More awards for the Switcher technology

The system for transporting and unloading complete railroad turnouts received the “Innovator Małopolski” award, and also won the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Economic and Scientific Innovations INTARG 2016.  The innovative technology developed by KZN “Bieżanów” continues to receive accolades and recognition.

The Switcher technology is a tangible, commercial project representing a traditional industry. Within a single system, the technology provides integration of transport, crane lifting and payload security for railroad turnouts. The technology makes it possible to achieve the highest initial quality at the incorporation of the structures into the railroad, and significantly reduce the construction time and turnout-related costs throughout its life cycle (LCC).

“The numerous industry and R&D awards and accolades that the Switcher technology has received in the 9 months since its debut is proof that the Polish railway industry can be innovative.  It also confirms that not only start-ups, but also businesses with long traditions can be sources of innovation,” Mr. Ryszard Leszczyński, Chairman of KZN “Bieżanów”, commented on receiving the “Innovator Małopolski” award from Jacek Krupa, Marshal of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. “This technology is also a good example of network cooperation. Its development was the work of not only our Research and Development Office, but also a number of companies that supplied specific solutions, e.g. hydraulic powered equipment or lifting equipment. The Switcher is also the fruit of the engineering and research efforts of the designers and employees of the Railway Institute, and would not have been possible without the material support of the National Centre for Research and Development,” said Chairman Leszczyński.

The awards ceremony of the 10th “Innovator Małopolski” competition was held on 16 June 2016 at the ICE Krakow Congress Centre, and was one of the highlights of IMPACT’16, the most important congress on innovative economy in Poland. The 10th anniversary attracted numerous businesses from our Voivodeship. The businesses had to put their innovations within the framework of 7 Smart Specialisations for Lesser Poland. KZN “Bieżanów” and its “Innovative technology of production and incorporation of high-quality railroad turnouts” won in the “Production of metal, metal products and mineral products” Specialisation Priority.  KZN’s submission had to be verified by the Smart Specialisation Working Groups for the Lesser Poland Voivodeship established at the Marshal’s Office. Then, the company submitted to a detailed internal audit and the IMPROVE® test, which compared the analysed innovative company with its industry counterparts across the European Union.

It should be noted that this is KZN “Bieżanów”’s second “Innovator Małopolski” award. In 2010, the 5th competition recognised the cast bainitic steel developed for key turnout elements (e.g. crossing plates).

On the day before the “Innovator Małopolski” award winners were announced, the Switcher technology also succeeded in the competition for the best innovations at the International Exhibition of Economic and Scientific Innovations INTARG 2016, which was held on 14-15 June at the International Conference Centre in Katowice. “The exhibition is an interesting way of comparing ourselves to innovative businesses and institutions from around the world. Evidently, benchmarking with various companies from Europe, but also from Taiwan, Thailand, Iran, Canada, Libya, Egypt, South Korea and the United States put us in a very good light,” Remigiusz Tytuła, PR Manager at KZN “Bieżanów”, commented after receiving the Gold Metal at the INTARG 2016 exhibition.