The €16m facility will see the full automation of the rebar cutting and bending process.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke, TD, will today (7 March) officially open a new €16m facility at Midland Steel in Portlaoise. Reportedly the smart plant will require 80pc less onsite labour and will reduce build times by up to 75pc.
Midland Steel was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountmellick, Laois. It supplies the Irish and UK construction market with offsite rebar prefabrication and building information modelling services. The investment into the new facility will enable the full automation of the rebar cutting and bending process, providing off-site manufacturing of a finished product ready for concrete placement.
Midland Steel has supplied materials for a number of high-profile developments, including London’s Shard, the Aviva Stadium and GAA headquarters in Croke Park.
The establishment of the automated steel fabrication facility will generate at least 60 jobs over the next three years and the company will be looking to recruit top-quality engineers, robotic technicians, estimators, BIM modellers, mechanical and electrical technicians and steel fixers.
The news was welcomed by Burke who said Midland Steel’s innovative FasterFix technology has already shown its ability to transform efficiency in the construction sector, both at home and on an international scale. He expressed his excitement at seeing an Irish company build upon its reputation across Europe and further afield.
In an interview on Midlands103, Midland Steel managing director and founder Tony Woods said, “Effectively we will be producing reinforcement steel which is a very manual, labour intensive process, for all reinforced elements of concrete.
“Which there are labour constraints in our industry, all of that process will now become automated. 98pc of it will remove manual handling from site, which makes the site a safer place, a leaner place and a more sustainable workplace.”
In November of last year, Kirby Group Engineering announced the opening of an €8m off-site manufacturing facility in Portlaoise, with plans to increase the site’s headcount to 50 by the end of 2025.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
