Cantillon: Find inspiration in the dull (but clever)

There was a time, not all that long ago, when we were repeatedly told, usually in the context of a factory closure, that Ireland was simply too expensive for traditional manufacturing companies and that we should all focus on moving up the value chain. This would mean bypassing making bolts and bathrooms, for developing technology so small as to be invisible to the naked eye and then hopping over to China to see how cheaply it could be physically incorporated into whatever the fanciest product might be at the time.

The plan appealed to our more refined side, but it was perhaps only half-right, with the passage of time proving that making the plainer things in life could still have a place in a modern economy, peacefully co-existing with all the high-end, sophisticated technologies in which we have, happily, also become experts.

Take, for example, last week's announcement from Tricel, a family-owned Kerry company that has been in operation since 1973, when it was founded as Killarney Plastics. Tricel said it would hire 100 new staff over the coming 18 months, 40 of whom would be based in Kerry and the remainder at its other sites in countries including Britain and Germany.

Tricel makes water storage tanks and other building products – the kind of things most people don't care too much about until the ones they already have start to cause problems and cost them money. In other words (and with respect to Tricel), these are boring items; the same kind of dull (but clever) products made by, say, PanelDuct, the Mayo firm that won the Innovation of the Year award this year in a contest run by The Irish Times.

Tricel makes things in five countries (including Ireland) and grew during the recession because it was forced to look at new markets abroad. In this, perhaps it should offer inspiration to its smaller peers. You can be an Irish manufacturer without making everything in Ireland, and just because you’re an Irish manufacturer doesn’t mean you are limited to an Irish market for your products.