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Robert Hernan, chairperson, Lean Business Ireland (LBI), on left, pictured at the Enterprise Excellence conference held in TUS Limerick with (from left): Jennifer Stratton, chairperson, Mid-West Lean Network; Helen Downes, CEO, Shannon Chamber; and keynote speakers, Andrew Steele and Adam Davies, Airbus.

Lean Business Ireland (LBI) hosted its annual Enterprise Excellence Conference 2025 at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Moylish Campus in Limerick last week, (Wednesday, 21 May). The conference, which was organised in conjunction with Shannon Chamber’s Mid-West Lean Business Network, brought together over 500 professionals from industry, academia, and the public sector to explore the future of enterprise excellence.

The conference, the ninth annual conference organised by LBI, featured a dynamic programme of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.  These were run via four parallel tracks, held morning and afternoon, with 34 contributing speakers in total participating.

Notable speakers included Andrew Steele and Adam Davies from Airbus Aircraft, who shared insights on developing people, leadership, and culture within their organisation. Taking attendees on a journey through Airbus’ manufacturing processes, they cited people engagement as the main challenge in developing a lean culture within an organisation but said that, once a culture of growth is established, lean will add value and eliminate waste.

“The mindset of senior leadership can impact the lean journey,” they stated.

Attendees commented on the many valuable insights provided by the speakers, particularly the spread of themes addressed on the day – people, leadership and culture, lean and digitalisation, methods and systems, and the case study projects.

Companies presenting at the conference included: Atlantic Aviation Group, Element Six, Calibre Scientific, Aer Lingus, B. Braun Ireland, Chemifloc Ltd, Northern Trust Corporation, Penn Engineering, Irish Rail, Ei Electronics, Zimmer Biomet, Britvic, Shannon Engine Support, Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon (LTTS), Gift Innovations, Hooke Bio, LBS Partners, Blenders, Virgin Media Ireland, IDA Ireland, Advanced Technical Concepts (ATC) Group, Aerogen Ireland, WowWee, Seating Matters, ESB, Takumi Precision Engineering, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, Cook Medical, Eli Lilly Company, Carbery Group, NNIT, and Dexcom.

Pre-conference events on 20 May offered attendees benchmarking tours at Advanced Technical Concepts and Takumi Precision Engineering Limited, as well as an AI Masterclass at the University of Limerick.

The conference also included an exhibition hall where companies offering dynamic solutions for lean implementation interacted with attendees

The conference underscored Ireland’s commitment to positioning itself as a global leader in enterprise excellence, fostering collaboration across sectors to drive innovation and continuous improvement.

LBI chairperson Robert Hernan, senior lean advisor with Enterprise Ireland said: “LBI was delighted to collaborate with the Mid-West Lean Network in hosting the ninth annual Enterprise Excellence conference in TUS Limerick. What a fabulous event showcasing excellence in the Mid-West and throughout the island of Ireland. Lean is a critical driver in helping get the best from your people and business, to help your business be more productive, competitive and create more jobs in our communities. As was evident in Limerick, when we support each other, as a team, as a Lean community, we can achieve great things. Congratulations to the Mid-West Lean network and Shannon Chamber for hosting a tremendous two days of the Enterprise Excellence Conference and supporting Lean in the Mid-West for many years.

Shannon Chamber CEO Helen Downes was overwhelmed with the level of attendance at the conference, which she said was an endorsement of the valuable benefits companies are deriving from undertaking lean.

“While we have attended Lean Business Ireland conferences in the past, we were proud, this year, to partner with Lean Business Ireland in delivering the 2025 conference. It was an easy decision to be involved as LBI’s mission aligns so closely with ours: to foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and competitiveness across Irish industry.

“We’ve witnessed the benefits of collaboration through our Mid-West Lean Network which began as a regional initiative in 2016 but has grown into a vibrant, cross-sector community of over 120 companies, all committed to driving improvement and innovation.

“Through site visits, workshops, conferences, benchmarking, and peer-to-peer learning, facilitated by the network, companies are embedding lean thinking deep into their operations. The benefits have been significant: greater efficiency, enhanced employee engagement, stronger customer focus, and improved resilience,” Ms Downes added.

LBI is the national community of learning and practice in Lean, continuous improvement, and organisational, operational and enterprise excellence.

LBI, founded 10 years ago in 2015, is voluntary and comprises all the key stakeholders in Lean: Business (all sectors and sizes), Government agencies, Academia and Representative bodies e.g. IBEC, Lean Construction Ireland and ICBE.

LBI’s main activities are the LBI Enterprise Excellence conference, the LBI Awards, the LBI website and the regional Lean networks. Through these, LBI supports networking, engagement, thought leadership, practice leadership and knowledge sharing.

Robert Hernan, chairperson, Lean Business Ireland (LBI) pictured at the Enterprise Excellence conference held in TUS Limerick with (from left): Jennifer Stratton, chairperson, Mid-West Lean Network and Helen Downes, CEO, Shannon Chamber.