Minister for Enterprise opens 'milestone' new Laois automated steel factory

Midland Steel, Ireland’s leading steel reinforcement business, has officially opened its revolutionary automated facility in J17 National Enterprise Park, Portlaoise.

The ribbon was cut and a plaque unveiled at the huge SMART factory by Minister for Enterprise, Tourism & Employment, Peter Burke TD on Friday, March 6 to a large attendance of industry customers, colleagues and the family of founder, Tony Woods.

The company is expanding within Laois, retaining its Mountmellick headquarters at Bay View Business Park. It expects to double staff numbers within the next three years to about 140 skilled workers. It also has plants in Norway and the UK. 

Midland Steel has invested €16 million in the new building and its groundbreaking automated machines, which build the steel mesh ‘rebar’ grills that form the skeleton in large scale concrete structures. Read more here.

It is a process that was done by hand up to now in the steel industry, with many workers backbreakingly laying out and welding long single bars into grills.

The attendance for the opening of Midland Steel's Portlaoise plant. Photos: Alf Harvey

The vast 7,500 sq metre building houses giant coils of steel bars that get fed into a machine which cuts and bends them into rebar grids. They are all designed per bespoke order on computer by a team in an operating room, resulting in zero waste, cutting carbon emissions. 

It cuts manufacture time by 75% and manpower by 80%, and can supply at a cheaper cost. It has been used already in London Bridge Station and in Harcourt Plaza.

CEO Tony Woods spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live on the day of the opening.

“It’s an enormous milestone for our company in today’s opening of our smart manufacturing facility here in Laois. We had a vision, eight, nine years ago about trying to bring modern methods of construction and new solutions to our industry to make it safer, better and more sustainable.

“We’re creating between 60 and 70 jobs here in the new industrial park. That’s with support enormously from John Mulholland at the time who was CEO of Laois County Council. His vision, our vision combined. He had a vision for an industrial park that was of smart manufacturing background and we had a vision of trying to develop something that was really special for our industry which hasn’t changed in the last 100 years. 

“We started in Mountmellick 23 years ago in 2003, we opened a site and of course it’s our headquarters, and it’s always going to be. This is an additional plant to support future jobs, future growth. Mountmellick is very important to us. We’re going to do two different aspects of the industry, one in Mountmellick, one in Portlaoise. The estimate is we’ll have about 130 to 140 people working in Midland Steel,” he said.

At the launch, he presented the history of the business, from his taking on of a blockmaking plant in Birr in 1998, to expansion into steel, and then rebar in 2004.

“In the 2008 crash we lost 95% of our order book in five weeks. We had to be agile. We explored our options and in 2012 we embraced BIM (digital 3D modelling) as an off-site solution. We brought the first robotic cell in the western world to Mountmellick. By 2019 that site had become constrained,” he explained. 

They bought the site from Laois County Council and built the plant themselves.

The Woods family at Midland Steel in Portlaoise for the unveiling of a €16 million Smart Steel Fabrication Facility which is transforming the construction industry. From left: Darragh, Deirdre, Andrea, Keely Jackson, Conor, Paul, Tony and John. Photo: Alf Harvey, no reproduction fee

“This is the first SMART manufacturer ever in Ireland, it’s a major step for Ireland, for industry and for us as a company. It was a big investment for us, it enables us to be 60% more productive. We’ve changed the way rebar is done and we have a global vision to take this to other countries,” he said.

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD praised the company.

“I am delighted to officially open the Midland Steel, state-of-the-art fully automated steel fabrication facility, here in Portlaoise. Midland Steel’s innovative FasterFix technology is already transforming efficiency in the construction industry at home and abroad, and it is fantastic to see an Irish company making such impressive inroads across Europe and beyond.

"The significant investment by Midland Steel in Laois not only reinforces Ireland’s leadership in Modern Methods of Construction but also creates highly skilled jobs in engineering, robotics, and BIM modelling —securing the future of our construction industry. I congratulate Tony Woods and his team on this milestone and look forward to seeing Midland Steel continue to push the boundaries of innovation in construction,” the Minister said.

Simon Walton, Director of Services Laois County Council; Michael Rainey, Chief Executive Laois County Council; Willie Aird TD and Angela McEvoy, Director of Services Laois County Council at Midland Steel in Portlaoise for the unveiling of a €16 million Smart Steel Fabrication Facility which is transforming the construction industry. Photo: Alf Harvey, no reproduction fee

The CEO of Laois County Council Michael Rainey welcomed the new factory.

“It’s a great day to be here at the opening of Midland Steel in Junction 17 National Enterprise Park and we welcome Minister Burke to the county for this opening. More than anything it shows how attractive Laois is as a place to invest, and the foresight that was shown by Laois County Council in acquiring these lands and developing the park. You can see the product of it here today and I hope it is the start of many more jobs coming to the county,” he said to the Leinster Express. 

Among the employees is Mick Farrell from Portlaoise.

“I am with Midland Steel for two years as a crane driver. Before this I worked in Dublin. It’s great now, I’m near home. There’s something different to do every day,” he said.

Leo Shoco is one of about 20 Filipino people working at the factory.

Some of the staff at Midland Steel in Portlaoise. Photo: Alf Harvey

“It’s good, we enjoy working here. We want to stay here, Laois is good,” he said.

Midland Steel went local for their designers, to Insight Architects in Portlaoise. It was designed by Micheál McGrath with Marc Conroy, architectural technologist representing the company at the launch.

“It’s our biggest project to date. It was a great honour to do it, it’s a good news story for Laois,” he said.

Read also: Michael Healy Rae in Laois to visit 'massive business'.

The company projects strong revenue growth over the next three years, with an expected €35million increase with its expansion.

Enterprise Ireland was also represented at the launch, calling the business "an amazing story" and "the realisation of a dream".

"It is world class, the best of its kind globally, servicing international customers," the rep said.

He confirmed that Mr Woods will attend meetings in New York accompanying Enterprise Ireland next week. 

Laois TD Willie Aird was at the launch to welcome his Fine Gael colleague, Minister Burke.

"This is a great company. It was great becuase it started in Mountmellick and they've grown their business, it's a credit to them all. It just shows you that Laois County Council having bought this from Pat McDonagh (SuperMacs) at the time, the whole enterprise centre and the way it has opened up. The whole area, the new roads. All the sites are sold in it now. It's a great day for Portlaoise and I hope we have many more. 

"It's 100% successful and we need to drive on this. I had the Minister this morning showing him that we have 40 acres of land adjacent to the IDA park, plus a site in the front which was once earmarked for the decentralised department of agriculture, then the Portlaoise Garda station. That's another parcel of land available there," he said.