Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1040165
17 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 OCTOBER 2018 COMMERCIAL FAMALCO Group employees set their inner child free last weekend as they were treated to the company's long await- ed 'Big Toy' Day. This event saw two of the parent com- pany's industries, Faceworks and Fahrenheit, teaming up and temporarily loaning their machinery to their employees and families for a day of fun test drives. This event was just one of the many company out- ings Famalco Group hosted this year, always striving to re- ward their hard-working em- ployees in order to keep them motivated for success. The Group's mantra is "we empower you to grow", and Famalco do not take this say- ing lightly, as they believe that their employees are their biggest investment. As with any worthwhile investment, one has to carefully manage it, in order to maintain posi- tive results. By means of these company outings, Famalco Group invest in their employ- ees in order to help them to relax and take a break from their daily grind at the office. By recharging their brain, which is their greatest tool in the workplace, employees are able to increase creativity and productivity at the office. These outings also serve to in- crease employee engagement in work, as they will be more excited on returning to work the next day with them feeling included and nurtured by the company. Famalco Group be- lieves that the company out- ings are beneficial in order to strengthen work-place bonds, where directors and employ- ees can interact together in a relaxing environment and share stimulating stress-free conversation away from the hustle and bustle of the office. As part of 'Big Toy' Day, at- tendees got the thrilling op- portunity to try out machines like Fahrenheit's staple green reefer trucks as well as Face- works' trenchers, excavators, and many more. Employees had a blast trying out these muscle-machines in what can easily be described as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Apart from these test-runs, the at- tendees were given the chance to ride in various off-road vehicles on a custom built, off-road track, specifically de- signed for the event. Later on in the day, attendees were also entertained by a Bangers race in the custom built track as well as being given the chance to drive laps in the scrap cars themselves. After all the fun was had, the scrap cars were destroyed by the off-road ve- hicles and Faceworks excava- tors in a spectacle of total de- struction. Since 'Big Toy' Day was ca- tered for the entire family, Fa- malco group made sure that children were provided with entertainment as well, with the presence of a bouncing castle. Trampolines were also available for adults, further encouraging employees to join in with the children's shenani- gans and throw their serious demeanour out the window for the day. Attendees were also provided with lively mu- sic and an abundance of food and drink, including popcorn and cotton candy! Famalco Group Co-Founder and Director Hermann Mallia, joined in the fun, and pleas- antly said that 'Big Toy' Day was an extreme success. He went on to say that the weath- er also greeted employees with a beautiful sunny day after a stormy week, further adding to the atmosphere and ensur- ing a fantastic and memorable experience. "It was great to see employees with their families and friends relaxing and hav- ing fun. We are always looking for ways to express our grati- tude towards our hardworking employees". All of Famalco's events are held as a 'thank you' to all em- ployees who work tirelessly for the ever-growing compa- ny, believing wholeheartedly in the brands they represent, as well as in the diverse spread the company has on the Mal- tese business industry. Natu- rally, these events go down well with employees, as they feel welcomed in a company which treats them like family, making them more motivated to continue striving forward into success. For more information about Famalco Group, please call on (+356) 2339 2339 or visit www.Famalco.Net. Famalco | Building Business. Big toy day at Famalco DHL Express Malta to expand capabilities on next-day deliveries DHL Express, the world's leading international express services provider, has taken a strategic decision to focus the activities of its Malta operation solely on Time Definite Inter- national (express) deliveries, reinforcing its commitment to ensure its parcels and docu- ments are delivered on time. "Our express business is growing, and we want to focus on the cross-border e-com- merce opportunities," Charles Schiavone, Country Manager of DHL Express, said. "We will dedicate our resources on Express Services and achieve growth through quality." As the company gears up to the forthcoming seasonal peak, Schiavone is keen to ensure the amount of successfully de- livered shipments grows even higher. This service promise is backed by a further strength- ening of the On Demand De- livery infrastructure through strategically placed automated DHL Parcel Lockers, that are highly popular with its clients and can be accessed 24x7. DHL Express Malta has plans for five new Parcel Lockers in localities around Malta, includ- ing Mellieha, Zabbar, Zebbug and Zejtun, taking the total to 13. Additionally, another three add-on units will increase ca- pacity to existing Lockers. This will ensure that customers will have a broader range to choose their preferred hi-tech unit. "We have seen our shipments growing by 20% in the first six months of this year and we expect a similar increase in inward e-commerce business towards the end of the year," Schiavone said. DHL Express Malta also plans to double the size of its facility in Luqa by the end of next year. One of the DHL Express Malta Parcel Lockers located outside its offices in Luqa CONTEMPORARY comput- ers might be doing amazing things for us but the truth is that there are loads of prob- lems which they are still far away from solving. Mathemati- cally difficult problems such as optimal scheduling of time or space, and accurately modelling highly complex systems such as the weather or the stock market are still not possible with the computing power we currently have at our disposal. However, should the new technology of quantum com- puting become more practical- ly viable, the computing power would increase dramatically and problems which up till now were unsolvable in reasonable time, might be! This is great for the list of problems out there waiting for solutions. The downside is that Inter- net security is based on the as- sumption that certain problems (such as finding factors of large numbers) remain infeasible to solve efficiently. With quantum computing this can change and what was once considered se- cure might not remain so. It is in this context that a Mal- tese computer scientist Chris- tian Colombo from the Univer- sity of Malta joined forces with Prof Otokar Grošek from the Slovak University of Technol- ogy, Rainer Steinwandt from the Florida Atlantic University, and María Isabel González Vas- co from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos to work on a NATO- funded project: Secure Com- munication in the Quantum Era (https://re-search.info). The project will aim to devel- op concrete efficient security protocols which can keep the Internet safe should large scale quantum computing become a reality. These protocols will then be securely implemented on dif- ferent target platforms and shielded against potential at- tacks using runtime verification techniques. The kickoff meeting was held in Malta between 29 September and 3 October. Maltese scientist working on NATO- funded project