Engineers Ireland celebrated excellence in the fields of maintenance engineering and asset management at its annual MEETA (Maintenance, Engineering, Environment and Technology Association) awards, which took place at the Herbert Park Hotel, Dublin recently.
The awards recognise the ingenuity shown by those in maintenance and asset management in providing value to their companies and are an initiative of Engineers Ireland’s MEETA society, a special interest group for maintenance, reliability and asset management practitioners.
The event was attended by the president of Engineers Ireland, Marguerite Sayers, Caroline Spillane, director general of Engineers Ireland, John Byrne, director of sectoral engagement with Engineers Ireland and its CPD and STEPS director, Dee Kehoe.
They were joined by the chair of the MEETA society Joe O’Sullivan and Ray O’Neill, managing director of the event sponsor, ESS Ltd, John Coleman, and other members of the MEETA Society were in attendance.
The winners of our MEETA AWARDS 2019 were as follows:
- Overall Industry Award: Shonah Mullins from Takeda (Dunboyne) for the project, Deployment of a Next Enterprise approach to Asset Management
- Maintenance Technology Category winner: Gerard Grace from Zimmer Biomet for the project Improved Reliability of Schutte grinding process
- Health and Safety Category Award: Owen Wilson, Gas Networks Ireland, for the project Hazcon Application
- Management Category Award: Derek Murtagh, MSD Biotech, Dublin for the project, Project Asset Management Strategy
- Environment Category Award: Shane O’Neill, BMS Cruiserath for the project Water for Injection Reduction in BMS
- Student Award: Overall winner: Shane Guerin, a graduate of Cork Institute of Technology. Level 8, Mechanical Engineering Degree project
Marguerite Sayers, said: “In my role as president, I am acutely aware of the importance of maintenance and its contribution to economic growth and the impact it has on safety and the environment. Quality maintenance leads to higher productivity, where greater outputs can be achieved from the same inputs.
“The award winners here tonight have stepped up to that challenge because they understand that effective maintenance and asset management contributes to a better bottom line, and by recognising that they have helped their companies to remain competitive in these challenging times.”
New Sean Hennessy Perpetual Trophy
Sayers also highlighted the new Sean Hennessy Perpetual Trophy which was presented for the first-time last night to the overall MEETA winner in memory of the late Sean Hennessy, one of the founding members of MEETA.
The trophy was designed by artists from the National Sculpture Factory in Cork to reflect Sean’s passion for life.
The largest single element on the trophy is the 'salmon of knowledg' to represent Sean's passion for learning and transfer of knowledge. This was his abiding motivation in his work for Meeta and was exemplified by his active encouragement and support of others in their development needs.
Sayers extended a special welcome to Sean’s wife, Noreen, and members of his family who attended the awards in Dublin last night.