Mladen Nedkov, ICT Deputy Director at Ellatzite-Med AD, wins Engineer of the Year 2021 award
Mladen Nedkov, Deputy Director of Information and Communication Technologies Department at Ellatzite-Med AD, has been selected as Engineer of the Year 2021 in a competition organised by the Federation of Scientific Engineering Unions (FNTS). The honorary certificate was presented to him by the Chairman of FNTS Prof. DSc. Eng. Ivan Yachev during the General Meeting of the organization on 30 June 2022. The honorary plaque for outstanding individual engineering achievements will be bestowed at an official ceremony at the end of the year when the federation traditionally holds its final meeting.
M.Eng. Nedkov was invited to take part in the contest at the beginning of May 2022 by Dr. Eng. Kremena Dedelyanova, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Union of Mining, Geology and Metallurgy and Vice-Chairman of FNTS. He ranked first in competition with six qualified engineers from all scientific and technical unions. An authoritative jury evaluated Mladen’s achievements and excellent presentations at mining industry forums. The award is also a token of high esteem for the company, part of GEOTECHMIN GROUP, whose strategic objective since its inception has been to modernise and digitise its mining operations and production systems.
‘I was so fortunate to start work at Ellatzite-Med, part of GEOTECHMIN GROUP, which has consistently adopted cutting-edge technologies and innovations for more than 30 years,’ said M.Eng. Mladen Nedkov who joined Ellatzite-Med’s team in 2005. Firstly, he started work as a system administrator and in 2013 he was appointed Manager of Mining Information Systems Department, after which he was promoted to his current position. He constantly strives to hone his professional expertise and implement innovative solutions in the company. ‘At Ellatzite-Med, digitalisation was made possible thanks to the management team’s support and continuity in our work,’ he said adding ‘I stepped on solid ground.’ Geotechmin was the first mining company in Bulgaria which in 1993 purchased, deployed and integrated leading-edge mining software – DATAMINE and Whittle 4D for modeling, multivariate design, economic evaluations, scope optimization and strategic mine planning in open-pit mines. After the privatisation of Ellatzite-Med, modernisation and digitalisation commenced – firstly they were integrated in the basic technological processes, and then throughout the entire range of the company’s activities.
M.Eng. Mladen Nedkov became Engineer of the Year 2021 thanks to three state-of-the-art projects. The first one is ASMO Mobile application. It collects and provides the latest actual data for production processes in real-time, directly on the employees’ phones – from ore and overburden extraction to the precise location and movement of loading and haulage machines. The second software product, highly appraised by the authoritative jury, is PIKS application – an information system providing real-time data about air quality at Ellatzite outdoor mine sites. The two applications – ASMO Mobile and PIKS enable two-way direct communication exchange between any specialist or worker who have downloaded them on their smartphones. The third product for which M.Eng. Nedkov gained the prestigious prize is a smart sensor system for automatic air quality monitoring and data collection at Ellatzite indoor mine sites, which is stored in a MySQL database.
The award given to M.Eng. Nedkov is a high recognition both for him and for the company which boasts a wide range of proven achievements in the mining sector.
