Business Visit #8-Microsoft

We were able to have a short visit with an executive within Microsoft. We received a brief presentation and overview of the Microsoft European operations. Many of Microsoft’s products and services are also supported in Ireland for distribution within Europe. Microsoft has been one of the leading and preferred employers with both Ireland and Europe over the past several years. It was interesting to learn that both employees from Accenture and Serco are also colocated with Microsoft employees in the same offices.

Since 1985 Microsoft has been operating in Ireland and currently includes three separate divisions (Microsoft EMEA Operations Center (EOC), Microsoft European Development Center (EDC) and Microsoft Sales, Marketing & Services Group (SMSG) supporting Microsoft business across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Microsoft has been expanding throughout Ireland for example in Sandyford, Co. Dublin where there are over 1000 full time staff and 400 full time contractors, Grange Castle Business Park, Co. 

Microsoft Ireland has been extremely successful in many facets. The company has been called one of the best places to work and has been noted for its commitment to responsible leadership in the area of social responsibility.

Microsoft Ireland has three main divisions.

Microsoft EMEA Operations Center (EOC)-Customer Support and Sales for over 85 countries serving Europe, Middle East and Africa. Their services include: manufacturing,finance, supply chain management, billing and partner management for all of Microsoft’s vast offerings of products and services.

Microsoft European Development Center (EDC) - Engineering. The EDC is responsible for software development throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).  From operating systems to products like Office and Xbox games, this group helps modify the different language requirements in modification of the software and support materials.

Microsoft Ireland (Sales, Marketing, and Services Group)-  Is responsible for sales and marketing for their partners and customers.

Source: Microsoft-Microsoft in Ireland 2011-August 9,2011

http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/about/microsoftinireland.mspx

Business Visit #7-Intel

We visited and had a very informative presentation on Intel’s Ireland operations. The presenter was very impressive and certainly had a very thorough and technical grasps of all things going on at the facility and within the Intel company. We had an opportunity to visit the area that Intel chips are manufactured from silicon. The manufacturing process is quite intense with many processes and is highly automated with very expensive manufacturing equipment, and use of robotic equipment hanging from the ceiling to mobilize the chips being manufactured to the next stage in the process. We saw very few people working with the manufacturing facility. The manufacturing plants operates around the clock producing millions of chips that are shipped all over the world. The operations were very efficient and helped demonstrate Intel's market-share and world leadership position as well as its continued investments in continuos improvement that will make it hard for new competitive threats to compete with Intel in the future.


Source: Intel Ireland
http://www.intel.com/corporate/europe/emea/irl/intel/index.htm?iid=IRLSHORT+Lisbon&

Guinness Tour

I spent my first day in Dublin by taking a tour of the the Guinness factory to see how the famous Irish beer was made. At the end of the tour, I was able to taste a properly poured authentic Guinness beer right that was made at the factory. In the factory, guests had an opportunity to learn how to properly pour and taste their own Guinness - very cool ! 

A little bit of what I learned at Guinness. Guinness a popular Irish dry stout beer that was originated in a brewery owned by Arthur Guinness located at St. James’s Gate in Dublin. Guiness was a direct descent of the porter style that originated in the early 18^th century in London and is today one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. Guinness’ burnt flavor which is derived from the use of roasted unmalted barley, which we got to try during the tour is one of the distinctive features of the beer. A portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed product which gave it a sharp lactic flavor for several years and that is characteristic of the original Porter.

There has been a decline in the consumption since the height of demand in 2001 but Guinness is still the best selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness has revenue of about 2 billion Euros annually.

Sales soared from 350,000 barrels in 1868 to 779,000 barrels in 1876. Guinness went public in 1886 and averaged sales of 1,138,000 barrels a year. It is interesting to note that  the company refused to offer their beer at a price discount and did not rely heavily on advertising.

Murphy’s Beer vs. Guinness Beer

We learned to order Murphys in Cork and Guinness in Dublin to avoid upsetting the locals and contributing to the heated locality rivalries between the two most populous cities in Ireland. Compared to Guinness-Murphy’s is a lighter and sweeter dry stout beer. Its flavor is similar to that of caramel and malt as well as being a distant relative of chocolate milk. Murphy’s Beer is a regional beer that is consumed by locals in Cork, Ireland and is preferred to Guinness as part of the Cork vs. Dublin culture. Murphy’s Beer is a dry stout beer brewed in County Cork since 1956. I tried both and thought both were tolerable, and that they tasted better in Ireland than they do in the United States.

Sources: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness
http://www.guinness-storehouse.com
http://www.guinness.com

Cork/Dublin-The Shellbourne Hotel-Dublin Ireland

The Shellbourne Hotel was built in 1824 and was recently restored. It is a 5-Star hotel located in Dublin that overlooks St. Stephen’s Green-one of Europe’s nicest parks, that reminded me of Central Park in New York City. The hotel is close to nearby cultural and historic buildings in the city. It is very close and walking distance to the well known Trinity College. It is within short distance of Guinness beer factory and museum.  

The rooms were much nicer and more equipped than in our accommodations in Cork. It was nice to have modern wireless internet, a US style plug and modern amenities within the hotel room.







Source: 
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/dubbr-the-shelbourne-dublin-a-renaissance-hotel/

Blarney Castle

I had the privilege of climbing Blarney Castle to kiss the famous Blarney stone and to attempt to receive the gift of gab / eloquence.

The Blarney castle has been attracting attention since it was built over six hundred years ago by Cormac McCarthy. It has become a world landmark and one of Ireland’s greatest tourist traps, where apparently many Americans and foreigners come to visit when they visit Ireland.

The overwhelming popularity is because of the Blarney Stone, which is the legendary Stone of Eloquence that is located at the top of tower. A worker sits there for tips and will help lower you backwards and upside down to kiss the stone. I had to try twice, realizing the first time I did not lower myself low enough and I kissed the wrong stone!


The state that the legend states that if you kiss it you will never be at a loss for words. When I spoke to a few young local Irish people in the pubs, they said that some Irish sneak in and urinate on the stone, after hours, I hope this is not the case. 

We learned that Cormac McCarthy-King of Muster at one time occupied the castle. Cormac McCarthy came to the aid of Robert the Bruce by supplying him with four thousand men from Muster to assist at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In gratitude towards McCarthy the king gave half of the Stone of Scone to him. The legend states that the stone that was given to McCarthy is now known as the Blarney Stone that has been incorporated in the battlements where it can be kissed and is kissed hundreds of times daily by foreign tourists.

Sources: 
Blarney Castle 2011-Web design York by brightfive  www.blarneycastle.ie

WikiPedia-July 27,2011 (last modified) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blarney_Castle

Jameson Factory Tour

On my free day I went on a tour of the Jameson Factory to see how their Irish whiskey was manufactured and to learn more about the history of Jameson. I was one of eight people on our tour selected to taste test between Irish Whiskey, Scotch whiskey and American Whiskey. The Irish Whiskey was certainly the highest quality and in my opinion the best.

One of the major differences between Jameson and Whiskey of the world is the triple distillation process that is used. It combines malted barley with unmalted or “green” barley. The most famous component within Jameson is the “Pure Pot Still” distilling tradition.

Originally one of the six main Dublin Whiskeys, Jameson is now distilled in Cork, although vatting still takes place in Dublin. With annual sales of over 31 million bottles, Jameson is by far the best selling Irish whiskey in the world.


When John Jameson, a Scottish businessman, acquired the Bow Street Distillery in 1780, it was producing about 30,000 gallons annually. By the turn of the 19th century, it was the second largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world, producing 1,000,000 gallons annually. Dublin at the time was the epicenter of world whiskey production. By 1805, Jameson had become the world's number one whiskey in the world in terms of annual consumption.

Today, Jameson is the third largest Single Distillery Whiskey in the world. The New Middleton Distillery which I toured now produces most of the Irish whiskey sold in Ireland.


Source: http://www.jamesonwhiskey.com/default.aspx

Business Visit #8 - Pfizer Pharmaceuticals - Ireland

We visited with human resource leaders from Pfizer and learned of the importance of operations near Cork. The abundance of low cost skilled labor and the Pfizers ability to identify and train staff made this an ideal location to manufacture Pfizers line of drugs.

The Pfizer plants manufactures API for several popular medicines on the market (Viagra, Lipitor etc.). We were able to tour the facility manufacturing plant and shop floor. I noticed that the processes were highly automated and did not observe very many employees in the process.  I observed Pfizer follows many of the the principles we learned in our supply chain and project management course.

Pfizer ranks as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in terms of  sales in the world. 

Pfizer is one of Ireland’s leading employers and the largest pharmaceutical sector investor and employer. Pfizer is one of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland and began operations in Ireland in 1969. Recent global mergers within the pharmaceutical business has Pfizer in the process of selling off or shutting down several operation facilities in Ireland to reduce their over capacity in the near future. The operations were quite impressive as was their emphasis on plant and employee safety. They have their own fire department for their facility and have many dangerous processes and chemicals utilized in their processes and operations.

The leaders of our tour stated that they produce between 80 and 100 tons of drugs from the plant we toured on average every year. 


Source: http://www.pfizer.ie/cf/index.cfm