July 27, 2017
Ornua today became the first recipient of the International Continuous Improvement Excellence Award, as awarded by the Leading Edge Group. The award was presented to Ornua COO, Anthony Proctor, by Joe Aherne, CEO, Leading Edge Group at Kerrygold Park in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. The ceremony was attended by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, TD. Ornua’s operational excellence team were acknowledged for successfully deploying ‘The Ornua Way’, Ornua’s operational excellence programme, across six European processing facilities in 2016 resulting in financial benefits of €2.4m.
The Ornua Way delivers sustainable improvements in an ever dynamic global competitive environment. The portfolio of Ornua Way activities include increasing productivity gains, increasing production yields, optimisation of production planning, reduced production waste and improved material flows. Delivering improvements in these areas can yield dramatic results for a business, reducing costs and increasing margins. In 2017 the programme was rolled-out to a further four sites and Ornua plan to have all operational sites embedded within the programme by 2018 including China, Africa, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Europe.
The award ceremony was hosted at Kerrygold Park, a €38m state-of-the-art butter production and packaging plant, with a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes. The plant enables Ornua to deliver new product formats to its consumers around the world.
Commenting, Anthony Proctor, Ornua COO said:
“We are delighted to receive the International Continuous Improvement Award from Leading Edge Group. Ornua’s operational excellence teams across the globe are using The Ornua Way to deliver sustainable improvements and costs savings in an ever dynamic global competitive environment. Improving operational efficiency is key to achieving our ambition to deliver a sustainable EBITA margin of 3% by 2021 and ensuring strong returns for our members.”
Commenting on the award, Minister Creed said:
“I commend the Ornua operational excellence team for their commitment and dedication to ensuring that all Ornua processing facilities, around the world, operate to the best standard possible. Irish dairy enterprises operate in highly competitive markets. It is crucial that we implement best practice in operations, which reduce costs while promoting sustainability. Ornua has a well-earned reputation for innovation, not just in product development but in terms of both leading the industry and how it does business.”
“What we are celebrating here today is proof that Ornua and Kerrygold are taking the steps necessary to ensure that Irish dairy products remain market leaders in a highly competitive global dairy market.”