Kilkenny-based engineering consultancy firm Prochem Engineering has launched Prochem Cleantech Services and is set to produce additional revenues of up to €2m over the next three to five years as a result of its participation in InterTradeIreland initiative FUSION.
InterTradeIreland met with Prochem Engineering for the launch of its new services.
Before making its visit to Prochem, InterTradeIreland met with several Kilkenny companies to discuss the benefits of participating in FUSION.
The all-island technology transfer initiative, by InterTradeIreland, has offered other Kilkenny companies the opportunity to each generate in excess of €1m worth of sales and efficiency savings, access world-class research and development facilities and profit from external project management support.
The FUSION programme enables businesses to make strategic advances in innovation by collaborating with a college or university on the other side of the border. Benefits the initiative offers include the development of new innovative products, improved environmental performance, streamlined production processes and the introduction of product design capability.
InterTradeIreland director of Programmes and Business Services, Margaret Hearty, said each InterTradeIreland FUSION project generates, on average, in excess of €1.2m worth of sales and efficiency savings for the participating company as a result of cost savings, new product development, increased sales and process improvements.
She also reported more than two-thirds of graduates accept long-term employment with the participating company beyond the initial project.
So far, 300 SMEs have participated in FUSION, producing €250m worth of trade.
“Just as we have seen from the success of Prochem Engineering, FUSION can provide a myriad of opportunities to businesses in Kilkenny that would boost the local economy and attract inward investment to the area,” said Hearty.
Prochem offers consultancy on energy-reduction projects within clean rooms with the ability to design, assess, advise, project manage and construction manage retrofit projects without the requirement of an external simulation expert.
Prochem Cleantech Services has already received business enquiries in numerous countries across the world, including India and Afghanistan. The company employs 60 people and hopes to create additional positions over the next 18 months.
“FUSION proved a fantastic resource to us in identifying and creating a unique selling point; in our case, a one-stop-shop for energy reduction projects within cleanrooms. I’d encourage other Kilkenny companies to do as we did and develop or improve their products and services and new technologies by tapping into the wonderful expertise and facilities that exist in our universities and colleges across the island of Ireland,” said Donal Higgins, director of Prochem Engineering.
