Contained cables keep plants clean

Another key criterion for pharmaceutical production - cleanliness - is being addressed by Kilkenny-based Dunreidy Engineering.

Established in 1989, Dunreidy is a turnkey electrical and mechanical company offering application engineering, PLC control systems and instrumentation. But its most notable product is Hycon, a modular stainless steel cable containment system.

'By keeping the cables contained, you are reducing the risk of trapping dust and other contamination,' says electrical division director Donal Dunne. 'Welding pipework together is not only very expensive, it is also not very user friendly if you have to take it apart, for example to gain access to a broken cable. But our system is made up of a series of components that fit together.'

Other advantages of Hycon are reduced installation time, due to the modular design and rapid assembly, and potentially lower material costs compared with some alternative systems. The joints are friction fit and sealed with a bonding agent. This not only makes the weld impermeable but also reduces the number of brackets needed to fix the pipework, further eliminating potential dust and dirt traps. Price is not really an issue, Dunne claims. More important to customers are quality and ease of cleaning and maintenance.

The company employs around 100 people and has a turnover of €6m, of which €1.2m was accounted for by exports. At present Hycon is being exported to Asia and Europe, as well as being used by many multinational pharma companies in Ireland. Recently Dunreidy won a contract for Hycon worth an initial €500,000 with Swedish company Pharmadule. The company, which builds pharma and biotech plants, will install the system in a new plant under construction for one of its customers in Indianapolis in the US.

Around 90% of Hycon installations are in pharmaceutical cleanrooms. 'We see major opportunities for HyCon overseas and especially in the pharma sector,' stresses Dunne. 'We are aiming in particular at Scandinavia - Norway, Sweden and Denmark - as well as France and Germany. Outside western Europe we are looking at Asia, especially Singapore, Japan and the US.'

The company is developing both new products and the existing range to make them more suitable for markets outside Ireland, especially the US, where it is hoping to make a breakthrough in the next few months. 'We would like to be going faster, but we are taking it step by step to make sure we can supply everyone,' Dunne explains.