E-Crane® company trip to Poland was huge success!
From 1st to 4th May 2008 over 30 Indusign / E-Crane Worldwide employees and their partners travelled from our Adegem offices (Belgium) to Glogow, home to Famaba / Smulders Group in Poland.
Everybody agreed: this was a highly successful trip, and hopefully to be repeated! Although it will be a tough job to top this one.
The E-Crane® management offered their employees an all-in three day trip to Poland. Main goal and highlight of the journey was a visit to Famaba, part of the Smulders Group, which produces the main steel constructions for our E-Cranes.
Welcome evening in Glogow on 1st May
The first night, and despite the long bus journey one saw only smiling faces. Nasdrovnje!
Once arrived in Poland, a dozen or so colleagues from Famaba/Smulders Group joined us. The first evening brought the first acquaintance with the Polish food, piwo (beer) and of course wódka. Nasdrovnje (cheers)! The cozy and friendly tone for the whole trip was instantly set.
Visit to Wroclaw (formerly Breslau)
Visit to the colourful Wroclaw: before there were no house numbers, each house therefore got a distinctive charachter, after which it was then named, f.ex. the dragons house, the golden house,…
Mr. Rogalski from Famaba guided us through the picturesque Wroclaw (German name Breslau) like a true expert, supported by Mr. Zasada, Director at Famaba who acted as interpreter Polish-Dutch for the occasion. The fascinating walk lead us from market places to squares with colourful houses, passed the Saint Marie-Magdalene Church, the Church of the Holy Cross, the Wroclaw University, the Spiz brewery, the river Oder,…
Polish evening: abundance
Another warm welcome the second evening, this time for a typical Polish evening, i.e. a true dinner feast, with a continuous variety of dishes showing up at the table. After dinner, the younger (and some not so young) participants amongst us stretched their legs on the dancefloor of the adjacent discotheque, that is partially built into the old city ruins.
Glogow has a similar history as Wroclaw: after the first Silezian War, Glogow was placed under Prussian authority. Nazi Germany brought the eradication of the Jewish people in Glogow en Wraclow, and for both cities a lost Second World War: the sovjets destroyed the cities, Poland was given authority over Silesia, and the German residents had to make way for Polish inhabitants.
Visit to Famaba
On Saturday morning, the whole group walked alongside and across the river Oder that cuts across the town of Glogow, passed the monument for the murdered children (who died during the “battle of Glogow”), and through the woods to the Famaba factory.
E-Crane® boom and chassis being prepared in the Famaba workshop.
At the moment, Famaba has more than 260 employees, and the plant covers about 10 hectare. Besides the production of the E-Crane® construction parts Famaba at present also fabricates parts for windmills and off-shore constructions. In communist times Famaba even had his own school and training center. Who did well enough at school, could start working in the factory. Nowadays those buildings are used for welding and testing.
Mr. de Meyere, our Flemish contact person at Famaba, gave us an interesting tour of the factory, and showed and explained to us the different production units at Famaba:
- Bending, cutting and finishing of steel plates
- Fabricating, welding and machining of steel constructions
- Sandblasting and painting (in especially equipped halls)
It was very interesting to have the chance to also experience this stage in the production of our E-Cranes for once: our design teams saw how their drawings were put into use, our engineers saw the rough models of the E-Crane® parts that they would soon finish and assemble in our Belgian (Adegem) workshop,…
A perfect end to a perfect trip! Nothing could spoil the mood for us, not even the 12 hour bus drive home.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Management for organizing this trip, and all participants for their enthusiasm. Special thanks we would like to offer to our colleagues at Famaba for the excellent organization and warm welcome!
