Industry category - Lotus Automation Group

Entrepreneur: Fergal Broder
Business Activity: Engineering

Established in Sligo in 1989, Lotus Automation is now an internationally recognised group of companies delivering instrumentation, automation, engineering and construction expertise to a variety of process and manufacturing industries in Europe and the USA.

The group employs 300 staff globally of which 170 are employed in Ireland. Annual payroll in Ireland is €7.5 million; with a local annual spend of €2 million on goods and services.

Products
Services and products are not industry specific. The company partners with and provides solutions to clients in the following sectors: Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices, Semi-Conductor, Food & Beverage and Waste Water.

Lotus Automation delivers professional expertise on solutions for industrial calibration services; control system and panel manufacturing; CE marking; machine building; product sales; commissioning and maintenance services and asset management consulting.

Customers
The company’s corporate business strategy has successfully developed strong business relationships with the Irish market and continues growth in the UK, USA, Europe and the Far East. The successful and continued growth in its markets globally has ensured that Lotus Automation is now a substantial multinational company with a prosperous future.

Entrepreneurial Questions

What vision prompted you to start up in business?
I was working in the Munster region at the time and identified a niche in the market in the Northwest and saw this as an excellent opportunity to get back to Sligo.

Describe your progression from start up to your current status?
We built a solid reputation in our industry and this led to our first technical services contract for a major multi-national. Through working for one of those multinationals in the US, we quickly recognised the potential and opportunity existing there for our services. We established Lotus Automation USA and later acquired KM Kelly. In March this year, Lotus Automation signed an agreement to acquire two further companies on the US west coast. Today we are a multi-national group with six companies employing approximately 300 people worldwide.

What was the biggest risk you have taken?
The biggest risk we have taken was the first acquisition in the U.S. However, it was a risk well worth taking as it gave us a firmer foothold in the States.

Who or what has contributed to your success?
The single biggest contribution to the success of the company has been made by the team of people who work and have worked with me at Lotus Automation. Without their hard work and commitment, the company would not be the success it is today.

What is your biggest business achievement?
Securing our first significant contract with a major multinational. This gave us the credibility and the confidence to tender for and win other contracts with other major multinationals operating in Ireland & US.

What is the best piece of business advice you have ever received?
“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is”

Express the biggest challenge you see your industry facing?
Recruitment - We have been fortunate that we have excellent relationships with IT Sligo & FAS and have been able to attract good people. Looking to the future, the challenge is to encourage young people to take up engineering as a career.

Name a famous international entrepreneur you most admire and why?
I have a great admiration for Richard Branson; he is a self-made man who has relied on his own sense of entrepreneurship to achieve that success. He is successful in so many diverse areas.

How do you recharge your batteries?
I am lucky in that I am able to switch off once I leave the office, so once I get home I am already on recharge. I have taken up golf recently & find it can be very relaxing.