Sending strong global signals from Wexford

TAOGLAS.IE:YOU may have already noticed that the humble metal aerial protruding from the roof of cars is starting to disappear. What you may not know is that an Irish firm is playing a major role in the replacement of these external aerials.

And it’s not just on new cars: this process is being replicated on many other machines and in buildings too.

Part of the reason for the replacement of external aerials on vehicles and suchlike is that the amount of information being processed and transmitted is simply too great for the average external device. To cope with all this data, vehicles would end up looking like hedgehogs. To overcome these issues companies are now opting for advanced embedded aerials, similar to those on mobile phones. One of the firms behind these advances is is Co Wexford based Taoglas. Founded in 2004 by Dermot O’Shea and Ronan Quinlan, it has grown from a two-person operation into an international design and consultancy company employing 16 people. Its manufacturing is sub-contracted out to a plant in Taiwan. The company also has offices in South Africa and US.

At the start of the decade O’Shea and Quinlan noticed that the antenna market was becoming a significant market on the back of mobile communication growth. They approached a Taiwanese contact to supply a specialist ceramic material to manufacturers. “Over time we saw that there was a gap in the market and decided to look at product development,” says O’Shea.

The rationale for a change to internal antennas, according to O’Shea, is that external antennas and aerials are expensive, fragile, can be damaged or vandalised and require longer installation times.

O’Shea says a local businessman provided mentoring support and they also received Cord funding from Enterprise Ireland. “Other than that our finances were all based on revenues from the business.” O’Shea says the company has been profitable since 2007 and last year turnover exceeded €1.8 million.

He attributes much of Taoglas’s success to its bespoke design process. “We have antenna designers, some from the cellphone industry. In Taiwan they have to come up with new materials and then we develop the final product so it can be assembled as a component and incorporate it into the production processes,” he says.

Taoglas antennas are installed in Ford Focus and Ford Galaxy cars at present, as well as in the diagnostics systems in Peugeots. They are also part of the recently developed ecall emergency response systems in Volvos and BMWs. Ecall automatically contacts the emergency services when a car’s airbags are activated. An onboard GPS sends the exact location of the car to an emergency call centre, while an internal GMS connection means the driver can also talk to the emergency services.

The system is being trialled in a number of countries and the EU is considering making the system mandatory. “In South Africa you cannot get insurance if you don’t have ecall fitted to your car. We also provide ecall antennas for Renault and Volkswagen in South America,” says O’Shea.

The firm also manufactures remote monitoring equipment which can be used by the haulage industry to provide data such as the delivery address, fuel consumption, average speed and whether a driver is adhering to tachograph rules.

O’Shea is optimistic about the future and said for the coming year orders look strong and he is confident the company will exceed its turnover for 2009.

Other new innovators

Jivo adds a green Irish touch to the iPod

AN IRISH company has created a new case for Apple's iPhone that is designed to be kinder to the environment, and could help support Irish employment, writes Ciara O'Brien

The Jivo Leaf is made from a special polymer that once put into landfill will begin to biodegrade after five years, compared to standard cases which take up to 10 times as long to begin breaking down.

The difference between ordinary silicon case and the Jivo Leaf lies in an additive used in its manufacture. The chemical, known as Eco-Pure, is made from a 100 per cent organic material and is blended into the plastic during manufacture. The protective case will still keep the iPhone safe, however.

The Leaf got a lot of attention at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Jivo unveiled the product to the global industry.

The added bonus is that not only was the Leaf designed in Ireland, it will also be manufactured here. At a time when products of this type are typically made in China and shipped over by air, Jivo sourced an Irish operation that could work with the polymer, cutting down on the product’s carbon footprint.

The packaging on the case itself is also fully recyclable. Jivo director Ivan Eustace said the company made a conscious decision to carry the green theme through to the packaging, with no plastic or blister packaging used in any way.

Despite Ireland’s reputation as a higher cost location for manufacturing, the case will be priced at a similar level as rival products.

“There’s no point in bringing out a case for €30 or€40; no one is going to buy it,” says Eustace.

The product also appeals to retailers, who are pushing for more “green” products to satisfy consumer demand, at an affordable price.

“The retailers want this,” says director John McHugh.

Getting to grips with wheelspin

QUADCRATE.CO.UK:AS WITH many successful business ideas Allingham Quadcrates developed its first product in response to a pressing workplace need. Company founder William Allingham is a sheep farmer from Co Fermanagh who became frustrated with the difficulty associated with using a quad bike to tow a trailer over wet and soft ground.

While most quads have a rack for loading hay bales or suchlike, the quadcrate allows heavier, bulkier loads to be transported. It fits onto the back of any quad and can hold up to 200kg. It consists of a foldable platform and carry loads such as gates, ring feeders, square bales, as well as smaller livestock.

Allingham says the system makes the quad bike much more versatile and reduces the time required for many farming tasks. The concept is patent pending in both in the UK and internationally and the “quadcrate” brand name has been registered.

Its founder has a higher national diploma in animal production and is also a keen welder, who by his own admission, loved making things out of odds and ends and maintaining the machinery on the farm.

Allingham started selling the product in mid-2009 and has sold over 30 units to date, reinvesting all the proceeds into the product.

He says purchasers normally buy a number of items, for example a quadcrate and a fence-post holder for the front of the quad. “This keeps the bike balanced”.

This year he is hoping to diversify into the European and New Zealand markets and break into the hunting market in the US.

Technical thinking leading to medical advances

TECHNO-PATH.IE:AS WITH many innovations, the decision by Technopath to diversify from distribution into product design and manufacturing was prompted by a change in circumstance outside their control.

By 2004 the company had established a successful distribution business but when a key supplier discontinued some of Technopath’s biggest-selling lines - and, subsequent problems sourcing a replacement product - it was time for the firm to look elsewhere for opportunties..

Dave Sullivan, joint managing director of Technopath, said this spurred the company to design its own product, adding “distribution is an unstable business”. So, along with business partner Malcolm Bell, Sullivan formed a new company Technopath Manufacturing, to develop and produce medical devices.

They were joined by Shane Huber, the former head scientist at Bio-Rad, who provided much of the technical expertise.

At the end of its research programme the new company had developed a series of quality control materials – based around frozen human plasma – for hospital and clinical laboratories.

These products are used to ensure automated hospital and laboratory blood testing equipment is working correctly, a sector known as invitro diagnostics.

“Control samples are added to the testing process a number of times a day. The exact number [per day] depends on the lab and the volume of samples it is testing.

“The control product contains very specific amounts of certain agents which the lab tests for.”

The quality control products ensure the lab equipment is generating accurate results. The product range took three years to develop and has been licenced for use in Europe, through the Irish Medicines Board and in the US through the Food and Drug Administration.

Last year the company generated over €2 million in revenues. Sullivan says the manufacturing arm is at “breakeven” with profits reinvested. It now employs eight people and has a purpose-built RD and manufacturing plant in the village of Ballina in Co Tipperary.

Sullivan says the choice of location is was down to Huber. “We were looking for a new building for manufacturing and RD . . . All the buildings we saw needed a refit and then Shane, who had fallen in love with Ballina, found a site with planning permission and the developer hadn’t started work yet. So we talked to him and ended up with a purpose-built facility.”

While the distribution arm of their business remains larger, both in terms of turnover and employee numbers, Sullivan says the manufacturing business should shortly overtake it.

The global invitro diagnostics market is worth an estimated €30 billion with the US, Japan and Germany the largest markets, and Sullivan says Technopath Manufacturing is hoping to claim a portion of that.