Helen Downes, CEO, Shannon Chamber pictured in Takumi at the Mid-West Lean Network workshop with (from left): Robert Hernan, senior lead advisor, Enterprise Ireland; Martin Egan, managing director, Bijur Delimon International; Shane McMahon, chief technical officer and Donal Galligan, CEO, Takumi; and Tim Crowe, CEO, WrxFlo.

Judging by the high attendance at Shannon Chamber’s first live Mid-West Lean Network workshop in over two years, members were delighted to mingle with their peers and take on new knowledge in an interpersonal environment as opposed to attending via Zoom which has been the case since early 2020.

The workshop, which was held in global engineering solutions provider Takumi’s facility in Raheen Business Park in Limerick, was sponsored by LBS Partners and attended by over sixty executives from companies throughout the region.

Digital Lean was the topic of the day with Donal Galligan, CEO, Takumi, outlining the company’s digital transformation journey and showing the increased efficiencies and productivity the company has gained from using data effectively.

Tim Crowe, CEO, WrxFlo and Martin Egan, managing director of Bijur Delimon International also outlined how Bijur implemented lean and digital solutions to transform their business using WrxFlo’s software platform. They discussed how modern the business has become, and how Bijur required the implementation of a system that provided better data technology and enabled ease of interpretation of the data for all employees.

Takumi’s chief technical officer Shane McMahon spoke about the benefits the company has derived from using data effectively.

“There is so much data behind every product we make, and we need and expect it instantly to enable us to make the right decisions, whilst being agile and responsive.

Takumi CEO Donal Galligan explained the company’s data journey, from introducing an ERP system in 2012 to today when everyone in the company is “hooked on data”.

“Access to data must be fast, be visible on a mobile system and be easy to interact with,” he said.

His advice to companies new to lean or data management: “Plan your digital innovation journey. Seek support from agencies such as Enterprise Ireland. Consider using their Lean Start, Lean Plus or Lean Transform programmes and check out the Agile Innovation Fund.”

Martin Egan, managing director of Bijur Delimon International, a global leader in the design and manufacture of various fluid dispensing products and systems, said that data driven decision making has not only enabled the company to observe low-performing productivity and out-performing productivity in real time, but it has enabled a fifty-year-old company to find a new lease of life and given management and staff a new optimism for the future.

“Our Ennis site has been recognised as a lean/digital centre of excellence and our mission now is to mentor other company sites to also become centres of excellence, attained through real-time data capture.”

Shannon Chamber CEO Helen Downes was delighted with the high numbers that attended the event.

“We have a very active and participative lean network and the event held in Takumi showed the real benefits accruing to meeting in person, visiting a company’s facility to see in reality how they are using lean to foster a culture of continuous improvement. I would like to thank Takumi for hosting the event and for enabling us to see first-hand, the transformation that has taken place in the company since we last held and event there – a bigger site and an increase in employee numbers. Takumi is an excellent example of an agile company with big plans and a determination to deliver.”

The next event in the Mid-West Lean Network’s calendar in the annual conference, which will take place on Wednesday, 9 November in the Analog Devices Building at the University of Limerick.

“We look forward to another successful event in this unique setting, which has proved very popular for the sharing of knowledge and networking. Future proofing a business through lean is the theme of this year’s conference and we have an impressive line-up of speakers,” added Ms Downes.

Full details can be accessed at www.shannonchamber.ie/events/mid-west-lean-network-conference-future-proofing-a-business-through-lean/. Early booking is advisable