Into The West

The West of Ireland is buzzing with international companies, start-ups and micro enterprises that have recognised the area as a great place to do business. With so many multinationals across the IT, medtech and fintech industries dotted around the region, it has become a hub of innovation and an attractive geographical proposition for graduates looking to start or advance their career. Multinationals like to base themselves in bustling areas and develop T alongside other multinationals; they thrive off each other and the West of Ireland has WHAT MAKES THE proved an ideal region for companies to accelerate that growth. It’s also a region

WEST OF IRELAND SUCH A GREAT PLACE FOR

MULTINATIONALS TO DO BUSINESS? DENISE MAGUIRE CAUGHT UP WITH

ONE COMPANY THAT HAS MADE THE WEST ITS HOME.

Adrian Furey, VP, Global Supply Chain & Logistics at Zimmer Biomet in Ireland that has become internationally recognised for its research excellence. Both NUIG and GMIT collaborate closely with industry and boast successful research centres, such as the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. Indeed, both are renowned as expert research-led institutions. Organisations in the region benefit from several research facilities including The National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES), Regenerative Medicine Institute, Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB), Centre for Chromosome Biology (CCB) and Galway Medical Technologies Centre (GMedTech).

Zimmer Biomet, a global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare, is one such company that has benefitted from basing its Irish facility in the West. With two stateof-the-art manufacturing facilities in Shannon and Oranmore, Galway along with a professional education centre, the company attributes its success in Ireland to its talented employees, a focus on quality and investment in leading edge technology. Adrian Furey, VP, Global Supply Chain & Logistics at Zimmer Biomet in Ireland, says the region’s talent pool is a major advantage.

“I’m from the West so I might be a bit biased but we have a huge access to talent here. When Zimmer Biomet was choosing its first location in Ireland, a key consideration was ensuring we selected an area that had the right people with the right capabilities. Ireland in general had a good cluster of medical device companies already in place so we knew we were on the right track. With University of Limerick, GMIT, LIT and NUI Galway, both Shannon and Galway have a tremendous university infrastructure. It’s also easy to get around in terms of commute and we have a lower cost of living. Having the airport close is obviously another big plus.”

Zimmer Biomet is a huge local employer across the two regions. “The medical device factory in Shannon is located in an area where there aren’t many similar facilities so I think in terms of opportunities for graduates in that field, we’re seen as playing a very significant role.” Over 750 people are employed between the two facilities. Over the years, Irish staff have taken up prominent roles in US branches of the company. “At the moment, a guy originally from Waterford is running one of the New Jersey operations. Being able to export our talent like that is great for Team Ireland. I myself held the role of Vice President of the Americas for two years. it was an incredibly positive experience.”

The company has taken the idea of integration into the local community very seriously. “We do a significant amount of community outreach work with local enterprises and we’re also involved in charity

“When Zimmer Biomet was choosing its first location in Ireland, a key consideration was ensuring we selected an area that had the right people with the right capabilities”.

INTO THE WEST

There’s no shortage of things to see and do in the West of Ireland

• Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

Take a tour of this iconic fortress, originally a Viking trading camp, and hear stories of battles and bravery. • Cliffs of Moher Views from the Cliff, rising to a height of 214m and stretching to a length of 14km, don’t disappoint. • Galway city In the City of the

Tribes, enjoy the brightlypainted pubs, street performers and countless festivals.

• Burren National Park – This landscape dominated by rocks, unusual formations, and dramatic cliffs allow for some fascinating walks and hikes • Dingle, Co Kerry – this remote seaside town offers some the most charming local pubs, seafood restaurants and striking scenic drives

organisations too. It’s important that we’re part of the community and do our bit,” says Adrian. The facility at Oranmore runs on a 24-hour shift pattern. “That’s almost unique in orthopaedics. It’s also completely paperless, an attribute that appeals to millennials and helps us to attract top talent. The Galway facility was paperless from the start and Shannon went paperless in 2015. It’s a facet of our sustainability ethos that we’re really proud of.” Zimmer Biomet’s young workforce contributes to its positive culture, says Adrian. “Our culture is not about rearview traditional manufacturing. Our aim is to predict what is going to happen on the shop floor rather than reacting to something that has already happened and all our processes support this approach.”

Like all companies, Zimmer Biomet has had to adapt to Covid. “Behaviours that people would have thought impossible at the start of the year were implemented overnight and our team members took responsibility instantly. Once our key managers were educated, we educated everyone on the floor. We showed them that this is how you protect yourselves, your colleagues and family and this is how you protect the factory, thereby protecting our patients. It’s more challenging working this way and we look forward to a time we can put this behind us, but we’ve managed the adjustment well.”

A much-improved road network and proximity to regional airports have helped make the West of Ireland an attractive location for multinationals. With remote working looking like it’s here to stay for many companies, connectivity has never been more important. “Years ago, our road network might have been a liability but now it’s an asset. We couldn’t operate Oranmore and Shannon without the dual carriageway. When our US visitors come over, we try and get them to Shannon but if we can’t, we’re only a spin from Dublin.”

With floor space still available, Zimmer Biomet has plans to bring in more products into both the Shannon and Oranmore facilities. In addition, the company will invest $10 million in 3D printing as a core technology this year alone. “To facilitate that technology, we will require highly technical staff. We’re proud to be bringing these high level jobs into the West of Ireland. We’re still growing and we feel we have huge potential. We’re here for the long-term.”

The Disruptor

Prior to establishing WarDucks, a game studio based in Dublin, Nikki Lannen served as a founding member of the Facebook games team where she helped the top games businesses throughout EMEA scale their businesses.

All ideas start small. What makes some more scalable than others?

Two things make the mobile games sector scalable. Firstly, the existence of a readymade infrastructure that allows us to reach our market directly, i.e. smartphones and tablets. Secondly, convenience - our product fits around people’s day-to-day lives – you can play a mobile game almost anywhere and at any time. Eliminating any barriers to access your market supports scalability.

Resourcing is a major cost, particularly staffing. How did you manage your staffing in the early days?

When we started out, I had to be ready to wear a lot of different hats and juggle a lot of different plates. That is still the case but the early days were more challenging in this regard. Identifying and hiring a team who could do the same was the key to keeping everything moving. Not everyone has this flexibility. Hire a team that shares your entrepreneurial traits, particularly in the early stages.

AT A GLANCE

Nikki Lannen

CEO, WARDUCKS

Outsourcing and intellectual property can be tricky to balance. Where should the line be drawn?

Keeping the ingredients of your secret sauce secret is obviously important, so it’s a fine balancing act when it comes to bringing in outsourced work or contractors. You need to be sure to have robust agreements in place governing access to commercially sensitive information. We’ve been fortunate in being able to keep our mission critical work in-house to date.

How important is an understanding of marketing?

An understanding of marketing is vital, especially in a crowded market like the gaming sector. Building the game is only half of the battle, the other half is scaling the game in a cost-effective, profitable manner. There is so much content and mediums vying for people’s attention today that you need to be surgical in identifying the optimal method of delivery for your marketing. You need to understand your audience, what platforms they are on and how you can reach them. You also need to understand what ad creative will engage them. And this involves constant iteration.

Challenging and testing your own assumptions is important – testing market viability is essential. What would be your top tip?

Never ascribe to the thinking of “build it and they will come”. Identify who your target market will be, then engage that market and find out what it is they want but aren’t being given by what’s already out there. And then go back again and again throughout the development lifecycle to make sure you’re staying aligned to the needs of the market.

$15.7 trillion

... THE ESTIMATE INCREASE IN GLOBAL GDP (BY 2030) WHICH CAN BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY AI

17%

... THE BOOST ONLINE SHOPPING CAN ACHIEVE WHEN INTRODUCING VR

5.5 million

... THE NUMBER OF VR HEADSETS SHIPPED IN 2020

Planning to meet increased demand is important when scaling up. What is the best piece of advice you can give?

I think a clear and established process with your team for communicating bottlenecks and roadblocks down the line and the capacity of existing resources to tackle these is key to getting the scaling process right. Having a solid hiring plan to support that growth is also vital.

Is there any such thing as a bad time for a good idea?

That is quite a broad question. Timings can be really important. Especially on certain platforms such as Virtual Reality platforms. You could have a great game but launching at the wrong time - it may not get it the downloads it deserves. Also if you’re trying to do something innovative you might want to be ‘first to market’ with that product.

How do you spot a one trick pony?

As mobile games are live products that often need a large team to support their growth such as adding additional game content and live events, many game studios are in fact ‘one trick ponies’ but are very successful in their own right. The revenue a successful mobile game can generate would allow for a very thriving business model and could probably be more described as a ‘one successfully tricked horse’.