The Cork Electronics Industry Association is pleased to present a conference on an important national topic. The conference will offer engineers, industry leaders, policy makers and educators an opportunity to explore the topic of the role of manufacturing in Ireland.

Presentations by distinguished speakers, chaired by an illustrious entrepreneur, is followed by a panel discussion with ample time for questions and answers. A networking hour and lunch will provide additional opportunity to meet the speakers, renew acquaintances and join in stimulating discussions with other participants.

Conference Theme:

The Changing Role of Manufacturing in Ireland

The Irish economy is  recovering from its worse ever economic crisis. The strength and competitiveness of its manufacturing sector has declined over the past decade.

The good news is that there is rethink on the location of manufacturing and Ireland has the opportunity to ride on this wave of change and build on it. Social Networks will bring the customer and manufacturers closer together and will shorten product cycles. This conference will explore how Ireland can take advantage of this change and leverage it to become an important centre of excellence for manufacturing internationally.

National policy must support the renewed entrepreneurial thinking to enable Ireland’s competitiveness in the global economy.

Wednesday May 22nd 2013

Program of Events:

9:00 – 9:05	Welcome – Chairman CEIA, Sean Gayer
9:05 – 9:20	Official Opening – Lord Mayor of Cork, John Buttimer
9:20 – 9:40	Opening Remarks & Introductions –                                                   Conference Chairman, Mike Devane
9:40 – 10:15	Caroline Dowling – Flextronics
10:15 – 10:40	Coffee Break
10:40 -11:15	Tom Mangan – Boston Scientific
11:15 – 11:50	Bob Savage  – EMC
11:50 – 12:50	Panel Discussion, chaired by Mike Devane
12:50 – 1:00	Closing Remarks – CEIA, Innovation Group Chairman, Jerry Fitzpatrick
1:00– 2:00	Lunch

Click here to download program details.

Presentations from the event can be accessed here:

Flextronics – Caroline Dowling Presentation

Boston Scientific – Tom Mangan Presentation

Speakers

Caroline Dowling, President, Integrated Network Solutions, Flextronics

Caroline Dowling is president of Integrated Network Solutions at Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX), which is a $25B, industry-leading, Fortune Global 500 electronics manufacturing services provider with more than 200,000 employees and operations in 30 countries. In this role, she leads an international team focused on design, manufacturing and services providing end-to-end solutions worldwide for the telecom, networking, server and storage markets. Ms. Dowling is accountable and responsible for the financial results of over $12billion of Flextronics International revenues world-wide.

Additionally, she is responsible for fulfilling corporate growth strategies through Flextronics’ NOVO organization, involving the cultivation of strategic partnerships for business growth purposes, oversight of mergers and acquisitions and the expansion of the overall business for the Company. She is also responsible for the Corporate Communications functions for Flextronics.

Ms. Dowling joined Flextronics through the acquisition of The Dii Group, where she held various management roles of increasing responsibility, including vice president of Europe, director of European business and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) manager. Prior to these roles, Ms. Dowling was director for OEMs at Alps Electronics.

She is a graduate of Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Bob Savage, Vice-President and Managing Director at EMC Ireland

Bob Savage is site manager for EMC’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in Ovens, Co Cork, which employs almost 2,000 people. Bob has worked in EMC for over 20 years, playing various key roles in turning what was exclusively a manufacturing facility into a world-class EMC COE – one of only seven worldwide. The COE is EMC’s largest manufacturing site outside the US spanning 600,000 square feet, with 28 business functions and 44 nationalities on site speaking 26 languages.

Bob leads the COE’s team of highly skilled information technology (IT) professionals, working across engineering, advanced manufacturing, software development, finance, customer service, sales and marketing, and research and development divisions serving the global market. Bob is Chairman of the Governing Body of Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).

A native of Glounthaune, Co Cork, Bob is a board member of Enterprise Ireland. He is an electronic engineering graduate of CIT and a former lecturer there. EMC is accelerating the journey to cloud computing for customers and partners, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyse their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. This year, EMC partnered with CIT to develop and deliver the world’s first Industry-led cloud computing degree and masters programmes remotely. EMC owns RSA Security in Shannon, Co Clare, and VMware in Ballincollig, Co Cork, with both playing strategic roles in EMC’s journey to the cloud.

Michael G Devane

Michael Devane currently works as a Business and Industry Executive focused on the strategic development of enterprise and the promotion of collaboration between public and private entities. His broad knowledge and linkage to business, industry and academic institutes, allows him broker and leverage this diverse capability such that it facilitates the development of new investment initiatives. He is focused on the organization and development of new research and commercial opportunities that can transform the existing industry base and is working on new flagship projects that support the translation of research and innovation in ICT, Marine and Green sectors.

Michael is the Chairman of SmartBay, the new national platform to support research and innovation in the Marine ICT sector. He is a former member of the Board of American Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the American Chamber Research and Development Working Group, and continues to work with the Chamber in the development of new forms of engagement between Academia and Industry.

Michael was the VP and Managing Director of Lucent Technologies International Sales with responsibility for their trading principal and investments in Ireland until 2007. Previously he was VP of Supply Chain Operations in Europe until 2004. His operational background within the ICT and the Discrete Manufacturing sectors, include experience in organization and business development and new venture startups, within both multinationals and small enterprises. Much of his career has focused on the transformation of enterprise, the development and expansion of new or foreign direct investments. He has significant experience in re-structuring operations, including the transition and outsourcing of manufacturing and engineering activities and the creation of new value opportunities and capability.

Michael has over 25 years experience in managing and leading multinational companies in Ireland / Europe. Michael has both Executive Operational Management and Industry Consulting experience and background across multiple industries and enterprises.

Tom Mangan, VP Operations and General Manager, Boston Scientific Cork

Tom joined Boston Scientific Cork in 1998 and held a number of senior management positions in Finance and IT, Logistics, and Production, before being promoted to his current role. He has been an integral part of the start-up and development of the Cork site. Tom has successfully managed technology transfers, significant new product launches, and the growth of the site’s capability in process development.

Tom has been instrumental in establishing the site as a manufacturing entity for a number of corporate businesses for Boston Scientific and creating a diversified portfolio of products for the site.