FOUR manufacturing leaders have been named as inaugural inductees to the Northern Ireland Manufacturing hall of fame.
They were recognised for their decades of contribution to the region's economy and their efforts in helping to carve out Northern Ireland’s reputation as a leading international location for manufacturing and engineering.
The inductees are Dr Terry Cross OBE, who led Delta Print and Packaging in west Belfast for 40 years before selling to Huhtamaki for £80m in 2017, and current chairman of Hinch Distillery; Pat O’Neill, who co-founded Powerscreen in Dungannon in 1966 and which now employs 1,500 staff under the Terex banner; and Brian Irwin, chairman of Irwin’s Bakery, which produces around a million products a week, along with a posthumous award to his brother Niall Irwin, who passed away in 2018.
The hall of fame is a new initiative as part of Manufacturing Month, a month-long celebration of the north's manufacturing and engineering sector and the talented and skilled people who make the sector one of the most important to the Northern Irish economy.
The four were announced at last night's Anchor High leadership summit dinner at the Galgorm in Ballymena.
As part of the selection criteria, inductees had to have started or grown a Northern Irish business significantly and sustainably over the last two decades at least; enhanced the north’s manufacturing reputation through sectoral or product development; are highly respected by peers, employees and communities in which their businesses operate; or contributes to community initiatives or charitable or sporting causes.
Manufacturing NI chief executive Stephen Kelly said: “Manufacturing Month is, at its core, about celebrating the people within our sector, those makers and leaders who have developed the local industry to the point it’s at now – one of Northern Ireland’s most important economic sectors, bringing in over £15 billion in trade each year.
“The success of our local industry, however, is in large part down to the four leaders we have chosen to be the first ever inductees to the Northern Ireland Manufacturing Hall of Fame.
“Dr Terry Cross, Pat O’Neill, and Brian and Niall Irwin have created countless jobs, sustained thousands of households across Northern Ireland, and produced goods and products which are used and enjoyed in markets across the globe.
“Their impact on our economy and our sector has been immeasurable. They have boosted Northern Ireland’s international reputation as a location for innovation, engineering excellence, and skilled workers, and everyone of us in the local manufacturing sector have leaders like them to thank for laying the foundations over the past 50 years.”
