JFC Manufacturing - John Concannon

Location & Foundation

The international expansion and acquisitions by Tuam plastics manufacturing firm JFC Manufacturing, especially at their new state-of-the art plant in Poland and the acquiring of the Delleve plastic recycling company in the UK in particular, have also contributed to the rapid expansion of the parent plant in Ireland too.

The story of how this Irish firm has expanded from humble beginnings in Tuam in 1987 to its present international status where it also has branches in Poland, The Netherlands plus several in the UK as well as its parent plant in Tuam, Co. Galway, is a story of dogged determination by its managing director John Concannon, his wife Patricia and their staff who have followed their dreams and made them into reality.

Employees / Suppliers

The company which employs 175 have developed a range of plastic products for many markets such as equestrian, hotel and catering, agriculture, environment, road building and the construction industry. The company has more than doubled its size in the last three years and the Turnover should be € 30 million for 2005. Their acquisitions, in a five million Euro deal, of the Delleve Plastic company in Stratford-on-Avon and Reprise Plastic Recycling firm in St. Helens means that JFC can now convert 20,000 tonnes of plastic bottles into corrugated drainage pipes, known as “Corri-Pipes” for use in the construction industry each year. The company has also perfected the complete range of plastic fittings required for connecting the “Corri-Pipes”.

Key Product Features

While the plastic bottles are processed into plastic pellets in the firm’s UK plants much of this material is then transported to the Tuam factory to be made into the pipes that are supplies to the Irish market. Thus this company’s UK operations are also benefiting its Irish workforce as well.

In April 2004 JFC won the prestigious “Sunday Business Post” Done Deal award for its UK acquisitions and in May of this year (2005) the firm won one of the major recycling award in the UK at the British Plastics Federation “Best Environment Initiative” for its recycling of plastic bottles at its JFC Delleve plant. “The idea of getting involved in recycling waste plastic bottles in an international setting was a big challenge but we recognised a niche market here for the end product, drainage pipes which are now in big demand for road and other drainage projects all over Ireland and the UK," said John Concannon.

He continued “We are in the middle of a € 5 million Recycling development in St Helens in the UK to reprocess 25,000 tons of plastic bottles. We are also working with all the local authorities in Ireland and UK at present to collect and reprocess the waste plastic. Every country in Europe is producing waste plastic bottles and there is a great need to have a recycling recovery facility that can produce a quality product from this waste plastic, we at JFC are in talks with several potential clients interested in setting up the pipe manufacturing operations in other countries too.”

John also said that by preventing 20,000 tons of waste bottles from entering land fill every year his firm are doing the environment a favour.” We must remember that it costs about € 120 a ton to put waste into land fill, so by producing a product from this waste plastic is a ‘win win’ situation for every one.” He added. “We have taken part in the Enterprise Ireland Development Programme over the years. Anywhere we identified potential markers we went after them and doing the business plan for Enterprise Ireland has focused us in such a way that we have got to understand our business better and to become more definite in the direction that our company is going.” he added.

John Concannon says diversifying into different markets has been vital for the success of JFC as the firm identified the decline in the agriculture market over the past few years and new areas for sales had to be sought out. The firm has always believed in investing in R&D and in recent times JFC have spent € 1 million on a new dedicated R/D facility which was supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Scale of Achievement

“To date year on year this R/D has delivered the products and processes that has given us the advantage over the competition,” he said. John added that for a small company to have 10 people in R/D is expensive but JFC are getting the return on there investment, ”The team operating in this facility have perfected the art of manufacturing drainage pipes from recycled materials and we now have perfected a technology that can be set up in many international markets under a licence.

This is our intention, R/D and new products and processes are the life blood of the JFC Company and being short listed for the Ernest & Young competition highlights and recognises the achievements of a great Team that have contributed to the JFC success story to date”

He is happy too that from a base in the West of Ireland the firm can deal with the ever expanding export markets but now having another plant in Poland positions the company strategically to capture the new markets in the enlarged EU and into other areas of Eastern Europe as well. It was a big international challenge for JFC to build and open a manufacturing plant in Poland where language and culture barriers existed as well as very different market trends. But after years of serving the Polish, Eastern and Central European markers from its mainland base in Marum in the Netherlands the JFC firm saw that the time was right to make have another international manufacturing base in Poland which would open almost in tandem with that country joining the enlarged EU.

Last September JFC opened its new factory in Poland; about 20 km from Warsaw and Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Noel Treacy as well as the Polish Ambassador in Ireland plus several Ministers from the Polish parliament were present for the opening of this factory, which was a truly international event. RTE T.V. also sent a film crew and reporter to film a segment for one of its programmes on Irish firms expanding in the expanded EU.

“We had to create a new product range which is suitable for the polish market and culture, we had a language and distance barrier to overcome but so far the results have been fantastic and our Polish plant is operating well ahead of targets,” says John Concannon. But even though it may be far from Tuam Poland is only a neighbouring international location for JFC s the firm has exported products to as far away as South Korea. Last year the company started shipping some of its plastic products for the equestrian market to the East Asia country and other markets in this region are currently being explored too. In the cold climate of Scandinavia JFC products are popular too and the firm has made international inroads there with it thermal plastic water troughs which ensure that the animals can have drinking water which is not frozen in the far north of Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Innovation / Creativity - What aspects of your operation do you regard as being particularly creative or innovative?

The success to date with the recycling of used plastic bottles to manufacture our “Corri-Pipe” drainage pipes for roads and construction projects and winning the British Plastic Federation “Best Environment Initiative 2005” for this. JFC offer a complete recycling package and are introducing a new bottle collection bank specifically for plastic bottles. This will mean that the company can collect the bottles from the councils and the local authorities will in turn buy back the pipes made from their waste bottles for road building projects. In this way JFC are completing the recycling loop with the plastic bottles making the full circle.

In this way JFC are making a significant contribution to the environment and the economy by taking approximately 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste from land fill sites every year and turning the bottles into valuable products for road building and drainage projects. Every country in the EU has targets regarding recycling and Ireland and the UK is no different. So this initiative was recognised by the British Plastics Federation who gave JFC the main award for recycling for 2005.

Initial Expansion - How did your initial phase of market expansion occur?

Our initial markets expanded from serving the agriculture sector in the West of Ireland with plastic products to going nationwide in this market and then progressing internationally by targeting the agriculture sector in the UK and mainland Europe.

Obstacles Overcome – What are the toughest issues you deal with as you continue to grow your business?

Creating products for the export market, which can be transported more easily, has been a major obstacle to overcome. This is because many of our products are bulky and they are more difficult to transport. So one big obstacle is trying to come up with designs for goods to make them easier to stack so that larger volumes can be transported more easily. Our Research and Design team are constantly striving to streamline the design of our products to make them more transport friendly for international markets.

Organisational Culture – How would you define the culture within your organisation?

There is a great organisational culture within the company, a strong team spirit exists across the organisation. Staffs is encouraged to feel that they are all vital cogs in an organisation which is constantly expanding, and they are the vital cogs in JFCs global expansion. There is a culture within the organisation of getting the job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Impact on Lifestyle - How do you recharge your batteries?

For relaxation and recharging the batteries John Concannon plays golf, squash and likes to go to GAA games, this could be following the fortunes of the Galway Ladies Football team, which the company sponsor, or supporting the parish football team, Kilconly. He also involves himself in community work and as a family man there is always family activities that can take the mind off business during the time spent away from the business affairs of JFC.

John Concannon has been involved in many fund-raising events to help worthy causes, especially the Sick Children at Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin and he has used his international connections for this purpose too. A few years ago, he sponsored the Dutch Brass Cycling Band, from the area in Holland where JFC has its base, and got them to cycle from Kinsale to Galway to raise money for Our Lady’s Hospital. John himself did the cycle along with many of his business associates. Having seen the success of tractor pulling championships in Holland he also introduced this sport to Ireland by sponsoring the All-Ireland Tractor Pulling Championships in Kilconly, Co. Galway annually with all proceeds going towards the local community.

Role Models – Have you a role model who has influenced your approach to business?

Internationally Richard Branson has influenced John Concannon in his enterprises. “I have read his books and watched with interest the way that he has spread the brand names for his products around the world. In JFC we have tried to do the same and after 18 years we have hopefully created brands in our business which are internationally recognised,” said John Concannon. Like Richard Branson John Concannon got involved in Hot Air Ballooning too and his JFC logo has been a familiar sight I the skies around Ireland, especially at many charity events and at international Hot Air Balloon Festivals too. Like Richard Branson John Concannon is a fully qualified Hot Air Balloon pilot. So Branson has been a big influence in his life as a role model. So internationally, nationally and locally the JFC firm is forging ahead, expanding all the time from its base in Tuam but ensuring too that this continuing international activity is of benefit to the parent firm and its ever increasing staff numbers in Ireland too.