Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our December newsletter, we’re talking to Gerry Fogarty

Production Planner in Consumer, Gerry Fogarty, is preparing for a marathon few weeks ahead. On top of his role which involves planning the production of UHT at the Lough Egish site in Monaghan, he’s preparing to step in and help with the pre-Christmas Avonmore Cream rush.

“I also provide cover with the milk and cream team. We normally do about 100 tonnes of cream a week. That increases ninefold over the December period. Whipped Cream has been a huge success story and ensuring we have supply to meet demand takes a massive team effort. The team in Ballitore will start packing Christmas cream around the 9^th or 10^th of December. That shift will run 24 hours, right up until December 24^th. The 250ml and 500ml cream will be packed into cartons in the TT3 filling line in Drogheda for the first time. Normally we would have three shifts a week on this line. That increases to three shifts a day in the run-up to Christmas.

“It’s an exceptionally busy time and you really don’t get time to get bored. But like all departments in Tirlán, people come together in a massive team effort. While it’s very busy, it’s also great to be involved. You really do play to your strengths and enjoy the buzz of it all.

“Everyone plays their part. In the 10 days up to Christmas we do a huge volume of our annual sales, so it’s all shoulders to the wheel. Everyone in sales, marketing, even some of the most senior people in the cooperative, take two to three shops and they work around the clock to ensure the cream is on the shelf, not in the back store. Margins on cream are significant, so it’s a time of year that we all pull together to meet our targets and ensure the revenue comes in.”

Gerry, who lives in Navan, started out with Tirlán on a college placement in 1984. He studied Agricultural Science in WIT, which is now the South East Technological University. Like so many more, he never left the company.

“When I started here, it was Drogheda Dairies. It became Avonmore, then we merged with Waterford to become AWG. We then became Glanbia and now Tirlán. There has been lots of comings and goings since then, but it’s a fabulous place to work and you really can’t beat the team effort, particularly at this time of year.”

While Gerry has been with the company for 38 years, he has enjoyed several different roles, including working in the process area, moving on to become a shift manager, part of the central planning team in 2009 and now part of Fran Ryan’s team in Consumer Foods.

Asked if he still enjoys Avonmore Cream on Christmas day, Gerry quipped: “Absolutely. I don’t get too emotional about the Christmas build-up. Teamwork gets us through it and we make sure our customers have their Avonmore Cream – with a cherry on top if they want.”