Bord na Móna - Source Issue 9 - (Page 18)

A lIFeTIme’s InvOlvemenT In GAA AnD COmmunITY ACTIvITIes nOW sees PADDY BYrne vOlunTeerInG In sOuTh AFrICA, A GOOD COnTrAsT TO lIFe In DerrInlOuGh BrIQueTTe FACTOrY Q All seAsons What is your role in Bord na Móna? We have 60 staff at Derrinlough on 33 acres of ground. I also oversee the upkeep of the grounds – approximately one-third of the grounds is grass and the rest is made up of the workshops, factory and storage buildings. A mAn for Q Tell us about the press wheel at the entrance to Derrinlough. We put the press wheel there to mark the 50th anniversary and to symbolise the work at the factory over those years. The wheel presses the briquettes into a solid mass from the original peat – from powder into a block. The wheel drives other press sections to form the briquette. I’ve been a Yard Foreman in the Derrinlough Briquette Factory, in Birr, Co. Offaly for 23 years. I’ve been in Derrinlough since 1964, so I know how it works. I started in record-keeping in the workshop and then progressed into the laboratory, sales and then to yard foreman. Q Q What does your job in Derrinlough entail? Derrinlough recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. What celebrations were held to mark the occasion? As foreman, I plan, direct and oversee the yard staff in their duties. These include out-loading baled briquettes and loose briquettes – a by-product of bales - from the factory to lorries, planning the stacking and storage of bales on pallets, implementing the annual budgets, checking the quality of our products, ensuring the health and safety of the people and the plant, overseeing any complaints from customers, organising and setting up staff training. Derrinlough was officially opened in 1960, so we had the 50th anniversary in 2010. We formed a committee that worked very hard on this project. On July 2, 2010, we had an open-day attended by customers, staff and ex-employees. And on July 3, 2010, we had a dinner in Tullamore. We also produced a magazine outlining the history of Derrinlough, with photographs of now and from the past. People loved the old photos. I am also involved with the social club since 1971. Q What changes have come about in those 50 years? The work here was very manually intensive – there were over 120 people working here at one time. Automation is the big change. We had 16 operators working on the production line – now, six people work on that same operation. There was wire strapping (polypropylene now) around the bales then. The operators could manually remove up to 14,000 bales in a shift. They 18 | Source Spring 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Bord na Móna - Source Issue 9

Bord na Móna - Source Issue 9
Contents
A round-up of news from around the company
Climate Change
Team Mates
Irish Water: The Future
Saving Energy
Natural World
Product Shot
A Man for all Seasons
Project Update
Heritage Corner
Nationwide

Bord na Móna - Source Issue 9

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