Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
It has been a cold, snowy winter here in New Hampshire this season. I love it. But it does make me think about summer, and this year I’m thinking about Athens.
My family and I had the great fortune to visit with customers during a trip to the Eastern Mediterranean last June. During our time in Greece, what started as a side visit to customers grew to become a wonderful time spent with new friends – Kyriakos Tzompanakis and his sister, Corinna. They are the second generation of the Athens propeller builder Tzompanakis Marine Propulsion (www.propellers.gr).
The Tzompanakis family (including their father, Andreas) spent two days with us and acted as our tour guides. (Here we are having the first Athens HydroComp Users Group meeting at the Acropolis. Not much software talk, but that’s OK…) We cannot thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity during our stay in Athens.
Kyriakos and Corinna are representative of a new generation in family-run propeller companies. Nearly two dozen of our propeller manufacturing customers are similar – still family operated, but now employing skills from their university education in engineering and business. We are very pleased (and humbled) to be a small part of the growth and development of these family run companies. Working with this eager and energetic new generation is one of the best parts of my job.
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