More redundancies and possible machinery manufacturing partnerships seem imminent at Keenan, as the Alltech-owned company sets out to “cut costs to return to profitability”, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.
On Friday 3 March, an unconfirmed number of staff received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy, with their jobs part of an ongoing consultation process. Although not confirmed, its understood this number is in the region of 45 staff. This follows the news broken by the Irish Farmers Journal in January that a dozen redundancies had been taken by staff at Keenan.
At the time, the company cited the continued effects of the pandemic, supply chain disruption, inflation and the war in Ukraine as reasons for the redundancies.
Background
Keenan was initially a family-owned business established by Richard Keenan in 1978. Keenan was acquired by Alltech in April 2016, through a receivership in a deal understood to be worth less than €10m. At the time, it’s understood Keenan employed 176 people in Ireland. Today, this number is currently at 114 staff. Since the acquisition, the company has been restructuring.
On Friday last, 3rd March, an unconfirmed number of staff received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy, with their jobs part of an ongoing consultation process.
However, in more recent times it’s understood Keenan’s management and its parent company have been looking at ways of further consolidating the business and cost cutting measures, from reducing staff numbers to outsourcing some production.
It’s believed the manufacturer has been in contact with many manufacturers in Ireland and abroad about a possible collaboration through a hybrid production model, where some manufacturing will be retained in-house, and the remainder outsourced.
Statement
In a statement released to the Irish Farmers Journal, the manufacturer said: “Similar to many businesses, Keenan has faced intense headwinds over the past couple years, including supply chain challenges and slowdowns, rising steel prices and labour shortages. We have not weathered these storms as well as we should have, and we must cut costs to return to profitability.
“We are committed to restoring the strength of the Keenan brand with our customers and are taking immediate actions to do so. We continue to believe in the potential we saw in Keenan when we acquired the business in 2016, yet we recognize that we did not integrate Keenan deeply enough into the Alltech family. As a result, Keenan struggled to stay resilient in recent challenges.
“‘Business as usual’ changes today, and we will unlock the full capabilities of our businesses’ collaboration. Moving forward, we are more closely aligning our teams, and Keenan’s strategy will be directly managed by Alltech executive leadership.
“We will be focused on where we can add the greatest value, including nutritional solutions and services, further enhanced by digital technology. We will be investing in developing Keenan’s strategic differentiation in these areas.
“To complement our areas of expertise, we are also exploring machine manufacturing partnerships. We believe collaboration with partners who share our vision will better enable us to meet our customers’ expectations for quality, on-time delivery and operational support in a challenging manufacturing environment.
Right foundation
“As we begin to build this future, we need to set the right foundation. Unfortunately, this places some of our valued team members at risk of redundancy. On Friday 3 March these colleagues received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy and are part of a consultation process that ends on 3 April.
“These team members are colleagues and friends who have contributed significantly to Keenan, some for many years. We will honour their loyalty and service by ensuring they are on strong footing to take the next step in their career outside of Keenan.
“We are investing in Keenan with confidence and enthusiasm. With a revitalized focus and vision for our future together, we are looking forward to unleashing the full strength of Alltech and Keenan and providing our customers with even better service, value and technology. We are grateful for the loyalty and passion of our team and our customers and are dedicated to honouring the privilege of their trust.”
More redundancies and possible machinery manufacturing partnerships seem imminent at Keenan, as the Alltech-owned company sets out to “cut costs to return to profitability”, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.
On Friday 3 March, an unconfirmed number of staff received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy, with their jobs part of an ongoing consultation process. Although not confirmed, its understood this number is in the region of 45 staff. This follows the news broken by the Irish Farmers Journal in January that a dozen redundancies had been taken by staff at Keenan.
At the time, the company cited the continued effects of the pandemic, supply chain disruption, inflation and the war in Ukraine as reasons for the redundancies.
Background
Keenan was initially a family-owned business established by Richard Keenan in 1978. Keenan was acquired by Alltech in April 2016, through a receivership in a deal understood to be worth less than €10m. At the time, it’s understood Keenan employed 176 people in Ireland. Today, this number is currently at 114 staff. Since the acquisition, the company has been restructuring.
On Friday last, 3rd March, an unconfirmed number of staff received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy, with their jobs part of an ongoing consultation process.
However, in more recent times it’s understood Keenan’s management and its parent company have been looking at ways of further consolidating the business and cost cutting measures, from reducing staff numbers to outsourcing some production.
It’s believed the manufacturer has been in contact with many manufacturers in Ireland and abroad about a possible collaboration through a hybrid production model, where some manufacturing will be retained in-house, and the remainder outsourced.
Statement
In a statement released to the Irish Farmers Journal, the manufacturer said: “Similar to many businesses, Keenan has faced intense headwinds over the past couple years, including supply chain challenges and slowdowns, rising steel prices and labour shortages. We have not weathered these storms as well as we should have, and we must cut costs to return to profitability.
“We are committed to restoring the strength of the Keenan brand with our customers and are taking immediate actions to do so. We continue to believe in the potential we saw in Keenan when we acquired the business in 2016, yet we recognize that we did not integrate Keenan deeply enough into the Alltech family. As a result, Keenan struggled to stay resilient in recent challenges.
“‘Business as usual’ changes today, and we will unlock the full capabilities of our businesses’ collaboration. Moving forward, we are more closely aligning our teams, and Keenan’s strategy will be directly managed by Alltech executive leadership.
“We will be focused on where we can add the greatest value, including nutritional solutions and services, further enhanced by digital technology. We will be investing in developing Keenan’s strategic differentiation in these areas.
“To complement our areas of expertise, we are also exploring machine manufacturing partnerships. We believe collaboration with partners who share our vision will better enable us to meet our customers’ expectations for quality, on-time delivery and operational support in a challenging manufacturing environment.
Right foundation
“As we begin to build this future, we need to set the right foundation. Unfortunately, this places some of our valued team members at risk of redundancy. On Friday 3 March these colleagues received letters notifying them that they are at risk of redundancy and are part of a consultation process that ends on 3 April.
“These team members are colleagues and friends who have contributed significantly to Keenan, some for many years. We will honour their loyalty and service by ensuring they are on strong footing to take the next step in their career outside of Keenan.
“We are investing in Keenan with confidence and enthusiasm. With a revitalized focus and vision for our future together, we are looking forward to unleashing the full strength of Alltech and Keenan and providing our customers with even better service, value and technology. We are grateful for the loyalty and passion of our team and our customers and are dedicated to honouring the privilege of their trust.”
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: