Scottish wind firm passes milestone

The Scottish renewable energy giant SSE says its rapid expansion of onshore wind farms has resulted in its surpassing the 1-gigawatt installed capacity mark.

"With construction work continuing at sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we expect that our operating onshore wind farm capacity will continue to grow significantly in the coming months," SSE Chief Executive Ian Marchant said.

European Supply Chain Awards shortlist announced

The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards were launched in 1997 as an initiative to recognise and reward organisations in Europe that demonstrate excellence in their supply chain operations

The shortlist can be viewed here:

http://www.supplychainexcellenceawards.com/shortlist.aspx

The winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in London on November 1st.

Wind-generated electricity can make a major contribution to Ireland’s recovery

The achievement of environmental goals has long been redundant as the sole reason for green investment. However, as an export industry, wind-generated electricity has the potential to be one of the most valuable assets Ireland possesses in its drive towards recovery.

To give an indication of the conceivable value to the Irish economy, by simply meeting our 2020 targets laid out in the EU's National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP), a study by Deloitte found that €9bn of capital investment is required with the estimated creation 10,000 jobs.

There are severe penalties for not reaching our commitments and such fines are designed to outweigh the spending required to reach these goals.

Ireland is committed to ensuring that, by 2020, 16% of all energy consumed in the state comes from renewables. Within that pledge, the Government has set a target of 40% of electricity generation to come from renewable sources.

The most recent figures from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) show that in 2010 the renewable contribution to electricity was 14.6% – wind alone accounted for 11.3% of the total figure.

Last year saw a decline in the installation of new wind generation capacity, down to 115 megawatts (MW) in 2010 from a record high of 279.2 MW in 2009. Each tranche of proposed connections to come on board is known within the industry a 'gate' and the next round is expected to be the largest so far. It is perhaps needed however, as the SEAI estimates that to reach our stated targets, the 2009 installation figures need to be beaten every year until 2020.

Compass reduces miles traveled with consolidated deliveries

Compass, a leading foodservice and support services provider, has removed 1.4 million miles from its distribution operation and saved 2,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, by implementing a consolidated delivery network in Ireland.

To engineer this step-change in its supply chain operations, Compass established Project Emerald, which has helped remove complexity from the supply chain, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs.

McDonald’s Europe is the single largest purchaser of Irish beef

McDonald’s Europe is the single largest purchaser of Irish beef and one in every five hamburgers sold in McDonald’s across Europe every year is of Irish origin.

 

Around €110m worth of Irish beef was exported into the McDonald’s international supply chain in 2010, representing a €30m increase since 2007.

McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland, which employs nearly 4,000 people in Ireland, today announced that grew its exports of Irish beef to €110m in 2010, up from €80m in 2007.

The company said it will commence use of the Bord Bia Certified Member mark on its new Ciabatta Deluxe product in recognition of the fact that McDonald’s Ireland sources all of its beef from Bord Bia certified Irish farms.

The product will go on sale in McDonald’s restaurants across the country from March 23rd 2011 until the beginning of May.

Irish Group Creates Clinical Lab Automated Stockroom System

Three nonprofit organizations in Ireland have joined efforts to develop a model for endovascular-device tracking that would include RFID technology and bar codes from the point of manufacture to the operating room. With that goal in mind, Georgia Tech Ireland (GTI), standards organization GS1 Ireland and the Western Vascular Institute (a clinical vascular research foundation) have completed a pilot at Galway Clinic, finding that UHF RFID tags on high-value implantable endovascular products, such as catheters and stents, can be successfully used in a high-volume clinical setting to improve patient safety and lower costs by reducing the risk of errors, out-of-stocks and product expiration.

The team intends the project, known as the Clinical Laboratory Automated Stockroom System (CLASS) Project, to provide a model solution, based on global standards, for more effectively managing inventory throughout the entire medical-device supply chain, from manufacture through to point of use.

Musgrave saves over EUR1.3m from supply chain

Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, the operator of the SuperValue and Centra brands, has saved over €1.3m (£1.1m) from its supply chain through a combination of reducing road miles travelled and improving fuel efficiency in its transport operation.

Musgrave has an extensive supply chain operation in Ireland, delivering 80 million cases to 660 retailer stores across the country. The 5,900 deliveries undertaken each week meant the retailer's fleet travelled 12.98 million miles and used 7.1 million litres of diesel in 2009.

To improve supply chain efficiency and reduce costs, Musgrave's goal for 2010 was to reduce the number of miles travelled throughout the year by one million and improve fuel efficiency in the remaining miles travelled.