STIMULATING AND SUPPORTING NEW BUSINESS IN IRELAND

Support for Cross Border Engineering Companies

By James Donlon, November 6, 2005

Engineering Information and Networking Event
Engineering companies from North and South came together on 3rd November 2005 at the Great Northern Hotel, Bundoran to meet one another and to listen to the story of the Ernst & Young 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year nominee, John Concannon and his company JFC Manufacturing. He encouraged companies in the North West to invest in Research and Development, he outlined the main points to consider when exporting and generally gave encouragement to the companies who attended that there was a future in manufacturing with the right type of strategic planning.
The event was organised by WESTBIC in conjunction with NORIBIC, the Engineering Associations in the North West and with support from FAS. It was run under the Clusternet programme supported by Peace 2 administered by Co-operation Ireland. The event was attended by engineering companies from Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Derry and Tyrone. This is one of a number of cross-border events planned for the engineering sector over the next number of months.
Eunan Cunningham WESTBIC commented “this event is a chance for engineering companies from both sides of the border to identify new opportunities for their businesses, through meeting other engineering companies and by learning from the experiences of John Concannon and JFC Manufacturing”.
The attendees also listened to Liam Birkett who outlined interesting insights and expertise on how to turn business ideas into reality.
Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of both speakers and there was a high level of interest in how JFC built and opened a manufacturing plant in Poland where language and culture barriers existed as well as very different market trends.
Participant companies included: Eutec Engineering, Inishowen Engineering, Precision Parts and products, CH Rollers, ISD Ltd., Euroscroll, Killala Precision, Masol Ireland, Predator Equipment, North East Institute, Gildernew Engineering, INMO Tech, Powerworks, Prior Tool and Die, Caterfreeze Products, JML Recycling, Mitchell Mouldings, Gormley Engineering Works, Grease Trap Services and WESTBIC.
For further information on the Cross Border Engineering Cluster, contact Eunan Cunningham, WESTBIC at 074 9738333 or ecunningham@westbic.ie