Villepreux, 07
September
2009
EADS hosted its biennial Hall of Fame which recognizes the company`s best technical talents. At the ceremony, which took place at the Group’s education centre Domaine de Villepreux, near Bordeaux, EADS selected the winners of its prestigious “Hall of Fame” awards.
The winner of the Great Inventor’ 2009 is Claus Hoffjann (Airbus). ‘The Great Innovator’ award was given to André Cariou (Astrium). Jacques Verraux (Eurocopter) received the ‘Great Craftsman’ prize. The ‘Best Lean Manufacturing Team’ is the team from the Airbus plant in Puerto Real, Spain. Dr. Jean Botti, EADS Chief Technical Officer and co-host of the event remarked: “The EADS Hall of Fame is an important event to recognize and thank members of our technical team for their important contributions. Their dedication and efforts drive forward the spirit of innovation at EADS.”
The EADS Hall of Fame was established as collaboration between the EADS Corporate Technical Office and the EADS Human Resources Department in 2007. The objective of the Hall of Fame is to recognize technical achievements of both individuals and groups from across the company which foster innovation and long-term best practices.
Several VIPs attendees attended the Hall of Fame including Dr. Vijay Mallya, Force India Formula One team Principal and founder of Kingfisher beverages and Kingfisher airlines; Force India driver Adrian Sutil and his former team colleague Giancarlo Fisichella (now Ferrari); and James Key, Force India technical director. Recently retired Rugby legend Fabien Pelous as well as David Skrela, active player of the Stade Toulousain team also attended the ceremony. Pelous received an award for his outstanding achievements in Rugby. All VIP guests actively participated in the award ceremony.
The award for the ‘Great Inventor’ recognises the number of high-quality patented inventions submitted by individual employees in specific technical domains. The ‘Great Innovator’ is awarded for a project which has contributed to revenues, savings or to a competitive advantage. The winner of the ‘Great Craftsman’ award is recognized for unique skills which support the overall business performance of a department or division. The special prize for the ‘Best Lean Manufacturing Team’ recognises the best improvement initiatives which support operational savings, on time delivery or quality improvements.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS generated revenues of € 43.3 billion and employed a workforce of about 118,000. The Group includes Airbus as the leading manufacturer of commercial and also tanker, transport and mission aircraft, Eurocopter as the world's largest helicopter supplier and EADS Astrium, the European leader in space programmes from Ariane to Galileo. The Defence & Security Division is a provider of comprehensive systems solutions and makes EADS the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium as well as a stakeholder in the missile systems provider MBDA.
