Hip and Knee Company Wins Engineering Award

DePuy Ireland, the Cork manufacturing company that produces hip and knee orthopaedic products for the worldwide market place, has been named as the overall Engineers Ireland ‘Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Company of the Year 2009.

The awards were presented in Dublin today by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, Dr. Paul Duffy.  DePuy Ireland received the award for embracing CPD activities as an integral part of its strategy to establish a product and process Innovation ‘Centre of Excellence’ at its Ringaskiddy plant in Cork.

Commenting on their win, John Power said: “DePuy Ireland may be part of a franchise that employs more than 5,000 people worldwide but this award recognises a model case-study of how CPD has been used to move an Irish operation right up the value chain. This forward-thinking investment in an innovation ‘Centre of Excellence’ by DePuy Ireland, and the associated professional development of engineering staff, benefits both company and participant employees.  The fact that there was such a high standard of entry this year is extremely encouraging and indicates the numerous ways in which leading Irish firms are leveraging CPD to cope with limited resources.”

Gary Clerkin, Director for R&D and Advance Manufacturing Technologies of DePuy Ireland, said: “DePuy established a product and process development centre in Cork in 2007.  As an organisation we embraced CPD activities as an important element of our strategy and it is an essential foundation in the success of DePuy Ireland.  Previously, education and training led to new technology but now with the rate of change in technology accelerating, timely development of education is critical.  Engineers Ireland CPD assists DePuy in keeping pace with that rate of change.”

DePuy’s new innovation ‘Centre of Excellence’ has allowed the company to establish Cork as the preferred hub for product and process development and has laid the foundation for more dedicated R&D activity on the site.  A five-year strategic CPD plan incorporated a talent development ladder, advanced bioengineering knowledge management and low-cost, self-grown initiatives around creativity and continuous improvement. As a result, the Worldwide Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Director role has been moved from the U.S. to Ireland.  There have also been five new product extension lines delivered out of Cork and significant overall organisational cost savings.

The awards, now in their 6th year, are aimed at recognising companies or bodies that, through adopting CPD activities and investing in their engineers and technicians, have enjoyed improved performance.  Other 2009 winners included Malachy Walsh and Partners in the small-sized company category; Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Manufacturing Limited in the medium-sized category; Pfizer Biotechnology Ireland in the large-sized company category and Dublin City Council in the public sector category.

The scheme is co-funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment under the National Training Fund and plays an important role in the Government’s objective to build a Smart Economy.  The 320 organisations involved in the Engineers Ireland CPD Accredited Employer scheme employ in excess of 30,000 engineers and technicians.