Exploring Possibilities
Exploring Possibilities
Above: Pictured at the launch of the Tirlán Nurture Fund investment platform at the Tirlán Innovation Centre in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny were (l to r) Chairperson John Murphy; CEO Jim Bergin; Director of R&D Michelle Collins; Chief Financial & Secretariat Officer Michael Horan and Chief Investment Officer Frank Tobin
Tirlán has committed €10m to fund agri-food technologies focused on nutrition and sustainability
Tirlán recently announced a commitment of €10 million towards the development of the Tirlán Nurture Fund, an investment platform aimed at identifying and scaling innovative agrifood-tech solutions. The aim of the Fund is to investigate the potential of disruptive nutritional technology solutions outside the Co-op – technologies that could increase efficiency, sustainability and innovation for our farmers, community and company and help transition the company to more sustainable, less resource-intensive food systems. Both direct and indirect investments will be made into technologies seeking commercial scale and to established companies looking to scale into new markets.
Tero Tiilikainen is Head of Corporate Development at Tirlán and has played an instrumental role in setting up and running the Fund. “This investment programme is about much more than just financial return. It’s about driving innovation in the business and allowing us to discover best in class technologies. It’s also about putting money to work in a way that’s an extension of our existing capabilities,” says Tero.
Projects that are eligible for the Fund span the entire supply chain. If a project adds value to Tirlán’s existing products or if it drives sustainability within the business, it will be considered by Tero and the team. “Projects could be focused on any number of things, such as plant based proteins, precision fermentation, bioenergy, farm technologies such as biotech, feed additives or midstream technologies that help us improve traceability or safety. Really, the possibilities are endless.”
Firms interested in applying to the Fund are welcome to do so, says Tero. “We’re out in the market looking at various technologies ourselves, but we’re always happy to engage with interested parties.” The first investment is set to take place in Q1 2024. “Our goal is to begin putting the money to work next year. It’s important that we spend time now investigating and reviewing projects and doing our due diligence to ensure they’re the right kind of technologies for us before we make a commitment.”
The Nurture Fund is very much a two-way project, says Tero. “It’s about collaboration and partnership. As a company, we have a lot of resources we could offer to early stage businesses who want to scale up like commercial expertise, R&D, operations, logistics, etc. We want to link up with firms that are developing interesting and novel technologies and thanks to the resources we can bring to the table, I think Tirlán makes for a very attractive partner.”
Contact
External queries or questions can be directed to the email tirlannurturefund@tirlan.ie
Tirlán at Ploughing 2023
ABOVE: Tirlán’s Corporate Communications team, James Brennan, Pat O’Keeffe and Louise Hogan at the 2023 Ploughing Championships
Tirlán at Ploughing 2023
The National Ploughing Championships, held in Ratheniska Co Laois, provided the Tirlán team with an opportunity to connect and engage directly with suppliers, customers and the broader community
From early morning over the three days, thousands flocked to the Avonmore Milk Bar and attended a series of topical talks on the Tirlán stage which included the weather, boosting biodiversity, improving water quality, nitrates derogation and the dairy market outlook.
James Brennan, Communications Manager and this year’s Ploughing Championships Event Manager for Tirlán, told Overherd about how important Tirlán’s presence is at the Ploughing each year. “The Ploughing Championships provide Tirlán with an excellent opportunity and platform to engage with customers, shareholders and the wider community, while showcase programmes such as FarmGen, the Twenty20 Beef Club and the Sustainability Action Payment initiative.
“The Ploughing Championships take a huge team effort, from Tirlán’s subject matter experts on the initiatives I’ve already mentioned, to our GAIN Animal Nutrition, Avonmore brand team and members of the Tirlán FarmLife team who were all on hand to promote our brands and provide expert advice throughout the three days. Attending the Ploughing and managing the day-to-day back at the office requires a lot of juggling, but it really paid off and we are very thankful to everyone who played their part.
ABOVE: Tirlán Chairperson John Murphy, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and Tirlán CEO Jim Bergin pictured at the Tirlán stand
Avonmore Milk Bar
The Tirlán stand was also used to showcase our new offerings in the consumer category and offered samples of fresh milk. Linda Sheehan, Tirlán’s Head of Marketing in Consumer, spoke to the large crowd about innovation in the category which now includes the new Avonmore Fibre-plus milk and Oat drink ranges. She also highlighted the importance of the nutritional benefits of milk.
There was also strong interest in the renewable energy solutions provided by FarmGen, while the Twenty20 Beef Club drew great interest to its fully integrated calf to beef programme. Sustainability was of course a big topic of conversation across the three days and a large volume of suppliers were interested in and signed up to Tirlán’s Sustainability Action Payment.
ABOVE: The Tirlán Consumer Marketing Team had a busy few days at the Milk Bar
Embedding Innovation at Tirlán
Embedding Innovation at Tirlán
Tirlán’s leaders focus on innovation at two-day summit
‘Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat’ – Steve Jobs.
Dairy and grain markets are synonymous with change and here at Tirlán, we have a strong history of helping our farming families embrace the opportunities (abolition of milk quotas and improvements in technology) and navigate the challenges (uncertainty surrounding Brexit, Covid-19 and unpredictable weather patterns) that recent change has brought. We also have an excellent track record of product and process innovation, particularly in response to the growth of the Irish milk pool by 50% over the last decade.
As the sector faces increasing environmental challenges alongside a stagnant milk pool, the importance of innovation has never been so great. Innovation requires adaptability, it fosters growth and it sets businesses apart – these are all things we in Tirlán aim to achieve.
With these topics to the forefront of their minds, 80 of Tirlán’s leadership team came together for two days in late September to focus on how to best deliver and embed a mindset and culture of innovation across the organisation.The Leadership Summit consisted of a jam-packed agenda of industry and internal experts covering topics such as innovation best practice, organisational case studies of innovation excellence, the view of innovation at Tirlán from an internal and external perspective and how to manage innovative teams.
The leadership group is now tasked with returning to the business to share learnings and insights from the Summit. This is an important step in accelerating our innovation journey by ensuring that all 2,300 Tirlán employees understand they have a responsibility to lead and support innovation in our business.
It is important that everyone understands that innovation is systemic throughout Tirlán, existing in our functions and categories. To demonstrate this, a video has been created that showcases some of the innovation heroes from around our business. You will see that these heroes can be found across all corners of the organisation!
Over the coming weeks and months, you will hear more about innovation in a Tirlán context. The learnings and insights from the Leadership Summit will be used to kickstart innovation conversations as we take bigger steps to becoming a truly innovative organisation.
Chewing the Cud with … Tom McGrath
Chewing the Cud with … Tom McGrath
Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our October newsletter, we spoke to Tom McGrath
General Operative at the Kilkenny Food Company soup plant, Tom McGrath, got a job there for four weeks shortly after he returned from Australia. That was almost 28 years ago. The proud Ballycallan man is still there, still enjoying the job, the teamwork and even more importantly, he’s still enjoying a hearty bowl of Avonmore soup, particularly when the weather turns colder.
It’s a hectic time of year for the close-knit ‘soups’ team, with demand for Avonmore’s soup ranges peaking as the cold weather sets in. Shift numbers increase from one to three in the winter months and weekend work is also called for to fill orders at times, Tom explained.
It’s also busy outside of work for the now 52-year-old former hurler as he prepares for his first ever Dublin City Marathon over Halloween to raise much-needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society.
“My wife Vera recently lost her sister-in-law to cancer so to honour her memory and to remember family and friends we’ve lost, I’ve teamed up with three of my wife’s brothers to take on a ‘Couch to Dublin Marathon’ challenge to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. My wife’s brother got the idea and we all rowed in.
Above: Taking on the Dublin Marathon to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society are brothers Vincent, Eamonn and Brian Hogan, pictured with Tirlán’s Tom McGrath
“So many people have lost family members to this horrible disease. Deirdre is a year gone now and her three brothers and myself came up with a plan to train and complete the Dublin City Marathon on Sunday 29th October 2023. Of the four of us competing, only one could be described as a ‘runner’. The others, myself included, are all novices when it comes to running 5k, let alone a full marathon.
“I started off running the Parkrun in Kilkenny on Saturday mornings and have been increasing my distances week on week. We got a plan from the Irish Cancer Society and I’m sticking to this. I do miss socialising and a few pints at the weekend, but it’s all for a good cause.
“As a group, we have completed several 10k runs so far, three half marathons and the 30k medieval run in Kilkenny. The priority now is to keep injury free and stick to the plan in the run up to the Marathon weekend.
“It has been difficult but I’ve received fantastic support from family, friends and particularly my work colleagues at Tirlán. There has always been a great spirit of supporting charities in Tirlán and I’d ask as many people as possible to get behind me in my effort to raise badly needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society.
“A bunch of people have been extremely supportive, among them my training mentor, Catherine Guithre and advisors, Ciaran Neary, Tom Kennedy and Noel Kerr and others. I did my cruciate when I was just 21 but made a promise to myself at 40 that I’d get to New York and do a charity run. I managed a half marathon a long time ago but never thought I’d get to do a full marathon. Hopefully all goes well now and we all get over the finish line.”
Donate
People can Revolut Tom McGrath on 086 3785406 or donate directly through the Irish Cancer Society: IBAN IE40AIBK 931098 325600 Ref 958192, or the GoFundMe link
Gofundme.com http://gofund.me/feb0af14
Unearth Your Future
Unearth Your Future
Tirlán has welcomed 29 new graduates to our two-year ‘Unearth Your Future’ Grad Programme
The grads have joined our business across all functions including Agribusiness, Commercial, Engineering & Operations, Supply Chain, HR, IT, Quality & Compliance, R&D and Strategy/Project Management.
Unearth your Future has been designed to provide the structures our graduates need to grow their careers, including personalised development planning, access to coaching, mentoring and individual wellness planning.
Overherd at Tirlán caught up with two new joiners to our graduate programme to hear about who they are, what motivated them to unearth their futures with Tirlán and what their career aspirations are.
Cathal Byrne – Human Resources
Cathal Byrne is from a small suckler farm outside Killeshin in Co Laois. He completed his degree in Commerce, specialising in HR in NUIG in 2022 and finished a Master’s degree in Strategy, Innovation & People Management this year before joining Tirlán, where he’s working as a HR Associate based in Abbey Quarter.
Cathal told Overherd, “Outside of work, Gaelic Football takes up a lot of my time. I enjoy watching all sports and taking time off for road trips and holidays when the schedule allows. I knew finishing college that I wanted my next step to be something to bridge the gap between my education and a full-time position. The graduate programme appealed to me due to the focus on coaching and mentoring in the programme, where I could get exposure to the Tirlán business, gain experience and obtain further learning opportunities.
I’ve really enjoyed working at Tirlán so far, it’s been a good learning experience and the people have been great. Everyone has been so supportive and willing to give up their time to share their knowledge and get me up to speed on on-going projects. I’m looking forward to building my knowledge over the next two years and working towards becoming a well-rounded HR professional.”
Ella Kennedy – Quality & Compliance
Ella Kennedy is from a dairy farm just outside Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary. Over the past four years, she studied Food Science and Health in University of Limerick. During Covid she followed her passion for food in setting up her own cake and bun sale business. She hopes to pursue that dream further and learn lots more about the industry while working for Tirlán.
“I am working with the Quality and Compliance team in Abbey Quarter. I applied for the Tirlán Graduate Programme as Tirlán is a world-class food and nutrition business that produces high quality food, feed and ingredients that are sold in an international marketplace. I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far, everyone’s been very welcoming and giving of their time.
“Tirlán’s focus on growing the business in a sustainable way has been very interesting to me since I joined and I look forward to learning more about all aspects of the company over the next two years.”
Tethered Caps
Tethered Caps
Increasing the number of caps recycled for a better tomorrow!
Single use plastic items, along with fishing gear, represent 70% of all marine litter in the EU.
To tackle this issue, the EU’s Single use Plastic Directive (SUP) was initiated, banning all beverage containers up to 3 litres in size unless its cap is attached to the main part of the container i.e. tethered.
Working towards a deadline of July 2024, Tirlán kicked off a cross-functional project in February 2022 to identify and assess tethered cap solutions for our products.
The Project team, which consisted of members from ESG, Procurement, Operations & Supply Chain, Commercial, Marketing, Quality & Compliance ‘Collaborated for Success’ to select optimal cap options for product packaging impacted, which includes our Jugs, Elopak and Tetra Pak cartons.
The first product line to transition to tethered cap was the Tetra top carton which contains Avonmore Protein Milk, Mooju and Avonmore Cream. The next transition will see our Elopak 500ml and 1L and Tetra Pak 1.75L cartons, followed by Jugs in 2024.
Above: Pictured displaying the new caps on Avonmore Protein Milk packaging are from L/R Frank McDonnell (Production Manager), Oliver Hill (TT3 Operator), Joanne Dooley (Packaging Manager) and Peter McGuinness (Quality Operations Manager)
Speaking to Overherd about the EU directive, Tirlán Packaging Manager Joanne Dooley told us that “Tirlán is working hard preparing for this change. The introduction of tethered caps will reduce environmental impact by ensuring caps can be recycled with jugs and cartons and that caps are not lost during the recycling process. This will reduce plastic waste and improve the amount of plastic recycled, contributing to the circular economy.
“Although the caps take a little getting used to, we’ve been keen to get the word out about how this initiative is helping us live up to our Living Proof promise. Check out the social media posts and video below which have been targeted at consumers.
“Avonmore Fresh, Light and Double Cream packs now feature a new tethered cap. This packaging change is part of an initiative to tackle single-use plastic items associated with pollution ahead of a new EU Directive which comes into play mid-2024. Keeping caps attached to bottles means they are more likely to be recycled together and that loose caps no longer end up in the environment.”
Living our Values
Living our Values
Bringing Tirlán’s Purpose, Vision & Values to Life!
Tirlán is much more than a name, it encapsulates an identity supported by our Purpose, Vision and Values (PVV).
Our vision – To Create a Global Community Celebrating Wholesome Nutrition From the Land We Live and Love – sets out where we wish to be as a business, our place in the world. It provides us with clarity of direction for our business.
Our Purpose – Nourishing Lives in Balance With Nature – by its nature is more emotive, setting out a clear statement of why we exist. Being clear about our purpose provides clarity for every employee in terms their individual contribution and the value they bring.
Finally, our Values set the tone for our desired culture, they provide guardrails for how we make decisions and shape the day to day lived experience of our people through our behaviours.
Over the next 12 months, colleagues will begin to see a programme of activity across our business which aims to bring our values to life and embed them in our day-to-day behaviours. Through this programme, we will have meaningful discussions about the values within our teams and in one-to-one discussions with managers. We will celebrate teams and individuals which role model our values and we will see our PVV imagery coming to life across our workplaces.
Watch the video below that captures the true essence of what our values mean and how they are being brought to life across Tirlán. The video, featuring some familiar faces, gives a sense of how we can truly live the values in what we do every day when we come to work.
Recognising colleagues for living our values is as easy as a few clicks
Kudos is day to day, timely recognition that requires little or no planning. It’s the spontaneous feedback on the spot and in real-time.
You can now formally recognise those colleagues who bring the values to life in their day-to-day behaviours and interactions. By simply dropping them a pre-formatted values-based email, you meaningfully recognise them as a role model for our values.
Click on this link which will take you to Tirlán’s Kudos recognition page, then follow the simple steps to recognise someone for a job well done!
Your Values Notebook is in the post
Hopefully, most colleagues will have received their new notebooks by now. If not, they are on the way to you.
Inside the cover of the notebook, you will find some useful info and examples on ways each of us can live our values on a day to day basis.
Get Involved Through Team Conversations
Over the next 12 months, our values will be brought into team conversations, focusing on one value per quarter. First up is Adapt to Grow.
Managers will lead conversations within their teams and help teams to commit to values-based actions within and across teams.
Please get involved in your local team conversations. Through these conversations, we can create positive momentum to shape our organisational culture to be more reflective of our values.
You can easily bring our values to life!
Everyone across Tirlán can help bring our values to life with our Purpose, Vision and Values visual assets available on the intranet.
PVV icons are available to include in your next presentation. You can display our Values during online calls with a suite of backdrops to choose from and you can add our Values to every email you send too.
You can find the PVV Assets button on the Tirlán intranet homepage to access all this imagery.
Our values are aspirational but by getting involved and bringing the values to life in our everyday interactions, conversations and ways we work, we can develop a culture that reflects authentically our Purpose and values
Vanilla’s Gone rogue!
Vanilla’s Gone Rogue!
Mooju’s new campaign brings awareness and intrigue to Mooju lovers
What’s this? There’s something really unique about the new flavour from Mooju. It’s definitely eye catching, the disruptor on the scene, the maverick of the Mooju family, you could say. All we can say is that Vanilla’s gone rogue!
‘Vanilla’s gone rogue’ is the new campaign from Mooju, bringing awareness and intrigue to Mooju lovers. The campaign centres around Mooju Vanilla going rogue in pack design and personality against the Mooju range in a playful and mischievous way.
The campaign will see activations across Dublin Bus transport advertising, instore advertising, social media, college sampling and instore demonstrations across the months of September/October.
Some say it tastes like vanilla milkshake, others say vanilla ice cream, all we know is that Mooju Vanilla ain’t so Vanilla!
Mooju Vanilla is a limited-edition flavour, replacing Mooju Banana for a limited period of time. Catch it while you can 😀🥛🍦
Win
To celebrate the launch of Mooju Vanilla, we’re giving away €100 One4all voucher so you can go wild in whatever way you wish.
Question:
On the new Mooju Vanilla packaging there are three emojis, all with relevant meanings to Gen Z (our target audience for Mooju). What does the high voltage/lightening emoji signify? ⚡
To enter the competition, type your guess in the comment section of the Overherd email you just received or email it to Overherd@Tirlan.ie
Get the most out of your Milk
Get the most out of your Milk
The Consumer Marketing team is delighted to launch our new Avonmore Super Milk Campaign
Did you know that a recent Food Safety Authority of Ireland report shows that 90% of us don’t get enough Vitamin D from the food we eat?
To help educate consumers about the need for Vitamin D, Avonmore Super Milk has developed a campaign showing the importance of Vitamin D in our diet. Vitamin D is important in our diet as it helps us absorb more calcium from food and drink which supports bone and muscle health and it supports our immune systems too. Simply adding Avonmore Super Milk to your tea, coffee, smoothie and cereals is an easy way to increase your Vitamin D.
To Win
To celebrate this new campaign, Overherd is giving away a €100 voucher for Portwest, a family owned Irish business providing a wide range of leisurewear and outdoor clothing
For your chance to win, please tell us in the comment section of the email you just received, or email your answer to overherd@tirlan.ie – what percentage of people don’t get enough Vitamin D from the food we eat?
Win a Family Pass to Dublin Zoo
Win a Family Pass to Dublin Zoo
To celebrate Avonmore Soup’s first ever on-pack promotion, we are offering one lucky Overherd reader the chance to win a family day pass to Dublin Zoo
The in-store and on pack promotion runs up until the 31st of October and is supported by Outdoor Advertising, In-Store POS, Digital and Social activity.
Marketing Manager Nikki Wallace told Overherd: “As kids are now back to school and we feel the colder months set in, there is nothing more easy and delicious than a warm bowl of Avonmore Fresh Soup. Our first ever on pack promotion aims to promote the goodness and ease of Avonmore Fresh Soup for all the family. We are also offering families a chance to win an annual family pass to Dublin Zoo, a perfect day out spending time with the kids!”
To Win
To win, all you need to do is send a photo of your favourite bowl of Avonmore soup to overherd@tirlan.ie