WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING
June 2007

Drives and automation engineer Michael Dineen has proved that the boom in Ireland’s industrial economy is continuing by winning two pan-European awards.

Michael of Irish industrial distributor Dickson Bearings and Transmissions Limited has installed the most variable speed drives, measured in total kilowatts of power, of all of Silverteam’s regional distributors. For this he picked up the latest Hitachi DAB radio. Simultaneously Hitachi Europe presented him with a cutting edge Hitachi DVD player/recorder for his outstanding contribution to European Automation development.

Silverteam director Philip Larkin praised Michael: “Ireland is a relatively small market, but there is tremendous underlying growth that opens up new opportunities for drives. An example of this is that Irish engineers are very committed to protecting their beautiful local environment, so Michael has become something of a champion for energy efficiency through variable speed technology.”

Michael’s environmental philosophy is very simple: “The best way to save energy is to turn your machines off. And if you can’t do that you can probably turn them down, so install variable speed drives.”

To make the presentation on behalf of Hitachi Joe Gregory flew in from Düsseldorf. His view of automation is typically pan European: “Countries with a long history of manufacturing are well used to the idea of automation. But for Irish engineers it is often a first-time adventure. They have to have real faith and vision that all the effort and investment will be worthwhile, and Michael helps instil this. They have to jump from often quite low tech production to state of the art control and automation in one go in order to ensure they have international competitive systems.”

Michael has proved very good at easing his clients through all the complexities of automation. He often organises panel builders, brings in new technologies and specialists, and is on hand for installation and commissioning.

Of his success he says: “Business in Ireland is all about long term relationships. If we are not friends the Irish can’t do business. We don’t confine our relationships to commerce or technology; we really get to know one another and take pleasure in each others company.”