With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, smart factories and innovative supply chain integration is transforming the manufacturing sector
Manufacturing accounts for over 30% of GDP, 122 billion euro in exports, and employs 250,000 people across 4,000 businesses in Ireland.
“Manufacturing is not the first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of Ireland. It is not until people travel throughout the island that they realize how much manufacturing actually takes place,” stated Martin McVicar, Founder and CEO, Combilift.
Ireland cannot compete in size with global industrial powerhouses like China, but has carved out a niche for itself within the global marketplace by investing heavily in advanced manufacturing and developing innovative products. From agri-food to electronics and pharmaceuticals to industrial equipment, the nation is teeming with innovative manufacturing and Irish products pushing efficiency.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is blurring the lines of what traditional manufacturing entails. Irish entities began specializing in niche segments such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), and in advanced collaborative robotics, allowing machines to adapt to complex interactions.
A core element of this has been the partnerships created between world class Irish academic institutions and private companies to foster research and innovation. Many companies are capitalizing on the flexible Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) tax credit of 25%. Ireland is filled with innovation and multinationals are capitalizing on the island’s innate ability to adapt to a changing world by building their manufacturing hubs on the island.
Intel has invested 15 billion euro and built in Leixlip one of the most technologically advanced manufacturing locations in Europe, producing next generation chips for the state of the art electronics of the future.
Pfizer, one of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland back in 1969, has since invested 7 billion euro in Ireland in its largest investment outside the US. Their large manufacturing and R&D facility inside SDCC’s Grange Castle Business Park is one of the largest integrated biotechnology plants in the world. Pfizer’s Irish facilities house state of the art equipment, and in collaboration with leading academic researchers from universities around the country, continuously work on early stage research.
The Irish countryside is dotted with innovative manufacturing sites, and nearly 80% of these operations are outside of Dublin. One of the many indigenous success stories is Combilift.
Combilift, an Irish forklift manufacturer, is revolutionizing how global warehouses and logistics operations handle long materials. One of their most innovative products, the Aisle Master, is a multidirectional articulated forklift that can operate in narrow 72 inch aisles while carrying materials of considerable length, like steel or lumber. This innovative Irish product allows operations to reduce overall costs by offering handling solutions that shrink warehouse space and improve safety.
McVicar underlines, “A core competitive advantage of Combilift forklifts is the space saving within warehouses, but the top differentiator is the added safety the product line offers when handling long products. Conventional forklifts create dangerous environments when maneuvered in a warehouse and our forklifts can handle these long products efficiently by moving them laterally, creating a safer environment.”
Combilift’s modern vehicle production plant is the single largest manufacturing facility under one roof in Ireland, and mass produces customized products catering to a variety of economic sectors. McVicar pointed out the company’s success lies in its innovative nature and highlights that in addition to collaborating with local colleges, Combilift, “Has invested heavily on highly innovative products, and year-after-year reinvests 7% of its revenue into R&D.” This can be seen within Combilift’s continuous desire to customize its product lines to support other industries or applications. This has allowed the company to thrive within an already mature market.”