2007
N I Maintenance Apprentice of the Year 2007
John Latimer (Ryobi)
The first Northern Ireland Maintenance in Manufacturing Conference and Exhibition took place at the Ramada Hotel Belfast on 25th January.
The event has proven to be a great success with 185 people in attendance
The industrial stands proved very successful and were eagerly visited throughout the day.
David Hatton the CEO of the Engineering Council (NI) opened the conference and stressed the importance of managing Maintenance as a value adding resource. David covered some of the initiatives the ETC has done in the previous two years in improving maintenance.
Victor Jordan from Invest NI, one of the events main sponsors, spoke of the importance of maintenance to all manufacturing and servicing sectors. He stressed the need to fully utilise maintenance and the benefits to be had in doing so.
The stimulating mix of presentations also proved a success. Some topics covered were Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing and how Maintenance was positively contributing through improving efficiencies from Michelin Tyre Ballymena.
Bombardier outlined their commitment to meeting the energy challenge through some excellent energy management which impact positively on their bottom line profits
Tom Scott from Diagnostic solutions highlighted some outstanding Predictive Maintenance techniques and demonstrated how this can be done on a shoestring
Billy Dixon an image consultant covered image and perceptions in an engineering context. His presentation proved very popular with a humorous mix of interaction with his captivated audience.
David Kilpatrick from Sunderland University presented on the impact improved maintenance has on not only individual companies and organisations but a region collectively. He stressed the need for Maintenance strategies and why they should align with the manufacturing strategy for combined success.
The Maintenance Apprentice of the Year award Sponsored by Invista Textiles UK Ltd. proved very popular and an air of anticipation and excitement swelled around the conference before the winner was announced. Bill Brown, one of the two final judges along with Shirley Montgomery from NDAIFHE, spoke of the overall exceptional calibre of all 8 finalists and how pleasing it is to see our industry is in good hands. John Latimer from Ryobi Aluminium Castings (NI) Ltd was the overall winner. John won a Lap-Top computer, weekend end break for two, tool voucher, glass inscribed plaque and a certificate. The seven runners up each won a £50 Marks and Spencer’s gift voucher, glass inscribed plaque and a certificate
The delegate prize draw sponsored by Diagnostic Solutions. A three-day on site consultation and hand held vibration meter was won by Andy McCune from FG Wilson Larne. No doubt Diagnostic Solutions and Andy’s maintenance team will make good use of the three days.
Some Conference testimonials:
“We found the conference and exhibition very beneficial - This was a good opportunity to introduce our company profile and product range to both existing and potential customers. We have a number of enquiries to follow up which were generated on the day.
I would be very interested in proposed dates of similar events in the future”
PCM Engineering Services (Belfast) Ltd.
“I attended the conference and exhibition in the Belfast Ramada last week, excellent job and well done, given it was your 1st I was very impressed with its content structure and layout…
Billy Dixon gave it a very good balance and I was impressed with his presentation…
I was also impressed with Michelin presentation…thanks and again well done on an excellent conference and exhibition, I made plenty of contacts and had some good conversations with Tom Scott from Diagnostic Solutions and Gary Ritchie from the North Down Technology and Innovation centre”
Paul Walsh
Hewlett Packard Irl Ltd
County Kildare
“This was a great opportunity to Network, view maintenance products & services and listen to maintenance speakers all under one roof in one day.
This was an excellent result and a well managed event”
Michael Quinn
Schrader Electronics
Antrim
“I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and the speakers present were excellent”
Roisin Meehan, Evron Foods
“We felt the day was very useful from a networking point of view… made some new contacts, refreshed some old ones and generally used the event to market our service”
Audrey Haggan, Health & Safety Works NI
The Finalists