*Mick Guinee.
MICK GUINEE is one of the nine founding members of Shannon Chamber but has stretched his influence in business across generations in the Mid-West in leading a buy-out which resulted in the formation of Ei Electronics, one of the county’s biggest employers.
Alongside Chris Taylor, Arthur Hanly, Austin Collins, Michael Fitzpatrick, Risteard Crimmins, George O’Carroll, Paddy O’Rourke and Aidan Quish, Mick help to set up Shannon Chamber in 1995.
At the black-tie thirtieth celebrations for the Chamber at the beginning of December, Mick was presented with a bespoke sculpture by Irish Natural Stone (INStone) sculptor Colin Grehan, titled ‘Pools of Light’, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the region.
‘Pools of Light’ currently has pride of place in the boardroom of Ei Electronics’ Shannon headquarters.
Last March, Mick stepped down as CEO of Ei Electronics. In April 1983, he was appointed Managing Director of the then-GE-owned EI Company. In March 1988, he led a management buyout, founding Ei Electronics as a fully Irish-owned company. Under his leadership, it has grown from a small start-up to a global leader in fire and home safety technology, now employing in the region of 1,000 people at its Shannon headquarters and a total of 1,250 worldwide. Last year, it had a turnover in excess of €400m and ranks as one of of Ireland’s largest indigenous manufacturing and exporting electronics companies, occupying a 30,000 m2 campus in Shannon.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, he admitted he is still adjusting from stepping away but his role as Board Chairman ensures he isn’t cut off and is focused more on future planning. “I’m coming in here nearly every day as it is, I’m getting used to it but I will always be involved because I founded the place, it will always be a part of me and it is very hard to look at anything going on without keeping away from it”.
Looking forward requires a glance at the past which makes Mick confident for Ei’s future under CEO, Leo Clancy. “It goes back to our history, Ei has been here since 1963 in one form or another, we’ve reinvented ourselves many times over the years, not least since the management buyout in 1988. There’s a spirit of resilience very much in the people in Ei, I’m totally confident the place will keep going and reinventing itself, Leo is geared towards growing the business, we’ve grown it organically over the last forty years, we didn’t do any acquisitions but Leo is going to head into merging and acquisitions for growing the company, we have the resources to do it, it is onwards and upwards from here”.
GE in 1986 announced plans to close its Shannon facility. Mick managed to delay a public announcement on this so that he could negotiate a management buyout. Without the benefit of state support, Mick worked with Dr Mike Byrne and Jim Duignan to conclude the buyout, and Ei Company became Ei Electronics in 1988. Mike Byrne remained with Mick at Ei over the next three decades until his retirement in 2020 and Jim still works with the company.
Showing Shannon’s viability at the time of the buyout was a big motivation then and it has proven itself, Mick reflected. “In 1988 when we did the management buyout the question came up would we move production offshore and I said no, we’re making a life safety product and I wanted it made here and to be able to assure the quality and service, there was no question in my mind that Shannon would be the location and will be the location forever in the manufacturing side. It has proven itself, one of the reasons we did the buyout was because the workforce was always very flexible and adaptable, you could bring any product to this workforce and they would adapt to make it, that adaptability is there to this day and is part of the spirit. It is a first class place, we’ve access to first-class people within a hinterland of twenty miles around us, Shannon is now so accessible by road that people are travelling from Galway and Tipperary, access to talent is not a problem in Shannon so it is an ideal environment”.
Treating people with respect and keeping them informed stands out as one his most successful traits in management, he felt. “I joined Ei in 1981 and became MD in 1983, my way of managing was to keep people informed and keep communicating directly with people, that paid off in the years when Ei was closing, there was a year when I was negotiating with GE, keeping people informed as to what was going on was very important. Right through my era as MD, it was my style to keep people informed, I was always involved in the sport and social activities, we didn’t have layers of managers so I was always accessible, that is part of the culture so managers are known here and known by name, people wonder into my office and there’s no questions asked whereas in another place they might have guards protecting people. The accessible manner and culture we have, we do treat people with respect so I haven’t changed my method of management over the years, it has worked out because if people are treated with respect they will respect you, I saw Leo someone as who could continue that way of managing people”.
Lifelong contributions and loyalty of staff such as Mike Flynn, Tom O’Loughlin, Kay McCormack and the late John O’Looney saw individuals in the area spend their entire working lives in Ei. The days of keeping people in the one place of employment are much rarer now, Mick said. “There are more opportunities now. When the likes of Mike Flynn, Tom O’Loughlin joined Ireland was pre 1960s and an agricultural county, there wasn’t many opportunities so they came in with their Leaving Cert and they built a career, they stayed with the company. For production people, there’s a lot of opportunities so you get some turnover of people but for professional people we don’t have any great turnover, people get in and make a career here. Once you are treated with respect, have a voice it is a nice place to work”.
When it comes to doing business in Shannon there are challenges, he acknowledged. This includes its perception as being a place where an airport is and not much else, “people think it is out here in the middle of nowhere, Shannon still has that image. There isn’t good housing here which is one of the negatives but once people realise you can live in Ennis or Limerick, that goes away, it is one of the challenges of Shannon and it is one of the reasons I got involved with the Chamber of Commerce back in 1995, I was asked by a local councillor would I start so I said yeah, I remember our first meeting saying Shannon doesn’t have a town centre, it has a shopping centre so it has no soul or spirit but that is still the case thirty years on. I know it is one of the ambitions of Helen (Downes) and the Chamber that we continue to work on trying to develop that.
“There was an opportunity for the County Council to acquire Shannon Town Centre five or six years ago but they didn’t do it, we have a unique situation in Ireland where the centre of the town is a private property and it curtails development, that is an ongoing challenge, the quality and range of housing is an ongoing issue but it has the potential to always be something. When we set up Shannon Chamber, we were between Limerick and Ennis, neither of them wanted Shannon Chamber to exist, Shannon has a much better all-round membership than either one of them, we’ve industry and retail, the Limerick and Ennis are very much retail focused, the Shannon Chamber and Helen since she became CEO has done a great job at positioning Shannon Chamber as a primary chamber in the country”.
After concluding a three year term as President of Shannon Chamber in 2003, Mick began to step away from the grouping he helped to establish. To be honoured by Shannon Chamber with an outstanding contribution award was a real honour, he said. Other notable accolades include a honorary doctorate from UL, a business alumni award from UCC, a civic reception from Clare County Council and a lifetime achievement award from Ennis Chamber. “I got a lot of recognition last year, I haven’t got a big ego and I don’t notice what people think of me but in the last year I began to realise that people do think quite a lot about what Ei has contributed to the local economy, we’ve up to 1000 jobs here and it’s huge. What we did in 1988 in saving Ei has really paid off for the economy, the town and the region”.
Marginal growth in Ei’s numbers is likely over the coming years, he predicted. “Access to production people is very difficult, we’ve up to 1000 people in the factory, if we were to grow to 2000 people with competition coming in now with the likes of Eli Lilly in Limerick it will be harder to get production people. We’re still able to get the production people we need, if there is a growth in terms of direct labour, we will be able to access it. The big challenge is still to get top class professional people for the job, for thirty years we didn’t have a high profile when it came to attracting people, we have improved a lot on that front in the last few years and it is very important, I’ve said many a time when people come in and say ‘wow’ but they hadn’t heard of Ei before so we’re probably the biggest company that you’ve never heard of. Our profile has increased, locally our profile is very high because not only the jobs but the role we play in the local community and we’re acknowledged as a leader in that field”.
Indeed the contribution of Ei and now the Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation in supporting groups and organisations across the county is legendary. “I believe I can circulate more into the communities through the foundation and we can continue that work. It was always one of my goals to set up a charitable foundation and do community work”.
Having a strong Chamber of Commerce remains critical for Shannon to prosper, the proud Cork native concluded. “It is important that there is a good Chamber in Shannon and there is a good Chamber in Shannon, I was in at the beginning and it was important. The role Ei plays in the economy and the community, I’m proud of that, I’m confident it will go on doing that into the future, I’m the main shareholder in the business so I do have influence and that will be the influence into the future”.
