.John Harty of Dairymaster presented with the award by Minister Simon Harris TD. Also included is NAO Director, Dr Mary Liz Trant.
CAUSEWAY-BASED Dairymaster scooped the ‘Diversity in the Workplace’ title at Generation Apprenticeship Employer of the Year Awards.
Dairymaster won the prestigious award at the 2022 Generation Apprenticeship Employer of the Year Awards which was presented by Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science at a ceremony on Thursday, December 8th.
The award was presented to Dairymaster who have been recognised as a good example of a company that works to progress diversity in the workplace for apprentices.
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Commenting on the award, John Harty, CEO at Dairymaster says: “We are thrilled to have been nominated for this award, we have placed huge emphasis on apprenticeships for the last number of years and to get recognised for this is brilliant. Thanks to the team here in Dairymaster”.
The Generation Apprenticeship Employer of the Year awards showcase and celebrate the dedicated employers who employ apprentices across Ireland, and use apprenticeship as an important source of talent and skills.
Dairymaster is a manufacturer of high-tech dairy equipment, employing almost 400 people across its 11-acre manufacturing facility in Kerry.
It is recognised as a leader of dairy equipment manufacturing, with its headquarters in Ireland, the UK and USA serving customers in over 40 countries worldwide.
.From left Dr. John Daly, Research and Innovation Manager, Dairymaster, Dr. Joseph Walsh, Lero researcher and Head of the School of STEM at IT Tralee and Prof Edmond Harty, CEO, Dairymaster. Photo: Domnick Walsh
FARMERS could soon be able to avail of Artificial Intelligence to assist in managing their farm as a result of a new €2m Research & Development partnership announced today by Kerry dairy equipment manufacturer Dairymaster, IT Tralee and Lero, the Irish Software SFI Research Centre. The programme is backed by Science Foundation Ireland.
A team of researchers will be hired, including PhD students and post-doctoral scientists and engineers, to work with Lero and Dairymaster R&D teams.
The researchers will have a range of skills from embedded electronics and sensor technology to software development and data analytics. The project will offer researchers a unique opportunity to conduct cutting edge research while being embedded as part of an award winning R&D team.
“Dairymaster is committed to providing the best possible technologies to our customers and this is the key reason why we are investing in this area,” commented Professor Edmond Harty, CEO of Dairymaster.
As part of the R&D programme, Lero and Dairymaster will look to develop autonomous systems to ease the workload on the dairy farm.
“The availability of skilled labour has been identified as one of the key challenges to the dairy industry,” commented Dr Joseph Walsh, Head of the School of STEM and Lero researcher at IT Tralee. “Automating labour intensive processes will not only be hugely beneficial to the farmer but will also enhance animal health and milk quality by ensuring tasks are completed to consistently high levels.”
The R&D programme also includes the development of Internet of Things technology to boost milk quality and animal health. This will involve the application of advanced data analytics to boost dairy farm productivity combining existing Dairymaster equipment such as MooMonitor+ health and fertility monitoring system with data from new sensors and monitoring technology. This will utilise data analytics and machine learning to automatically generate predictors and classifiers for dairy cow health and productivity.
The goal will be to help automate the management of the farm itself, providing the farmer with not just a set of metrics, but with tangible advice and recommendations on the key decisions needed to boost productivity.
“We see this whole area of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems as being key to the future of dairy farm profitability and sustainability and we are delighted to be involved in the largest indigenous project in Lero,” explained Dr John Daly, Research and Innovation Manager, Dairymaster.
Dairymaster, which employs 350 people, operates from its headquarters in Causeway, Co Kerry as well as having operations in the UK and USA. Founded in 1968, it exports to 40 countries in five continents. Dairymaster has been identified as one of the key players in Ireland’s IoT ecosystem and has won numerous innovation awards for the new developments it has introduced to the dairy industry. Dairymaster has a strong history of collaborative research with partners such as Teagasc, UCD, IT Tralee and now Lero and the University of Limerick.
Dr. Oliver Murphy, President of the IT Tralee at the official launch of the project said, “The IT Tralee and Dairymaster have an established educational and research partnership spanning a number of years. Today’s launch marks the extension of this partnership and we look forward to the impact this R&D project will have both nationally and internationally.”
.Dr Edmond Harty with the Parsons Medal. Photo Chris Bellew / Fennell Photography
THE Irish Academy of Engineering has awarded its highest honour, the Parsons Medal, to leading Kerry engineer and businessman Dr Edmond Harty.
The Academy awards the Parsons Medal for Engineering Sciences to engineers or engineering scientists of exceptional ability in research or engineering technology. Dr Edmond Harty is CEO and Technical Director of Kerry company Dairymaster.
Dr Edmond Harty commented; “I am honoured to be the recipient of the Irish Academy of Engineering’s Parsons Medal for 2017. The Academy is a body of national importance, providing a valuable, expert unbiased advice on the development of policies and programmes to government, state agencies and other important stakeholders. To receive this level of recognition from my peers of my academic and business achievements is both humbling and inspiring.”
Dr Harty has a strong background in engineering and holds a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D from UCD. He is also currently full Adjunct Professor in the School of Biosystems and Food Engineering at UCD College of Engineering and Architecture.
He is also an award-winning businessman. Dairymaster is one of the world’s leading dairy and agri-tech companies and exports to over 40 countries and has direct operations in Ireland, UK and USA. Dr Harty has filed over 96 innovative patents relating to his business which have led to highly innovative products and services for his business.
Dr Harty is the recipient of many other awards for his innovative approach to business, including the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2012 and the Agribusiness Leader of the Year 2015.
Eoin O’Driscoll, former President, the Irish Academy of Engineering commented, “Dr Edmond Harty is an outstanding choice for this year’s Parsons Medal. The award recognises engineers of exceptional ability in research or engineering technology. Not only is Edmond an accomplished engineer with an outstanding research background, he is also an award-winning businessman who has grown a global enterprise.”
The Parsons Medal commemorates the work of Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, the inventor of the steam turbine. Sir Charles was an Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine.
His father built the great telescope at Birr Castle and his mother was a famous photographer. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, and had a great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields.
DAIRYMASTER has been shortlisted for the ‘Tech Innovation Award’ category, sponsored by NSAI, of the National Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards 2015.
The Causeway company’s revolutionary Dairymaster Swiftflo Goat Rotary system allows one person to milk 1,300 goats per hour, meaning farmers can hugely increase both output and productivity.
The Kerry County Council ‘Destination Dingle Peninsula Tourism’ App has also been shortlisted for the ‘Local Authority Engineering Initiative Award’
“The quality of Kerry entries shortlisted this year shows the engineering ingenuity and creativity that is a feature of the region,” said Caroline Spillane, Engineers Ireland Director General.
“Overall we are seeing the high calibre of entries reflecting the evolving nature of contemporary engineering, with projects this year from a variety of engineering disciplines from the traditional areas of civil, roads and transport to technology, energy and environmental” she said.
Winners of the various categories of the Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards 2015 will be announced at the award ceremony on November 6 in the InterContinental Hotel in Dublin.
In what is the sixth year of the Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards, the event has grown from six award categories in 2010 to 13 award categories in 2015, with two new categories this year and a record number of entries.
.Kerry’s Dairymaster had a very good day at the National Ploughing Championships recently where it won two top awards.
A CAUSEWAY based company has recently emerged on top at the National Ploughing Championships, currently taking place in Laois, where it scooped two top awards in the area of technology and innovation.
Elsewhere there were two Kerry winners in the ploughing events.
Dairymaster’s ‘Swiftflo Commander’ took home the prestigious honour of winning the National Ploughing Championships Innovation Award as well as the award for the Best Agri-Software Technology.
The innovation awards, which saw close to 170 entries, had a shared top prize of €65,000 which was shared amongst a dozen companies.
With Dairymaster ‘Swiftflo Commander’ being named the winner, the company/award earned a massive chunk of this total share, with a €15,000 take home prize.
The device is one that highlights information about each cow in the parlor including milk yield, milking time and the somatic cell count data for each cow.
They weren’t the only Kerry winners on the day, with Aeneas Horan from Castleisland winning top prize in the Vintage 2Furrow Trailer Class in the Ploughing Competition, while Tommy McCarthy from Abbeydorney won first in the Intermediate Reversible Class.
RECOVERY Haven Cancer Support House Kerry has won the top prize at the Rural Innovation Awards.
The awards, sponsored by Dairymaster, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Teagasc and the Farmers Journal, took place in the Ballygarry House Hotel last night.
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There were three categories – Farm Innovation, Rural Business Innovation and Community Focused Innovation with Recovery Haven nominated and winning in the latter category, before going on to win the Overall award.
The overall award winner received a prize fund of €15,000 which includes a cash fund of €5,000, advertising space in the Irish Farmers Journal of €5,000 and training and business support of €5,000.
Eileen Comerford entered the facility in the competition and had to go through two interviews with judges who eventually decided the centre was a worthy winner.
A short movie was also made the Recovery Haven as part of the nomination (see below).
RECOVERY Haven Cancer Support House Kerry has reached the national finals of the Rural Innovation Awards.
Eileen Comerford entered the competition on behalf of Recovery Haven, where there was an interview with Marie Kelly, Teagasc; Dr Finbarr Daly, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and Peter Young, Irish Farmers Journal and Lisa Herlihy, Marketing Manager Dairymaster.
A film crew visited Recovery Haven last week to film a short piece about the innovation in the business.
The next round of interviews will take place Dairymaster Global Headquarters on Tuesday, May 26, the day of the awards ceremony, which takes place in the Ballygarry House Hotel that evening.
There were three categories – Farm Innovation, Rural Business Innovation and Community Focused Innovation with Recovery Haven nominated in the latter category.
Eileen Comerford is very proud of all the volunteerism and innovation at Recovery Haven that made this happen and are now in a position of possibly boosting the organisation with an injection of €15,000.
The overall award winner will receive a prize fund of €15,000 which includes a cash fund of €5,000, advertising space in the Irish Farmers Journal of €5,000 and training and business support of €5,000.
Category winners will receive a prize fund of €3,000 which includes a cash fund of €1,000, advertising space in the Irish Farmers Journal of €1,000 and training and business support of €1,000.
Category finalists will receive a prize fund of €1,500 which includes a cash fund of €500, advertising space in the Irish Farmers Journal of €500 and training and business support of €500.
TWO journalists who were touring Kerry, were not impressed with three government ministers who stood them up for meetings earlier in the week.
Ari Shapiro and Rich Preston, are journalists from NPR, which is a world-renowned American public radio network. The journalists were in Ireland touring from north to south.
While in Kerry, they stopped off at Dairymaster headquarters in Causeway and took in some of the sights of our county.
Though they were not overly impressed with our politicians, there was redemption for the nation in the shape of our beautiful Kerry coastline which the two travelling reporters were in awe of.
Below are the reporters tweets criticising government ministers and also their photos of their time in Kerry…
I’ve interviewed prime/first ministers, ministers, mayors & councilors from Europe to the US to Africa. Worst experiences to date: Ireland
At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: Cathal Heaslip, Cathy Shine and Kevin O’Connor.
THE ITT North Campus, hosted their Careers Fair for graduate students on Tuesday.
The fair brought a number of national and international businesses and universities there to scout some of the top talent in the college.
“There’s definitely a big upturn in terms of jobs available, which is very positive, so we’re delighted with the turnout and with the numbers of students and graduates here today that expressed an interest in securing local jobs,” said Louise Nagle, ITT Careers Officer.
The main sector represented was IT, with major companies, JRI America, Fexco and Dairymaster in attendance to speak with graduates.
“Nursing agencies have also turned out in force. One of the agencies explained that there is nearly 400 nursing jobs available in Ireland as of today,” said Louise.
“There’s a wide variety companies here giving students the opportunity to work abroad for a limited period of time. There’s also a number of universities here that are looking at teacher training in the UK,” she said.
“The day is aimed at graduates, but also other students who are encouraged to come along and have a look to see can they identify something they maybe interested in doing when they eventually graduate,” said Louise.
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At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: Sarah McFeely, Robert Browne, Helena Brosnan and Fiona Dineen. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ on in the ITT North Campus were, from left: Nicky Coates, David O’Connor and Noreen Ward. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left Jane Fitzpatrick, Mia Donovan, Maura Buckley, Katriona Neville and Amanda Coughlan. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: Jack Hanchion, Anne O’Leary and Ivana Dinov. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: David Fleming, Padraig Hearty, Dara O’Carroll: Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: Alice Stephenson, Brian O’Regan and Aisling Coffey. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.At the ‘ITT Careers Fair’ in the ITT North Campus were, from left: David Scully, Nazrul Islam and Ed Puotkalis. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
DAIRYMASTER has been shortlisted for the ‘Tech Innovation Award’ category, sponsored by NSAI, of the National Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards 2015.
