Midland Steel Visit

The Midland Steel facility in Portlaoise provided the backdrop for the third event in the Skillnet MMC Accelerate series on 20th November. 

The networking and factory tour were followed by presentations from a range of speakers including — on his home turf — Stephen Kelly, Chief Financial Officer at Midland Steel, as well as Liz Thomas, Strategic Programmes Consultant at Skillnet Ireland, Mark Farmer, Founding Director/CEO of Cast, Paul Tierney, CEO of MMC Ireland, Yvonne Foy, Contract Training Officer at Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB), and Alan Hore, Director of CitA and Project Lead of the Skillnet MMC Accelerate Scheme.  

In his opening address, Hore reminded everyone about the vision behind Skillnet MMC Accelerate, and gave a nod to the two events that preceded the Portlaoise gathering in the series – the first at CPAC Modular and the second at Kingspan. He was followed by Kelly, who reviewed some of the current difficulties in the industry, including labour supply, environmental responsibilities, cost efficiency and more. 

Midland Steel’s FasterFix products provide an MMC-style solution on many fronts, he added, but in order for the industry to deploy MMC at scale, upskilling across digital manufacturing, design and engineering will be needed.

As at the previous two events, Thomas spoke about promoting talent development in the sector and the role of the new Skillnet MMC Accelerate platform, after which Farmer addressed attendees about how Ireland needs a fresh approach if it is to tackle “declining workforce resiliency.” 

He cited figures that essentially show a shrinking workforce, despite a rising population, with more people leaving the sector than entering it. This means productivity is a growing imperative, and it could be argued that greater skills/competency can result in greater productivity.

Foy spoke about how LOETB’s goal is to position itself – with the National Construction Training Centre in Mount Lucas – as the leading provider of construction training, specifically in MMC. It's a roadmap to get there includes forming alliances with various partners in the industry, harnessing external expertise were needed, and developing clear skills pathways. Finally, she outlined the objectives for the National MMC Demonstration Park on the Mount Lucas site.