We are a tightly integrated bunch at SCT. Every person plays an important role in the advanced smart monitoring solutions we deliver to our growing customer base. With that in mind, we thought you might like to get to know some of us better.
In the first of our Meet the Experts series, we put the spotlight on Konstantin Popov. Konstantin is our lead Data Engineer and joined us in October 2023 fresh from earning his PhD from the prestigious University of Edinburgh.
SCT: Konstantin, welcome and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for this new series of blogs. Could you share with us a bit about your background and what led you to join Smart Component Technologies?
Konstantin Popov (KP): I moved to the UK from my native Bulgaria to study for a Master of Engineering at Edinburgh University. The course covered a lot of different areas of engineering, including structural, technical engineering, and hydrology and hydraulic engineering. I gained a broad view of different engineering challenges, including transport engineering and the amount of planning and maintenance that transport infrastructure needs. My PhD project related to railway track maintenance and attracted funding from both the US and Scotland. This international focus opened my eyes to the different practices in the UK and Europe and North America. I developed a lot of analytical skills and built up an interest in coding, data, algorithms and machine learning. These fitted seamlessly into the role at SCT which I was introduced to by a recruiter. My background in railways, data and maintenance engineering made it a match made in heaven.
SCT: Now that you’ve been with us for a year, what do you think makes SCT unique in the market, and why do customers choose to work with us?
KP: The main thing that makes customers choose SCT over others is the way we work with people. Our focus is on cooperation and on what we can learn from each other, and from our customers. Being a tight-knit SME, we all know each other well and genuinely value each other’s roles, which helps us work together seamlessly to meet our customers' needs.
We put a lot of effort into providing customers with more than data. We give them a service to guide them through the data, to make sure that they're interpreting it correctly.
SCT: Now for a bit of insight about you. How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
KP: I moved from Scotland to England a year ago. So, with my girlfriend, I’m enjoying exploring parts of the countryside we hadn’t experienced before, especially the beaches as I love being by water. We like to travel abroad a few times a year, visiting family and sightseeing in Greece and Amsterdam. Generally, in the week we just relax and enjoy cooking together and seeing friends.
SCT: What do you think sets SCT apart when it comes to customer satisfaction and success?
KP: Again, it comes back to the relationship we have with our customers. I think this is something that sets SCT apart. Customers know that we are genuinely on their side and looking for new ways to add value. A recent example of this is when we found a new way to present data to customers to give them a different perspective. The great thing about data is that it always generates more questions and presents something new to learn. You can see new patterns emerging in the data, which gives you a new direction to explore. This has led us to collecting new data to show the impact generated by trains on the track, which is opening up a different understanding of the forces that the rail assets are experiencing.
So, having strong relationships with them and understanding what it is that they need really helps us internally drive things maybe in a slightly different direction. This gives customers confidence that we are adding value to their business almost as if it is our own.
SCT: Taking a look at the work you’ve been doing with customers, what challenges do you see them facing, and how is SCT helping to address them?
KP: There have been quite a few recent developments where we’ve presented the alternative ways of displaying our data. That has got people excited. One of the major challenges facing customers, especially in the rail sector, is understaffing and a skills shortage. People are being tasked with lots of different areas, they are spread quite thin. That means they cannot dive as deeply into the data as they’d like to – which is where we can add real value. SCT’s products and data analytics services can give them a much deeper understanding of their infrastructure and the condition of their assets. They can make more informed decisions and use their resources in a smarter way.
Having a rich, long-term data set specifically for the problems they are facing is hugely beneficial. Analysing two or more years’ worth of data from the same device installed to monitor the same asset really helps us and our customers understand all the different factors that may be impacting the site, and the condition of the assets. These could be due to environmental factors – how does the asset handle heat in the summer, heavy rainfall or cold and snow in the winter? How does it handle different types of traffic – freight or passenger trains, or increased traffic in tourist seasons or due to rerouting? There’s so much to learn from the data. We’re like an extra pair of eyes for them.
SCT: Looking towards the future, Konstantin, if we were to have this conversation in a year's time, how do you think things will have moved on?
I believe we will be looking at a scaled-up version of what we do now. More devices in this country and other territories, working with more people, and essentially creating a broader network. We can make sure that we are learning from all the different routes and creating algorithms which can learn from all of our devices. Integrating the data from all of our devices, and essentially creating this network which can help us, which can help get a holistic picture of what an asset is supposed to look like and when it may be starting to deteriorate. Whether that's in a year or two, three or five years from now, I don’t know, but I do know it will be an exciting future to be part of.
SCT: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Konstantin.
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