Brendan O'Malley
Brendan O’Malley runs his own management consulting business in Ireland, specialising in improving business competitiveness. He is interested in the combinations of factors that give businesses a competitive edge and in the renewal process necessary to keep them ahead. In particular, he is interested in the integration of businesses after mergers and in the formation of effective partnerships between collaborating businesses in the value chain. He publishes a blog, The Competitive Edge, at http://brendanomalley.blogspot.com/
Originally an electronics engineer, he worked initially for a number of US multinationals in Ireland in engineering and manufacturing roles, before becoming the first managing director of Ireland’s National Microelectronics Applications Centre, which provided electronic design services to emerging companies. He returned to industry with Digital Equipment Corp, the US computer giant, where he championed the use of their plant in Clonmel as a reference site for computers in manufacturing applications. Moving to the USA headquarters, he led the corporate integration of purchasing for the growing network integration services business, achieving major savings.
He ran several businesses for Snap-on, a major US manufacturer of tools and equipment for the automotive industry. He led a complete re-engineering of the European Diagnostics business, introducing new products, changing the emphasis from hardware to software and pioneering the unbundling and commercial development of previously “free” services. A swing of 10 % points on operating profit took a loss-making business back to a position of industry leadership.
Prior to setting up his consultancy business, he was Director of Procurement for Dairygold, a major Irish dairy co-op and owner of a diverse collection of commodity, property and consumer businesses. He restructured the purchasing function, installing policies and controls and led the achievement of significant savings at a time of major restructuring of the business.