Encirc is investing £700,000 in a three-year workforce training plan at its Derrylin glass manufacturing site in Fermanagh, supported by £157,200 from Invest NI. The programme is designed to build the technical, digital and leadership skills the plant needs to reach its target of producing glass without generating carbon emissions from 2030.

The investment, confirmed by Invest NI, centres on a new One Horizon Programme, a continuous professional development initiative covering leadership development, specialist engineering training in low-carbon technologies and alternative fuels, digital and data skills, and AI awareness.

Encirc, based in Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh, produces around three billion glass containers annually for major UK brands and employs roughly 2,000 people, with annual sales exceeding £600 million. Its parent, Spain's Vidrala Group, reported group revenue of €1.47 billion and EBITDA of €441 million for 2025. Invest NI, Northern Ireland's economic development agency, recorded a budget outturn of £114.3 million for 2024/25.

The structural driver behind the investment is Encirc's 2030 net zero manufacturing target, which is reshaping the skills base the plant needs away from conventional glass production toward alternative fuels, low-carbon process engineering and the data systems required to monitor emissions in real time.

Sean Murphy, managing director at Encirc, said the company must "continue investing in the skills and capabilities needed to support new technologies, alternative fuels and future ways of working," adding that Invest NI's support is "enabling us to accelerate this investment" toward a workforce able to produce glass without generating carbon emissions.

Gráinne Moody, director of food and drink at Invest NI, said Encirc "continues to demonstrate a long-term commitment to investing in its people," building on skills development the agency backed between 2023 and 2026 and creating "a culture of continuous learning across the business."

For the sector, Encirc's latest investment confirms that decarbonisation targets are now driving workforce training budgets directly, rather than treating skills development and net zero planning as separate strands of manufacturing strategy.

Source: investni.com / irishnews.com