EPS Ireland

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :26/07/2007 15:17:13

Water has its cycle, and every aspect of its management is the concern of EPS Pumping & Treatment Systems, Ireland’s largest water treatment company.

Written by John O’Hanlon & produced by Ben Weaver

EPS was founded some 38 years ago by Gerald Buckley, who was joined by his brother Tadgh and Paddy and their sister Betty, and together with Liam Sheahan and Tom Ruddy, who joined in 1978 and 1981 respectively. Under these the business has developed to what it is today. The group has a combined turnover of €60 million and has its new headquarters in Mallow Co Cork, and branches at Ballyhaunis Co Mayo; Mountrath Co Laois; Naas Co Kildare; Cookstown Co Tyrone and Enniskillen Co Fermanagh. It employs a total of 300 people.

The company comprises the following divisions. The Contract Division is involved in the design, build and operation of water and wastewater pumping and treatment plants for county councils and industry. The Operations Division carries out the ongoing operation and maintenance of a variety of pumping, water and wastewater treatment plants.

The Pumping Division supplies drinking water, surface water and sewage pumping solutions to the domestic, industrial and municipal sectors. Finally the Bison Division is a strategic business division with specific capabilities in the design, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and servicing of packaged treatment solutions.

Multiple markets, multiple solutions

In addition to the main divisions, EPS has a number of subsidiary companies. A H Cullen is a dedicated water treatment company, EPS Environmental based in Cookstown delivers the services of the parent company to clients in Northern Ireland and Scotland for Scottish Water Solutions, and J F Andrews, located in Enniskillen, specialises in the supply and commissioning of power generating equipment and pumping solutions.

All the divisions are headquartered in Mallow, where the administrative offices have just moved into a brand new €4 million building. “Our existing offices were built in 1972,” explains Gerald Buckley, “but the company has grown out of recognition since then. They had been extended, but were no longer the required working environment you need these days to encourage your staff to be innovative and creative and to ensure they are motivated at all times. As a consequence we decided to build again to meet our needs over the coming 20 years at least.” The state-of-the-art facility, featuring the latest technology and video conferencing facilities to link all of the EPS branches around the island, incorporates the new Research & Development and Export divisions and accommodates 130 staff.

“EPS has a highly educated and skilled workforce, including engineers, scientists, project managers, designers, technicians, welders and fabricators as well as the accountants and marketing people,” says Patrick Buckley. “With its network of offices, and project across the country, our operations are dispersed, so as well as making life better for our staff in Mallow. The company has also invested in video conferencing at all its locations, which has saved a huge amount of travelling for weekly or monthly meetings and has been welcomed by all our staff. We have also been doing our bit here to reduce our carbon footprint.”

MBR – the solution to infection

The need for investment in Ireland’s water supply infrastructure was worryingly highlighted in April this year with a cryptosporidium outbreak in Galway. Galway like many Irish cities has grown in population faster than its ageing treatment plants could handle – the problem was recently explained by Kevin Kernan, director general of Engineers Ireland who said: “Uniquely in Europe, Ireland relies on surface water for some 80 percent of our drinking water, and surface waters are vulnerable to contamination by cryptosporidium. We have a poor record in putting infrastructure in place ahead of development.”

This outbreak has been bad news for at least 250 people who fell ill as a result, but has boosted the business of bottled water providers – and companies like EPS who will now have to bring the system up to date. “We have recently provided an interim solution at Galway,” says Tom Ruddy, Technical Director, “and we are about to start the construction of an UltraFiltration Water Treatment Plant for the adjacent town of Ennis, which has experienced the same problems as Galway. “Not too many other company have the in-house capacity to address problems like this - we have a 5,000 square metre workshop and assembly area, and 22 service and repair crews covering the country, so we can be on the spot quickly in any emergency and can deliver necessary projects, very often under demanding time constraints.”

The Galway problem was intractable, though the ‘boil’ restriction has recently been lifted in parts of the city. Thankfully, EPS is deeply engaged in longer term solutions, and is installing Ireland’s first membrane plant at Ennis, not far from Galway itself. EPS is the undoubted leader in this relatively new technology, originally developed in Japan.

“EPS would be considered the market leader in Ireland as far as membrane technology for the treatment of wastewater, and with the completion of the Ennis project will hold that honour for water treatment as well. EPS has just carried out more than twelve MBR (membrane bioreactor) installations over the last few years; no other company has put in so many, and we have many more coming forward,” Says Tom Ruddy.

Ahead of the market

According to Patrick Buckley, the Bison Division has continued to lead innovation in the treatment of wastewater in unsewered areas, and has been the first to introduce a number of packaged membrane treatment plants for hotel and housing developments in highly sensitive areas and special areas of conservation. “Without our solutions these developments would not have taken place,” he says. “It would cost 30 to 40 percent more than the standard treatment solution, but that cost is coming down all the time.”

The Bison division, which has a number of new products for this year, driven by EN 12566, a new EU certification for packaged treatment plants for up to 50 persons.”

Since 200 Bison has provided wastewater solutions for more than 30,000 Irish homes. That figure is set to grow considerably in the coming years, as by June 2008 a new EU standard for the certification and testing of sewage treatment systems is to be enforced across all UE member states including Ireland. EPS Bison currently has two products available and tested to this new standard and will launch a third later this year, and these will comprise a very short list of systems in Ireland which are tested to this new mandatory Europe-wide standard.

Rainwater harvesting, wastewater re-use and rainwater attenuation are all areas of growth for the Bison Division of EPS, driven by changing economic, environmental and climate change concerns. With the future in mind EPS Bison has formed a number of strategic alliances with exclusive suppliers and partners to guarantee the delivery of innovative solutions for the Irish market and beyond.

Finally, there is a huge market in rural Ireland for the septic tank retrofit system that Bison will be launching in the autumn. There are an estimated 450,000 old septic tanks in the country, and many of these are defective. EPS has a package, called Aquamax, available now for retrofitting and upgrading these systems, and is looking forward to developing this market over the coming years.

Current projects for the Contracts Division include the Ennis Water Treatment Plant, the partnered delivery with Enpure of the Sligo and Waterford Wastewater Treatment Plants, the Enniscrone Group Sewerage Schemes and the Kilbrin, Doneraile and Buttevant Group Sewerage Schemes, as well as a variety of other schemes for the municipal and industrial markets.

The company is ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified and is in the process of acquiring ISO 19000 safety certification too. As Managing Director Gerald Buckley emphasises: "Health and safety is an absolute driver in our company. The health and safety of our employees is of paramount importance as part of the drive towards growth and product development."

Part of EPS’s strategy for staying ahead of the market is to make the best use of new technology, which is why it already uses satellite technology for monitoring remote sites. It is able to control the site remotely, and has linked it into a VTN virtual network so it has extensive control of its systems. It is currently looking at handheld units for the service technicians, based on Bluetooth, for downloading data and bringing it back to the office, and EPS is currently in the process of investigating an RFID solution for its stock control. This is because, apart from the material it uses itself, EPS is the largest wholesaler and stockist of pumps in the UK or Ireland, acting as an agent for the major global pump manufacturers.