2013

The Business Excellence Award at North West Aerospace Alliance New Talent Awards event was held on the 28th of November at the Imperial War Museum, Manchester and saw prizes handed to the North West’s best emerging talent, along with the training providers and companies who support their work.

New for 2013 was the Business University Challenge Category which Team PDS (Robyn Lee, Justine Lorriman and Ian Stuart) competed in. Eight young teams from North West universities and aerospace businesses went head to head in a series of ‘The Apprentice’ style mini-challenges at Burnley College in October to test their innovation, business acumen, problem solving, presentation and communication skills. The Challenge aimed to provide a collaborative approach for the North West aerospace industry to recognise and reward emerging young talent and forms part of the NWAA New Talent Awards. The Awards were run by the highly successful Take Off in Aerospace Campaign which was developed as part of the NWAA’s Aerospace Supply Chain Excellence Programme (ASCE2). This campaign aims to encourage the most talented young people in the region to consider a career in the aerospace industry.
PDS Engineering’s Robyn Lee won a Professional Excellence award for displaying outstanding leadership during the Business University Challenge. Sponsored by the Royal Aeronautical Society Centennial Scholarship Fund and trophies provided by Rock FM Academy. They said, “Robyn shone from the start and remained consistent through all the challenges. She was a natural and enthusiastic leader who tried hard to understand all the tasks and bring her team together.”

The three top scoring teams on the day were invited to the Awards evening where Team PDS received second prize overall, beating competition from top universities and aerospace primes. It was a brilliant night for PDS and a wonderful event for everyone in attendance.