Search results

This paper aims to examine the competitiveness trends and rankings of the Irish dairy sector at the farm and trade levels, relative to selected European Union (EU) Member States, in the context of the removal of the EU milk quota in 2015.

Competitiveness indicators including partial productivity measures and accountancy-based indicators were used for farm competitiveness, and net export market share and normalised revealed comparative advantage (NRCA) were used for export competitiveness.

Amongst the countries examined, Ireland had the highest growth in partial productivity indicators and was ranked first with the lowest total costs and cash costs per kg of milk solids post-quota. However, the total economic cost sub-components showed that Irish dairy farmers had high opportunity costs for owned land and labour. While Irish dairy products such as butter and powders have demonstrated growth potential in competitiveness post-quota with Irish butter and whey ranked in top three relative to other countries, other products, i.e. cheese and liquid milk have declined in competitiveness according to key export competitiveness indicators used.

The challenge for Irish dairy farmers is how to mitigate relatively high land and labour costs, which can limit farm competitiveness in the long run. The key players in the Irish dairy industry can now better position themselves in the global dairy market, recognizing the competitiveness dynamics of the different dairy products and their competitors. Policy implications and further areas of research have been identified to help improve the overall competitiveness position. It is surprising that Irish butter is a leader in the EU, yet not much research has been done to understand the market dynamics of this sector.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to use both farm and export competitiveness measures to analyse the Irish dairy industry relative to other countries in the context of quota abolition. Unlike previous studies on dairy export competitiveness, this study has disaggregated the processed dairy products, which allowed for the ranking of countries and comparability across countries using NRCA.

Output from the Irish Dairy Industry has grown rapidly since the abolition of quotas in 2015, with processors investing heavily in capacity expansion to deal with the extra milk volumes. Further capacity gains may be achieved by extending the processing season into the winter, a key enabler for which being the reduction of duration of the winter maintenance overhaul period. This paper aims to investigate if Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques can be used to enhance operational maintenance performance, thereby releasing additional processing capacity.

Combining the Six-Sigma Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC) methodology and the structured approach of Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) widely used in process industries creates a novel hybrid model that promises substantial improvement in maintenance overhaul execution. This paper presents a case study applying the DMAIC/TAM model to Ireland’s largest dairy processing site to optimise the annual maintenance shutdown. The objective was to deliver a 30% reduction in the duration of the overhaul, enabling an extension of the processing season.

Application of the DMAIC/TAM hybrid resulted in process enhancements, employee engagement and a clear roadmap for the operations team. Project goals were delivered, and original objectives exceeded, resulting in €8.9m additional value to the business and a reduction of 36% in the duration of the overhaul.

The results demonstrate that the model provides a structure that promotes systematic working and a continuous improvement focus that can have substantial benefits for wider industry. Opportunities for further model refinement were identified and will enhance performance in subsequent overhauls.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the structure and tools of DMAIC and TAM have been combined into a hybrid methodology and applied in an Irish industrial setting.

This chapter presents the case study of Origin Green, the Irish food industry’s national program that committed the entire supply chain to meet sustainability targets and simultaneously branded the efforts and outcomes to increase demand for Irish food products. The brand creation is discussed under headings of building predictability, creating innovative capacity, and facilitating an intimate relationship.

The chapter describes supply chain risk mitigation, brand development, and the relationship between the two, proposing that they should be regarded as simultaneous rather than separate processes. This is followed by the case history of Origin Green.

The literatures on risk mitigation and brand equity development are extended by suggesting that the development of each should be regarded as simultaneous rather than consecutive activities.

The chapter outlines a program for national branding and sustainability and an insight on risk mitigation and branding that should be of interest to policymakers designing such programs and senior leaders considering involvement.

This chapter will be useful to policymakers considering national or industry-wide initiatives. Further, the chapter demonstrates the opportunity and challenges of systemic approaches to sustainability. The opportunity to brand nations and systems and the need to simultaneously build supply chain and brand for such is an original insight that is of value to strategy and planning. Similarly, at firm level, removing risk from the supply chain and building a brand would be of value.

This article aims to optimise energy use and consumption by integrating Lean Six Sigma methodology with the ISO 50001 energy management system standard in an Irish dairy plant operation.

This work utilised Lean Six Sigma methodology to identify methods to measure and optimise energy consumption. The authors use a single descriptive case study in an Irish dairy as the methodology to explain how DMAIC was applied to reduce energy consumption.

The replacement of heavy oil with liquid natural gas in combination with the new design of steam boilers led to a CO₂ footprint reduction of almost 50%.

A further longitudinal study would be useful to measure and monitor the energy management system progress and carry out more case studies on LSS integration with energy management systems across the dairy industry.

The novelty of this study is the application of LSS in the dairy sector as an enabler of a greater energy-efficient facility, as well as the testing of the DMAIC approach to meet a key objective for ISO 50001 accreditation.

Continuing economic growth in emerging markets offers large market opportunities to producers and marketers worldwide; however, market failures due to asymmetric information are often seen when high-quality products enter these “new markets” where recognition rates among consumers are low. The use of “geographical origin” labels as quality signals to overcome asymmetric information problem plays an important role. The purpose of this paper is to compare consumers’ perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for different levels of geographic origin labels to provide insights to the strategic use of origin labels in emerging markets.

A consumer survey on geographic labeling for imported dairy products was carried out in Beijing, China in May 2015. Under the “products of European Union (EU)” range, the authors used “product of Ireland” as a case study for the country-specific origin label. Information on consumer demographic, dairy consumption, safety perceptions, knowledge on Ireland and Irish products, as well as WTP for different geographic labeling and product attributes were collected from 307 face-to-face interviews. WTP was elicited using double-bounded contingent valuation method, and estimated with maximum log-likelihood function.

The authors found that consumers are willing to pay premium prices for both of these geographical origin indicators, but the EU label had slightly higher WTP results. However, the controversial situation is that although the EU label has a better chance than the country-specific label in signaling premium quality to Chinese consumers, EU labeling at its best signals an average quality across the EU counties. For premium products with above average quality, using generic EU labeling has a potential drawback to the establishment of product differentiation.

This study is the first to evaluate Chinese consumers’ WTP for EU generic origin label for dairy products in comparison to country-specific origin label. Findings of the study have immediate policy and marketing implications in emerging markets.

This paper provides insights into national practices used to schedule, collect and manage the transportation infrastructure of raw milk by Irish processors.

A survey was designed and distributed to 14 processors, collecting details regarding suppliers, seasonality, costs per litre, planning, processing sites and emissions related to milk collection.

Irish raw milk transportation costs €95 million per annum, with an average weighted cost of 1.1 cents per litre. Primary route clustering of suppliers is based on farm location. Typically, collections employ forty-eight-hour rotas. Just three of the processors reported transportation emissions data. A disjointed approach to the adoption of scheduling and transportation technology was revealed.

Given the broad scope of the survey covering financial, operational and environmental aspects of milk collection, it was challenging to find a single representative such as a transport manager who could be tasked with responding to the entire survey. Future research may consider a more focused interview-based approach with the various stakeholders to provide a more in-depth analysis.

Processors can gain an improved understanding of diversified milk collection methods. The research supports policymakers in considering environmental issues related to milk transportation. Costs could be reduced if transportation was better managed collectively with benefits accruing to the industry, suppliers and wider rural community. Stakeholders will need to address aspects of responsibility concerning environmental issues going forward.

In this paper the authors recognise the environmental cost of milk collection. By improving the transportation infrastructure, this will have a positive impact on society in general.

The paper highlights the unique challenges and extends present knowledge in relation to milk collection; thus, this paves the way for new approaches to raw milk transportation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of institutional factors in agricultural structural change in the European Union (EU) using the case study of land mobility in Ireland. A range of agricultural land use options are compared in order to examine the effect of domestic and EU policy instruments on land mobility.

Using socio-economic data from the Teagasc National Farm Survey, three hypothetical farms are created using a microsimulation approach to compare incomes across farm systems and land use options. Tax and subsidy policies are applied to derive returns for the hypothetical farms under a variety of land use scenarios.

The analysis finds that in comparing four hypothetical scenarios, leasing out agricultural land on a long-term basis can prove more profitable for cattle and tillage farmers than farming the land. Only dairy farmers derive consistently higher disposable incomes from farming their land as opposed to leasing it out. Changes in CAP rules can also negatively affect farmers taking advantage of Ireland’s tax-based leasing incentives.

A gap in the literature exists in terms of how institutional factors may act to prevent either land supply or demand channels from functioning properly. This paper addresses that gap, using Ireland as a case study.

Regional imagery is increasingly being recognised as having a commercial value for the products of under‐developed areas. It provides a subjective source of quality differentiation. Results of a consumer survey in Ireland indicate that region of origin is an important consideration for two out of three consumers when deciding to buy quality products and that products from rural areas are generally perceived to be of high quality. However, the links between region and quality products are under‐developed as indicated by the fact that Ireland is seen as a single region and the low level of awareness for selected regional labels. The development of territorial linkages must be based on geographical sub‐divisions of relevance to consumers and must be carefully managed to avoid unnecessary competition and duplication of effort. Discusses the use of regional imagery, reviews the meaning of quality, and presents the results of a survey of Irish consumers focusing on their perceptions and behaviour in relation to regional quality products. It also draws some conclusions and makes recommendations of relevance to policy makers and local development agencies in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key performance indicators (PIs) that serve as a decision support tool in case of dairy supply chain practices and to analyze their interactions in the context of Indian dairy industry sector. A total of 11 PIs have been identified through the literature review and the opinions of an expert team consisting of managerial and technical experts from dairy industry and academics.

A solution methodology based on the interpretive structure modeling (ISM) technique is used to analyze the interactions among PIs and to propose a structural model. The developed model not only helps in understanding the contextual relationship among the PIs, but also in determining their interdependence to assess the supply chain performance in dairy industry. Further, the importance of PIs has been determined based on their driving and dependence power by using MICMAC analysis.

The ISM-based model suggests four PIs at first level, three PIs at second level, one PI at third level as well as one PI at fourth level and two PIs at fifth level. Model allocates to the effective information technology, brand management, responsiveness in shipment and accuracy and a control over wastages as the key PIs in the dairy industry sector. The effective traceability systems, cold chain infrastructure, quality management and the support for technological innovations are the next major PIs. There exists no autonomous PI in MICMAC analysis which proves the importance of identified PIs in the case study.

The proposed model is an attempt to capture the dynamics of milk processing sector and to incorporate all relevant constraints related to internal and external environments that would significantly improve the supply chain performance in the dairy industry.

The model developed in this study has been tested in the cooperative milk processing units based in India and also discussed with the experts from academics. This work may help practitioners, regulators and dairy industry professionals to focus their efforts toward achieving high performance by the effective implementation of the identified PIs.

In this study, 11 PIs are considered. Interactions among PIs are evaluated with the help of the ISM matrix. Out of the 11 PIs, six demonstrate both strong driving and dependence power as explained in the MICMAC analysis.