Archive for 2011
Women’s Network Mega Event
On 14th September 2011 two delegates from EDC had the pleasure to be guests of the Women’s Network Mega Event in Gdansk which was organized by BPH GE Capital Bank.
The agenda of the meeting was very impressive. We had a chance to take part in a discussion panel with women of success such as Kinga Baranowska, Ewa Plucińska, Dorota Soboniecka, Grażyna Utrata, Anna Raczyńska and Emilia Schomburg. It was really interesting to meet women working for different businesses, with different experience and in different age but all greatly satisfied with their jobs.
The background motif of the day was heart disease prevention and counteraction. All participants of the event wore red accessories to highlight the importance of this issue. One of the points of the agenda was Professor Danuta Czarnecka’s lecture during which we could learn something more about heart health care in every age.
Everyone participated in one training from a pre-proposed list including, among others: Time management, Savoir vivre, and Creative thinking. We also had a chance to support CSR during artistic workshops and all day we met each other and shared our opinions and observations about women’s career development and our private lives.
I participated in such an event for the first time and I would never have imagined that in one day only I would be able to meet so many intelligent and self-confident women eager to share their experience, give clear advice and spend good time on discussions.
NYU Stern MBA students at EDC
This week EDC hosted the visit of Executive MBA students from the New York University Stern School of Business.
NYU Stern was established in 1900 as the NYU School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. In 1988 it was named after Leonard N. Stern, an alumnus and benefactor of the school. For decades NYU Stern has been consistently ranked among the top schools in the U.S. and worldwide by leading business and education publications.
NYU Stern Executive MBA students who came to EDC first took part in a business overview with the site leader, Magdalena Nizik. They had a chance to learn how EDC was established and what each and every business does and is involved in.
The introduction finished, the students toured two of EDC laboratories: the Drilling & Production Lab and the Materials Lab where they learnt what projects are dealt with at EDC and what possibilities each lab gives both to engineers and our clients. Afterwards, they went to see, touch and hear about the CFM56-7M engine that is displayed on EDC premises.
The final stage of the visit was a discussion panel with EDC managers, during which the students asked many questions concerning the everyday running, goals and the future of particular businesses.
Who knows – maybe one of the Executive MBA students will come back one day as a customer with millions to spend? You never know.
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EDC’s Iron Man
Jan Biskupski, EDC Aviation engineer, took 12th place in the general classification and 3rd place in his age group of the Panasonic Evolta Triathlon Competition that was held on 4th September in Borowno in the northern part of Poland.
The Ironman Triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three courses one immediately after another – 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and a marathon: 42.195 km.
Why triathlon?
Jan Biskupski: It all started from dreams of completing a full marathon. There was one problem – I didn’t like running. However, I set my mind on the idea. My EDC colleagues helped me – in 2009 we came up with the idea of common preparation for the Warsaw Marathon. It was then that I got the most valuable advice from our more experienced runners, Bartek Matczak and Radek Kalinowski: Run slower.
In the meantime I met Mary Wienholts in Evendale and was really intrigued by her licence plates: 1RON WMN. It turned out that Mary had completed the Ironman triathlon three times. For the first time I thought that maybe it was not an impossible thing after all…
The last thing that guided me towards triathlon’s king distance were the words of one of the greatest authorities in aeromechanics, professor Bob Kielb: The Ironman is beyond insanity, go for it. (laughter)
How did you prepare yourself for Borowno which was your first Ironman competition?
JB: I have been riding my bike intensely since I was more or less ten so biking was not an issue. As for the other disciplines, I started to train running in February and swimming in December 2010. I enrolled on a swimming course. I was so bad that during the first class the instructor pointed to me and giggled. Not discouraged, I swam three times a week for one hour. On top of that, every week I jogged between 10 and 20 km, and biked my usual overall weekly distance of about 120 km.
In February I took part in the Kabaty 10k run before which I did a quarter of the Ironman swimming and cycling. Then came the Warsaw Half-Marathon before which I did half of the Ironman swimming and cycling. A lot of runners looked at me in disbelief when they saw me eating after just one kilometre of the half-marathon. (laughter)
Can you say a few words about the actual competition?
JB: Poland does not host any official Ironman event – only some triathlons over the world are privileged to use the name and the closest is organized in Austria. Therefore, I decided to take part in an event that would not involve a long and expensive journey.
I was lucky because the weather suited me perfectly – some people said it was too hot but, fortunately, not for me. The water was cold so the organizers allowed swimming in wetsuits, which boosted my result, although, as expected, it was far from good. But Ironman is a three-discipline competition and your results must be consistent. The best swimmer was much lower than me in the final ranking.
During the run I managed not to stop, even for a moment, and my body spared me the experience of painful muscle spasms which were the main cause of slow-downs. Unexpectedly, it was running, not cycling, that gave me the best partial-classification result. Overall, I finished the whole event within less than 12 hours, which had been my secret dream. I owe at least a part of this result to my supporting team of friends which, although tiny, was of great spirit.
Are you going to take part in any other triathlon events?
JB: At the moment I am not thinking about any other competitions. For me it was a one-time event – I just wanted to check whether I would be able to do it or not. I believe I came out stronger, not only physically.
Can you give any advice to others who are thinking about participating in such a long-distance event?
JB: I would recommend such an experience to anyone. We often believe that the Ironman is impossible or only for extremists but anyone of us with a strong desire can do it. For instance, among the finishers of the Borowno Triathlon I came across two women from Siberia who were 50-plus and competed with other triathletes on equal terms.
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You can see the final ranking here (in Polish)
EDC engineer wins 2nd place in Junior World Gliding Championships
L
ukasz Grabowski, EDC Aviation engineer, about whose Polish Gliding Championship we wrote here, has won 2nd place in 7th Junior World Gliding Championship in Germany.
The championship was held in Musbach, in the south-western part of Germany between 5th and 20th August 2011. Lukasz flew in the Standard class which included 37 pilots from 18 countries all over the world. He flew an LS-8, a Germany-manufactured glider which had emblems of EDC, GE and the Warsaw Institute of Aviation on it.
The competition consisted of different tasks every day but the main goal was to obtain the highest average speed on the route set by the organizer or on the distance covered in case the pilot did not reach the final destination – the airport. If it happened that no participant managed to finish the flight and everybody landed in the fields, the most point were supposed to go to the pilot who covered the longest distance.
The weather enabled completion of 6 tasks. Most often, the conditions ranged from difficult to very difficult and required a lot of persistence and patience from the pilots. Finishing the set route was not a given – even Lukasz, who in the end took the high 2nd place, landed in the field three times.
Lukasz didn’t kick off the competition optimistically. He ended the first two tasks with the 17th rank but later obtained better results and was going up the classification step by step – up till the 5th rank before the last task.
The final day of the competition was nerve-wrecking. The differences between the participants were very small and anything could happen. Lukasz admits that his last flight was far from ideal as some of his tactics failed but luck was with him that day – three pilots classified higher obtained worse results and in the end landed in the second spot.
This success is a beautiful wrap-up of Lukasz’s junior career as next year his age will force him up into the senior category. Congratulations and good luck for the future!
Those interested can see the particulars of the official results here (in English) and read detailed accounts from every day of the competition here (in Polish).
