Encirc is investing more than £700,000 over three years in skills development at its Derrylin site in Fermanagh, giving HR and L&D teams in manufacturing a working example of tying workforce training directly to a company's decarbonisation roadmap rather than treating upskilling as a standalone HR initiative. Invest NI has offered Encirc £157,200 towards the three-year training plan.

Encirc, part of the Vidrala group, is a glass manufacturer and bottler producing approximately three billion glass containers annually for leading global brands across the UK, based at Derrylin, County Fermanagh.

The strategic logic ties workforce capability directly to Encirc's stated ambition to achieve net zero emissions in its glass manufacturing process from 2030, rather than positioning upskilling as separate from operational strategy.

The new One Horizon Programme, a continuous professional development initiative designed to strengthen leadership capability, sits alongside specialist engineering training in low-carbon technologies and alternative fuels, digital and data skills, and artificial intelligence awareness, spanning both technical and leadership capability gaps at once.

Sean Murphy, managing director at Encirc, said the industry must continue investing in the skills and capabilities needed to support new technologies, alternative fuels and future ways of working, and that Invest NI's support is accelerating that investment to keep the Derrylin site at the forefront of sustainable glass manufacturing. Gráinne Moody, director of food and drink at Invest NI, said Encirc's ability to create career progression opportunities is enhancing productivity while equipping staff with confidence and skills for the next generation of sustainable manufacturing.

The investment builds on prior skills development Invest NI supported between 2023 and 2026, extending an established training relationship rather than a one-off initiative.

For the sector, the case signals that manufacturers pursuing decarbonisation targets are increasingly treating upskilling in low-carbon technologies and AI capability as a core competitiveness investment, a pattern likely to be replicated as more manufacturers set net zero deadlines.

Source: Invest Northern Ireland