Joseph Murphy Ballina Ltd forges ahead

Through change and commitment to investment, one of Ireland’s leading Hardware Wholesaler, Importers and Distributors, Joseph Murphy Ballina Ltd (JMBL), are forging ahead confidently. Managing Director, Lorraine Burnell discloses some of the secrets to this success and the recent appointments to the management team.

Lorraine explains, “For over 100 years JMBL has imported and sold hardware, homewares, DIY and agricultural products throughout Ireland. Our extensive breadth of product is not confined to one category but rather diverse collections spanning from light hardware to agricultural, DIY, Garden, hand tools and seasonal products. We believe that this is what makes our company an inspiring company to work with and has been the force behind our success.”

JMBL have just recently integrated a new software system (SAP) for the management of all processes, enabling the flow of data and information through all departments of the business, from supply chain planning to procurement and logistics. “This provides maximum flexibility and has allowed us to fully integrate all our systems with our new e-Commerce website www.josephmurphy.ie. JMBL is constantly developing their business model and services to compete in this new economy and the forefront of this change is customer-specific services that ensure our customers receive the optimal service possible”, explains Lorraine.

Operating from a purpose built 40,000 square foot warehouse and stocking 4,500 products lines, they continually develop new product ranges and own brands, such as MOY Agri and much more. August 2021 sees a new way for their customers to place their orders on their new Trade Only Wholesale e-Commerce website. Lorraine says, “This will offer ease of ordering and a dedicated platform for our customers to do business at a time that suits their busy schedules.”

There have been exciting appointments to the management team in recent months. Ciaran O’Neill has joined as Category Manager and Aoife Gavin as Marketing Manager. Ciaran O’Neill brings a wealth of experience with over 25+ years in the wholesale industry. Ciaran will be at the forefront of New Product Development and the sourcing of new product lines for JMBL’s 700+ customers. Aoife Gavin is an experienced Marketing Manager working in a variety of industries throughout her career, including the retail and manufacturing sectors. She will bring a new area of expertise to the company with extensive marketing experience in branding, digital marketing and advertising for both B2B and B2C.

ai162885559615_Irish Hardware Magnetic Intro v2.pdf 1 13/08/2021 12:53:16

1ST SEPTEMBER - 21ST DECEMBER

›› EXTRA DISCOUNTS ON 200+ ITEMS ›› ›› ›› ›› ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE MAGNETIC PROMOTION ITEMS INSTANT SIGN UP REWARDS FANTASTIC ONGOING REWARD SCHEME EYE CATCHING POINT OF SALE PACKAGE

SIGN UP TODAY

01758 704704 sales@cki.uk.com carlkammerling.com JMBL HQ – Warehouse and Offices.

imAgine corK ciTy in 10 yeArs’ Time

Are you tired of seeing dereliction every time you leave your front door? Are you unhappy with the acceptance of ‘that’s the way things are’? Sadly, dereliction has become part of the fabric of where we live. It’s a constant reminder of wasted potential and lost opportunity. What should be homes for children, families, or individuals, instead lie long-term derelict. It really makes no sense. Unfortunately, dereliction has become an epidemic across Ireland. Imagine a city, town, or village where dereliction is turned into an opportunity to create a liveable urban environment. Then imagine the lives of derelict buildings extended through taking advantage of their designed-in durability by repairing and repurposing them, into something beautiful, functional, and meaningful that carries forward significant heritage, while taking advantage of modern good practice. Dr Frank O’Connor & Jude Sherry of www.anois.org believe now is the time to end dereliction and reimagine our cities, towns, and villages. Their case study of 300+ properties in Cork City provides evidence that dereliction can be eradicated in Cork. It can be ended across Ireland. Their international best practice research indicates that Irish cities, towns and villages would thrive as a result. Having lived abroad for a few decades they fell in love with the vibrancy of Cork City and moved back in 2018. While the friendliness of Corkonians has been a wonderful daily tonic they’ve really struggled with dereliction and the decaying heritage. “We have walked and documented many European cities. From day one we walked the city, every street and laneway recording our experiences. We started sharing our findings last Summer 2020 (on Twitter) and started an ongoing thread on dereliction which has garnered millions of views. We have shared over 300 properties to-date, all within 2km of the city centre island. The human impact of dereliction really struck us, particularly its effect on everyone’s quality of life. We also realised that dereliction had long been framed as an unsolvable problem in Ireland. Through collecting and analysing all publicly available data on our dereliction thread we found some startling results. Dereliction is solvable. We just need the political and cultural will”. Looking at global trends, cities, towns and villages that retain their built heritage thrive because everyone really values this uniqueness. Immediately Irish urban areas are in an advantageous position, with their truly distinctive landscape and heritage. Their buildings and streetscapes can be restored to become huge marketable districts. Plus, it’s cheaper and more sustainable to repurpose existing buildings than build new. Added to this our urban areas have the ability to quickly densify by bringing existing vacant spaces back into use. The knock-on effect on the local economy will be massive, more people, more services, more money to re-invest and so on. Imagine Cork City in 10 years’ time, a flagship of rapid transformation and sustainable densification. The unnecessary dereliction blight that was sucking the economic potential out and jeopardising the viability of local businesses and traders is gone. De-bunking the myth about retrofitting being more expensive than buying a new suburban home has had a radical impact. Living over the shop is back in fashion while hundreds of properties have been bought back into use - much of it funded by a dereliction levy. With many families now returning to Cork City Centre, it is now cheaper, more convenient, and more sustainable to live in the centre. Corkonians are thriving from their yearly saving of ¤10k by getting rid of that second car, and another ¤5k with lower mortgage repayments. They have more money in their pocket every month to spend supporting local businesses. This new Cork is liveable, safe, healthy, beautiful, and productive and has become a global beacon for 21st century urban economic resilience and innovation. Other Irish cities, towns and village quickly follow suit. Ireland is transformed.

rePAir eXPerTs TrAining

Ireland is set to train a new generation of repair technicians to prevent thousands of tonnes of electrical appliances going to waste. An industry-wide drive to extend the lives of fixable white goods has been fast-tracked to combat a major shortage of electrical repair experts – whose average age is now 59. The new ‘Circular Economy Skills Initiative’ course aims to produce enough experts to ensure thousands of washing machines, fridges and dishwashers are given a new lease of life in homes and businesses across the country. WEEE Ireland, the White Goods Association and technical training agency FIT (Fast Track to IT) joined forces to create the innovative curriculum and career pathway. The free training course will be run with the support of Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) in a state-of-theart centre in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. Up to 20 trainees will complete the initial pilot 26-week programme, followed by 12 weeks’ guaranteed work placement with leading white goods industry supporters of the programme. “This new course is a fantastic solution to some of the circular economy challenges WEEE Ireland members face,” said WEEE Ireland CEO, Leo Donovan. In 2020, WEEE Ireland recycled over 470,000 white goods appliances – but no Irish training programme for the next generation of repair technicians has been available for a decade. FIT is committed to rolling out further programmes responding to emerging Circular Economy skills needs in collaboration with Education and Training Boards (ETB) and the industry in Ireland to address the growing need for such expertise. Last year, WEEE Ireland also partnered with the White Goods Association to promote repair of electrical appliances on RepairMyStuff.ie, which connects consumers with over 800 professionals in Ireland able to repair everything from watches to washing machines and as well as toys, textiles, furniture and more. The Circular Economy Skills Initiative course is free of charge and those interested in participating can apply at: https:// fit.ie/circular-economy-skills-initiative/. Full driving licence is required by the completion of training.

The 2021/22 UPPercross + niKo BAThrooms fAnTAsy leAgUe is KicKing off

This year UEL and Niko Bathrooms are supporting the Men’s Sheds Association by raising awareness for the cause by creating a Men’s Shed Football Fantasy League where the monthly winning shed gets a donation of ¤100, the overall Men’s Shed winner gets a ¤2000 donation. UEL and Niko Bathrooms will also donate plumbing and heating materials to the sheds that require that type of materials through their activities and urge all UEL staff and customers to support the Men’s Sheds Ireland movement today. As many readers of The Hardware Journal will know the Irish Men’s Sheds Association was formed in 2011. It is an all-island body with members across the 32 counties. Having originally started in Australia it inspired their Irish counterparts to begin their own movement. The first shed in Ireland appeared in Tipperary in 2009. Following the formation of that first shed the movement began to grow rapidly, with there now being over 450 sheds registered with the Irish Men’s Sheds Association and at least 12,000 men visiting a shed every week.