownards dairy company yesterday, claiming that it represented "a substantial project for manufacturing in Northern Ireland and in particular for dairy processing".
"The investment will help secure employment for the 168 staff in Newtownards and could go on to create up to 20 new jobs," he added.
He said that the investment authority's support for the expansion plan reflected the Executive's commitment to encouraging and assisting manufacturing companies to develop markets outside Northern Ireland.
LE Pritchitt has twice been awarded the Queens's Award for Exports - in 1991 and 1999.
More than one-half of its sales are to Britain and one-third to European and worldwide markets.
Michael Hanley, chief executive, Lakeland Dairies, said: "Diversification into the retail sector underpins our business strategy, enabling us to better utilise and balance the milk supplies to our existing operations at Newtownards, where the focus has traditionally been on supplying companies in the food service sector with power products, UHT mini pots and extended-life cream, ice creams and other UHT products."