A Christmas Visit from the Colostomy Association

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Staff at Eakin, in conjunction with Georgina McKeown from Pelican Healthcare, were delighted to welcome members of the CA to our premises on 6th December.

Throughout the morning, our guests enjoyed a presentation from Jeremy Eakin and a factory tour.

Jeremy introduced the company and demonstrated how both the company and the products have evolved over the years. The guests were given a tour of the factory, during which they were hugely impressed by
the quality control standards in place. The visit concluded with a Christmas lunch.

The Colostomy Association are a UK registered charity representing the interests of people with a colostomy. They provide support and advice to families and carers both before and after surgery. They strive to raise awareness of what it is like to have a stoma. We wish them continued success in their good work.

TG Eakin Ltd awarded Environmental Standard

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TG Eakin Ltd has been awarded ISO14001 certification, an internationally accepted environmental standard.

Environmental impact is becoming an increasingly important issue across the globe, with pressure to minimize that impact coming from a number of sources; local and national governments, regulators, customers, employees, etc.

Although we were always aware of our environmental impact, as a socially responsible company we wanted to control and improve our performance in this area.

We now operate a robust Environmental Management System (EMS) in compliance with BS EN ISO14001:2004 and have identified the following key areas which we will focus on:

  • Minimising waste produced in our operations
  • Being cognizant of waste management for the end of product life
  • Segregating and recycling waste from our manufacturing operations
  • Being efficient in our use of energy resources for all our operations – manufacture through to distribution
  • The careful storage, use and handling of any necessary chemicals, ozone depleting substances and liquids which have potential to cause pollution
  • Ensuring that those working on our behalf adhere to the high standards we maintain ourselves.

Tom Eakin is Innovation Founder of the Year 2012

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Following public nominations and a subsequent judging panel, the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) has announced Tom Eakin as winner of the ‘Innovation Founder of the Year’ Award.

Tom Eakin receives the Award for 2012 in recognition of his extraordinary success as founder of TG Eakin Ltd. The judging panel believed that Tom was a very deserving recipient, in recognition of his contribution to
building and shaping our local economy and significantly improving the quality of life of many people across the world.

The Innovation Founder of the Year Award recognises the efforts of entrepreneurs whose innovative ideas and positive contribution to the community have helped put Northern Ireland innovation on the map.

Speaking about news of the award Tom Eakin said; “I was surprised and humbled when I heard that I was going to receive this prestigious award. It is a great honour and I am delighted to be considered in the same class as the two previous recipients. If we are to develop a strong knowledge economy in Northern Ireland I recognise the importance of celebrating and showcasing entrepreneurship to prove to the next
generation that there is nothing stopping them from developing and commercialising their own innovative thinking. This award is a great incentive for me and my company to do even more to encourage entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland.”

At the 25k Award Gala Dinner being held on 27th September, Tom will tell his story to an audience of
more than 250 executives, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, and academics. The organisers hope that by showcasing Tom’s incredible story it will inspire more like him to come forward to realise their full potential.

Director of NISP CONNECT, Steve Orr, said: “The judges are delighted to name Tom Eakin as the ‘Innovation Founder of the Year’ of 2012. In order to grow Northern Ireland’s knowledge economy we
need to unearth, nurture and celebrate the entrepreneurial talent that come from these shores. Tom’s story is the perfect illustration of what is possible if innovators can be motivated to act on their inherent desire to innovate. Through the NISP CONNECT network as an ‘Innovation Founder of the Year’, Tom will now be presented with the opportunity to champion high-growth start-ups, use his expertise to mentor upcoming entrepreneurs and help nurture new technology from research green-houses into commercial reality.”

This is the second accolade for Tom in as many years, having received ‘Family Business Director of the Year’ as well as runner-up in the ‘Overall Director of the Year’ at the UK IOD Director of the Year Awards in 2011.

Eakin Distributor Meeting

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A huge thank you to many of our Eakin distributors who took time out of their busy schedules to join us for a distributors’ meeting in London this week.

We had a busy schedule ranging from marketing and business development workshops to an exquisite dinner cruise along theThames. The meeting was designed to be interactive. We discussed the range of services that TG Eakin Ltd can provide, whilst also gaining input on market and product feedback and providing a forum for our distributors to exchange their ideas for best practice.

Your suggestions were all gratefully received!

Eakin welcome visitors from Russia

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Viacheslav Sukhanov and Daria Nasarova from ASTOM visited Eakin in August 2012 along with Paul Robertus from Vogt Medcial, our Russian distributor.

ASTOM is a stoma patient association based in Moscow that is concerned with securing the supply of ostomy products for patients in Russia as well as providing assistance with medical and social rehabilitation. ASTOM work with the local Russian authorities to obtain reimbursement for products so that the patients do not have to pay out of their own pocket for their supplies.
ASTOM also liaise with stoma product manufacturers so that the patients in Russia are aware of all of the products and ranges available to them.

During their visit to Eakin they enjoyed a tour of the Eakin factory and learnt alot more about the Eakin products as well as taking in some of the famous sights of Northern Ireland.

German Visitors Prepare for Irish Weather

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Although it is officially summer time, our German visitors were not taking any chances with the weather, as they all arrived in their purple Eakin-branded raincoats.

Although it is officially summer time, our German visitors were not taking any chances with the weather, as they all arrived in their purple Eakin-branded raincoats.

Staff at Eakin were delighted to welcome the visitors, who travelled from all over Germany to attend an Eakin presentation and workshop. During their visit they also learnt the history of TG Eakin Ltd and had an opportunity to tour the factory. A little time was left for our visitors to take in some of the tourist attractions, by way of the traditional black taxi and enjoy the beautiful Culloden Hotel.

We thank all our visitors for taking the time to visit us and we look forward to welcoming them again in the future.

Pictured (l-r) are Veit Koeppler (Eakin GmbH), Martina Haussmann, Albert Lotter, Friedrich Klenovsky, Sven-Peter Moeller, Claus-Peter Ober, Mike Becker, Edith Guse, Jenny Mcilroy (TG Eakin Ltd), Manuela Bell, Ilka Esser (Eakin GmbH).

Solve Launch Wound Pouches

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Our recently appointed Japanese distributor, Solve Corporation, launched our complete range of Wound Pouches at a conference this month.

Japanese ET nurses were delighted to have access to the comfortable, skin friendly, cost effective and time saving pouches to help them in their day to day work managing fistulas, multiple or irregular stomas and high-output wounds. They were particularly impressed with the flexible Cohesive skin barrier on the pouches and the option to use an Access Window to view, dress or irrigate the wound. Stuart Menary, TG Eakin Ltd, is pictured at the conference (left).

Solve Corporation were pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Dr. Grace McGroggan, TG Eakin Ltd to the conference to present her enzyme study, ‘Are all ostomy seals equal?’ Grace’s findings, in conjunction with Queen’s University Belfast, concluded that Cohesive® seals are the most absorbent seals on the market. In addition, they are the most effective at binding aggressive faecal enzymes, lipase and elastase, and therefore stopping them from harming the skin.

TG Eakin Ltd continue to support Young Enterprise NI

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In January and May of this year, representatives from TG Eakin Ltd were invited to attend Young Enterprise NI events, having assisted with this event for the past few years now.

YENI is an education charity who help thousands of young people every year to learn about business and the world of work under the guidance of volunteers from local companies. This ensures that young people acquire the skills they will need to become enterprising, creative and commercially aware.

The Mock Interview event that we attended in January was designed to train young people for pending interview situations, where Jeremy Eakin and Elaine Toner acted as the interview panel.

In May, we attended the Trade Fair where the young people formed teams to manufacture and sell products ‘Apprentice’ style, where they had to deal with finance, marketing, sales techniques, etc. Elaine and Jenny McIlroy attended the event and judged each team across various categories.

Once again the event was a huge success and YENI thanked TG Eakin Ltd for our continued support with local schools.

A Wonderful WCET Congress

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The long journey to Adelaide, South Australia was more than worthwhile as eakin enjoyed an extremely successful 19th WCET congress.

This year the eakin booth embraced the new purple branding that you should now all be familiar with and the main product focus was on wound care, with an exciting new Maxi Wound Pouch measuring a staggering 250 x 385mm revealed at the event.

There are a number of people who contributed to the success of the event. Firstly we would like to thank Åsa Gustafsson from Sweden and Lorraine Andrews from New Zealand for presenting their impressive case studies using Eakin Wound Pouches in the Fistula Session on Sunday. We are always encouraged by your hard work and creativity. Secondly, a big thank you goes to our colleagues and friends in Omnigon, who were such a great help on our stand. Thirdly we would like to thank the WCET Organising Committee for a really well organised WCET congress – congratulations on a fantastic event!

And last but by no means least, we would like to thank all of the ET nurses who took the time to enter our competition. As many as 150 delegates added their thoughts on why eakin seals are still the best stoma seals around. The winning comment was written by Julie Isherwood of St John of God, Geelong, Victoria who wrote ‘Eakin seals are still the best because they were the original, everybody else has tried to copy it. That’s flattery. They work!’ We hope you are enjoying your pamper pack prize post congress Julie! The wall with all eakin Cohesive Comments is now available to view.

Eakin crowned ‘All Ireland’ Best Company

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TG Eakin Ltd came out tops in an all-island competition to identify best business practice.

TG Eakin Ltd came out tops in an all-island competition to identify best business practice. Comber-based TG Eakin Ltd was crowned the ‘Ulster Bank Business Achiever 2011’ at the all-island final of the awards, which took place at the Mansion House, Dublin on 19th April. Ben Mahood, Aaron Hewitt, Barbara-Ann Hitchens and Paul Hastings from TG Eakin Ltd are pictured accepting the award.

On 26th January TG Eakin Ltd were awarded the Ulster International Business Award at a special ceremony to celebrate the 2011 Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards. We then went forward to represent the county of Ulster in the All-Ireland finals.

The awards, in association with Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, now in their 18th year, attracted over 360 entries.

Barbara-Ann Hitchens from TG Eakin Ltd accepted the award by saying: “We are delighted to have been named Ulster Bank Business Achiever 2011 and winner of the International Business Award. This is a huge boost for the company and our dedicated staff – without whom, this would not be possible. Each person in TG Eakin plays an integral role in the company’s success and continued development. I would like to accept this award on their behalf.”

David Thomas, Managing Director of corporate markets with Ulster Bank said the award winners were “an inspiration” to businesses in Ireland, north and south.