image Source, diego
The Guinness Brewery produces 3.5 million pints of its popular stout a day.
- Author, naomi rainey
- Role, Business Reporter, BBC
Not far from the traffic of The Liberties, Dublin’s historic working-class neighbourhood, lies the massive factory of one of Ireland’s most famous brands: Guinness.
The historic brewery has produced beer in that factory since its founder, Arthur Guinness, acquired a ruined building in 1759. Now, the “black drink” is produced in a vast complex of buildings, connected by metal pipes to the sound of sound. The barrels are being transported on forklifts.
The factory, owned by beverage giant Diageo, may seem a far cry from Guinness’s beginnings, but director of beer operations Aidan Crowe says the basic process of the brewery hasn’t changed that much. “Our basic process is actually very similar to the processes that Arthur Guinness would have used.”
The brew house on the quayside, at St James’s Gate, opened in 2013 and in its time was the most efficient in the world, says Crowe. Currently, the breweries in Dublin produce 3.5 million pints per day – equivalent to 1.3 billion pints annually (one pint is equal to 0.56 litres).
“Technology has allowed us to be dramatically more efficient, changing the way we handle things like cold water, steam use, electricity use, etc.,” he says.
Crowe says additional improvements will come later.
“You set goals for yourself, maybe 5 or 10 year goals. But when you reach those milestones, you suddenly realize that the horizon has moved further,” he adds.
image Source, getty images
A Guinness Brewery employee removing hops from a slope in 1953.
push from multinational companies
With enough resources, giant companies like Diageo can aim for that horizon. And it’s not just Diageo; Ireland’s economy has benefited from having the headquarters of many multinational companies.,
According to the classification of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, Ireland is the most productive country in the world.
In economic terms, productivity is how much value a worker adds to the things they produce or do, and some workers are in a position to add more value than others.
For example, despite being busy all day, the productivity of a person behind a café counter is limited by how much people are willing to pay for the food and drinks they sell. Whereas Someone in a multinational technology company or pharmaceutical company is more likely to work on high-value products and servicesWhich makes it more productive in terms of official statistics.
Emma Howard, an economist at the University of Technology Dublin, says Ireland is a “unique” global example where a high concentration of multinationals helps boost productivity figures.
“If you look at our total labor productivity, it is two and a half times higher than the EU average,” he says. “But if you break it down into domestic labor productivity and foreign sector productivity, there are big differences.”
image Source, Google
Dublin serves as the European base for many high-tech companies such as Google.
The Irish Central Statistics Office measures productivity through gross value added (GVA) per employee, per hour. GVA is the total product of goods and services, minus production expenses.
When you look at that shape you see Foreign companies are increasing Ireland’s productivity,
In the second quarter of last year, the GVA of foreign companies in Ireland was 414 euros (US$444) per employee, per hour. For local companies the figure was only 55 euros (US$59).
The data also shows that in 2022, foreign companies accounted for 56% of gross value added in the Irish economy.
Ireland’s attraction to multinational companies is due to a number of reasons including low corporate tax rateHoward says.
“If you look at the type of companies that are here – Google, Microsoft, Pfizer or Meta – they are producing a lot of high-value stuff,” he says.
“Some of these assets may be intellectual property, they are not physical property. “Some may be sent through Ireland to take advantage of those lower taxes.”
Giant companies like Digio, which owns Guinness, have the resources to modernize and progress as needed.
Artificial shapes?
However, other economists believe that These multinationals are distorting Ireland’s economic data,
“It seems like they generate a lot of economic activity, but what you get out of that is not a lot. It’s completely artificial in a way,” says Stefan Gerlach, chief economist at Swiss bank EFG International and former deputy head of the Central Bank of Ireland.
“It can’t be,” he says, adding that the productivity gap between foreign and local companies is as wide as the statistics show. “It’s a measurement problem,” he adds.
Gerlach indicates that Gross National Income (GNI) may be a more accurate way to discuss productivity in Ireland,
This measurement better explains how multinational companies direct the flow of revenue through their businesses.
In 2023, a document from Ireland’s Fiscal Advisory Committee expressed that using GNI as a measure could bring Ireland’s productivity in line with its European peers.
Gerlach maintains that Use of misleading productivity measures could steer governments in the wrong direction, “There is a risk that policymakers will overestimate the benefits and underestimate the potential risks of having a large international pool within the economy.”
Howard and Gerlach agree that Ireland’s attractiveness as a business country is not entirely due to taxes. Its status as an English-speaking country and member of the European Union is also an advantage., Additionally, Ireland has a well-educated workforce.
“Across all age groups, we have a higher proportion of workers with tertiary education than the EU average. We have a much higher proportion of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates than our EU counterparts, says Howard.
He added, “So we have these highly skilled workers in a highly educated workforce, and it’s impacting our labor productivity.”
Robin Blandford’s company is based in a 19th-century lighthouse on Cape Howth.
Whatever the data shows, Productivity can often be caused by daily interactions between employees and management.,
This is especially the case since the pandemic, when many more employees began working from home. These days, employees are less likely to be in the same office and even in the same country.
This presents a daily challenge for Robin Blandford.
His company, D4H, supports emergency response teams globally. It is housed in a 19th-century lighthouse on Cape Howth, overlooking Dublin Bay.
blandford aims Inspire your employees in seven countries, “Productivity to me is when we’re all moving in the same direction,” says Blandford.
“Such good communication, everyone understands and communicates with people as best they can, understanding what direction we are going in, how to make decisions.”
“As we’ve spread, what we’ve asked people to do is become part of their communities. Don’t let the workplace choose your friends,” Blandford concluded.
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