New digital manufacturing centre opens in Limerick

National centre of excellence was designed to support Irish based manufacturers
Life
Image via IDA Ireland

27 March 2023

The Digital Manufacturing Ireland (DMI) advanced manufacturing centre has opened at the IDA Ireland National Technology Park in Limerick.

The national centre of excellence was designed to support Irish based manufacturers, both multi-national businesses and SMEs, to access, partner and accelerate their adoption of transformative digital technologies and to drive their future competitiveness.

DMI boasts a unique technology offering in the form of a fully representative end to end Physical and Digital Production Line with digital twin capabilities designed to provide DMI clients with access to the latest digital technologies, expertise and deployment support in a real-world manufacturing environment. Industry led, and resourced to solve manufacturing industry challenges, DMI will be instrumental in ensuring the future resilience and competitiveness of Irish-based manufacturing.   

 

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The centre is supported by the Irish government through IDA Ireland. Speaking at the launch of the centre, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney said DMI will “play a pivotal role in advancing the future competitiveness of the manufacturing sector as well as supporting the delivery of Ireland’s Industry 4.0 Strategy 2020 – 2025.

“Over 270,000 are employed across MNCs and SMEs in manufacturing in Ireland and are developing and producing world leading products for global supply.  As the world’s supply chains continue to be disrupted, competitiveness challenges prevail and international competition for investment intensifies, it has never been more important for Ireland to invest in the future of its core manufacturing capability. Digital Manufacturing Ireland will support Ireland’s manufacturing base in remaining at the forefront of digital transformation and ensure that Ireland is recognised internationally as having a vibrant, collaborative, competitive and digitally enabled industry base.”

Lionel Alexander, chairperson of the DMI Board said: “We are delighted to have officially opened our world-class facility today alongside IDA Ireland and the Irish Government. The manufacturing sector in Ireland, from medtech and biopharma to food and drink and engineering, is a key contributor to Ireland’s economic resilience and ongoing economic success. After the unprecedented global disruption of the last 24-months, now more than ever, it is critical for our manufacturing sector to deploy the new technologies and tools to serve the drive for innovation and ultimately business differentiation.

“We are committed to supporting all manufacturers regardless of their size or level of technological maturity in their transformation journey, right across their manufacturing value chain, through collaborations and partnerships. We will provide a platform to test and create new technologies and use-cases in an industry environment, but also provide the necessary training and capabilities among the Irish workforce to effectively compete by being digital-first.”

DMI has also announced a new strategic partnership with global medical technologies company Edwards Life Sciences to focus on digital transformation across its sites in Limerick and Clare.

“Edwards Lifesciences is proud to be partnering with Digital Manufacturing Ireland, to support the development and delivery of Edwards digital transformation programme,” said Andrew Walls, plant general manager of Edwards LifeSciences in Limerick. “We will collectively be working across the three pillars of Technology, Human Centric Manufacturing and Supply chain operations in order to advance the digital capabilities of our operations and workforce.”

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