Each week the Sector Spotlight Series will showcase and celebrate the achievements of our Regions, Divisions and Societies.  In this week’s Sector Spotlight, Peter Power, Chairperson of the Thomond region, highlights the region’s achievements over the last 12 months.

The Thomond region is a hub for members based in Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, representing all sectors of the industry, providing local CPD and networking events for engineers.

Our region has had an exceptionally busy year. As Chair, I feel privileged to have been able to work with such a fantastic and supportive Committee. At the beginning of this year, our Committee identified several objectives that we wanted to achieve over the course of the year. Even with the shortened events calendar due to the current global pandemic, I feel that we have surpassed the expectations set in achieving these goals. I am very proud of the tireless work that has been undertaken by our Committee in making this year such a success.

Collaboration

One of the Thomond region committee’s main objectives this year was to increase our collaboration with other regions and sectors and to forge lasting links with these groups. In response to this objective, we delivered our first collaborative event with the An Riocht region, who helped to organise visits to Dairymaster and Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd in early December. More than 40 members attended this event where we were treated to a fantastic presentations and site visits at both organisations. For those who missed out on this event, I would encourage you to view a short video from our tour of Dairymaster and read Barry Lowe’s article in the Engineers Journal.

Pictured: Members of the Thomond and An Riocht region at the Dairymaster site visit

Industry in our Region

Our ever-popular ‘Industry in our Region’ series continued in 2020 with presentations from BD and Croom Precision Medical during a site visit hosted by BD at their new facility in Limerick. Our region was also afforded the opportunity to take part in a site visit to Rusal’s facility in Aughinish, Co. Limerick as part of the series.

As a region we are spoiled to have such a wide variety of engineering excellence on our doorstep. We are very grateful to all the companies who have participated in our ‘Engineering in our Region’ series and look forward to working with many more companies in the future.

Thomond Young Engineers Society

This year also marked the establishment of our Thomond Young Engineers Society (YES). We are very lucky to have a highly enthusiastic YES Committee, who hit the ground running by organising the inaugural Thomond YES Charity Quiz. The night was a great success, with the event selling-out and succeeded in raising over €200 for Novas. In late February the Thomond YES held a ‘Young Innovator in the Region’ event, which provided a platform for four young engineers to showcase their achievements in both industry and academia. A huge congratulations is due to all involved in the Thomond YES Committee on a very successful first year.

Pictured: The Thomond YES Committee at the Inaugural Thomond YES Charity Quiz

AGM

The Thomond region AGM will take place virtually on 13 May through Avaya Spaces. New committee members are always welcome, so if you are interested in joining the committee for 2020-2021, please register to attend today.