Mark Fielding, ISME

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Presentation to Mark Fielding on his retirement as CEO of ISME with Charlie Coughlan, and John Devitt of the PTMA

Presentation to Mark Fielding on his retirement as CEO of ISME with Charlie Coughlan, and John Devitt of the PTMA

Most readers will know Mark Fielding, the chief executive of ISME and be familiar with his relentless fight for small Irish businesses. After 15 years with ISME he is “hanging up his boots”.  In September 2016 he completed another successful tour of the country with the ISME Briefing Sessions Autumn 2016. As one of the many speakers who has done the tour with Mark over the year knows, it is a gruelling few weeks.

On Saturday 3rd of September Mark spoke to PTMA (Precision Turned Parts Manufacturing Association) at their quarterly meeting on minimising the anticipated impact of Brexit. John Devitt (PTMA Treasurer) made a presentation to Mark on day to mark his retirement.

As a proud member company of ISME, I would personally like to thank him for his dedication to the SMEs and the Irish business in general. We wish him every success in the future.

We also wish Neil McDonnell (General Manager of the Freight Transport Association) every success as the new CEO of ISME.

Funding Available To Increase Your Competitiveness

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Chances are, you’ve already been thinking about the possible impact of Brexit on your business. For many of us with close links to the United Kingdom, there are potentially significant and real worries about how all of this will unfold.

Well, we’re delighted to bring you some good news from Enterprise Ireland that could certainly help you prepare and thrive within the possible challenges ahead. Enterprise Ireland have announced that they will extend the availability of grant supports for clients accessing the Lean Business Offer.

So if you’re serious about increasing performance and competitiveness by adopting Lean Business Principles then this means that you can still avail of funding to get on track.

In today’s more challenging funding environments this is exciting news as it means that you can get support for 3 Lean Starts, 3 Lean Plus and 2 Lean Transform projects.

Each level of support is characterised by increasing levels of capability in implementing Lean business principles. All resulting in embedding best practice approaches to drive overall company awareness, adoption and integration of proven Lean Tools and Techniques that will directly benefit your company.

Since 2010, Almir Business has partnered with businesses on their Lean projects and has achieved savings that surpass the +50% funding that is available to companies.

This funding opportunity is also available is to IDA companies and the MicroLean program is available to LEO (Local Enterprise Office) clients.

Contact us at 061 514598 if you would also like Almir Business to partner and assist you with this exciting opportunity.

Smart Electronics successful transition for ISO9001 & 14001

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Smart Electronics Ltd, which specialises in the manufacturing of bespoke electronic equipment has achieved transition and recertification in ISO9001 (2015) and ISO14001 (2015).

Smart Electronics is an established contract electronics manufacturer (CEM) providing turnkey solutions for customers requiring rapid prototyping right through to volume production. The Shannon based company specialises in manufacturing high quality printed circuit board assemblies and box build products from small prototype batches right through to high volume production for a diverse client base such as medical, automotive, environmental, power, security and telecoms both domestically and internationally. Their business model allows them to be extremely flexible and competitive whilst retaining the highest levels of quality and service.

Smart Electronics is also certified to ISO13485, the international Medical Device standard. Smart Electronics partner with Almir Business to support and guide them as regards all three management systems. Jim Ryan, Director with responsibility for Quality, said: “Smart Electronics first engaged with Almir Business in 2007 to assist in setting up our quality and environmental management systems and in achieving certification to ISO9001 and ISO14001. Since then we have worked with Almir Business on a continuous basis and engaged in other projects such as the Enterprise Ireland Lean Start and Lean Plus programs. We find Almir Business very knowledgeable, reliable and easy to work with.”

Shane Adams, Managing Director of Smart Electronics, which is based in County Clare, Ireland, said: “Obtaining these two certifications to the 2015 standards validates our efforts to ensure high quality at all levels of our business and  shows our commitment to a greener environment..

“We are committed to providing the highest standards and ISI9001, ISO14001 together with the medical certification ISO13485 demonstrates this.

“These combined certifications are confirmation of our commitment to improve company performance and provide our customers with the confidence that they are dealing with a progressive organisation”.

For more information about Smart Electronics visit www.smartelectronics.ie

Consort gains ISO9001 (2015) certification

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Consort Case Company successfully achieved ISO9001 certification in May. The ISO9001 certificate is issued under the latest version 9001:2015, which only came into effect in September 2015. Consort has a mission to meet and exceed its customer expectations and to this aim has developed a management system focused on the consistent alignment of all processes with customer needs and continual improvement. Consort partnered with Almir Business, a leading management system company to guide them through the implementation process.

Consort Case Company has been manufacturing customised cases since 1973 and is one of Ireland’s and the UK’s leading manufacturers of customised cases and vacuum formed products. It operates a complete manufacturing process (including research and development, sales, marketing, production and assembly) from 15,000 sq ft, 3 acre premises in Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. Consort provide product to customers from a variety of sectors including the medical, electronic, marketing and service industries.

Richard Kimpton, Project Manager & Case Sales stated “At Consort we aim to provide casing and vacuum forming solutions for every requirement and welcome the challenge of testing our abilities on even the most unusual and diverse requests.”

Steven Kimpton, Vacuum Forming Sales Manager, said that “The everyday running of a manufacturing business is challenging and in order to stay ahead in a competitive market, it was vital that we implemented a recognised QMS. New doors have opened up for us and along with the recent successful few years we are looking to grow the business into the future and continuous improvement within our business will be key.”

John Kimpton, MD, stated that  “Working with Almir to achieve  ISO certification has helped us, as a small enterprise, to make our business far more lean and also highlight many cost saving areas within our manufacturing facility.”

For more information about Smart Electronics visit www.consortcases.ie

Lenane Precision achieves AS9100

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Lenane Precision AS9100RegUKAS 001It has been a busy year for Lenane Precision, having moved into their new premises earlier this year and receiving their AS9100 certification after successful stage one and two audits in May and June. The AS9100 standard provides manufacturing suppliers with a comprehensive quality system for providing safe and reliable products. AS9100 is managed by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) and based upon ISO9001. The successful implementation was support by Almir Business Ltd a specialist management system company.

Lenane Precision Ltd was established in 1994, is a progressive precision engineering company based in Shannon, Ireland. The company supports customers in the Aerospace, Medical Devices and Oil & Gas Industries for whom they supply with a wide range of precision engineered solutions from design & prototyping to special purpose tooling to various sub-contract machining.

Jim Lenane founder and Managing Director of Lenane Precision, stated that “Attaining AS9100 was a major step forward for us, it will enable us to broaden our customer base in the growing aerospace market and give our current and prospective customers the security of knowing that we are operating to the highest international standards, Dick and his team at Almir Business were invaluable during the process, their professionalism and understanding of the exact requirements made our job that much easier and I would like to thank them for their support”

For more information about Smart Electronics visit www.lenaneprecision.com