The John Cockerill Awards: symbols of agility, innovation and boldness in a year disrupted by the pandemic

The sixth edition of the John Cockerill Awards has, once again, highlighted the entrepreneurial culture of John Cockerill. This internal competition highlights John Cockerill’s assets: the collective intelligence of its teams who provide solutions to meet the needs of our time.

While 2020 has changed the way our teams live and work, it has also been a tremendous trigger for innovation, strengthening our adaptability and accelerating our path to digitalization.

The Awards recognize our best projects in terms of technology, commercial advancement, continuous improvement and HSE (Health, Safety and Environment).

The 2021 John Cockerill Awards ceremony was held this year in a small and remote committee setting. Our Grand Jury, chaired by Jean-Pol Poncelet, gave a trophy to each winning team.

Connected via Teams, the Chinese and German teams were respectively live from Beijing and Montabaur. Our Chinese colleagues received a trophy for the best continuous improvement for the first hot-rolled coil produced during the pandemic. Our German colleagues have been rewarded for the best technological development, an all-in-one acid regeneration plant called SARA.

The John Cockerill Foundation was present in Seraing for the ceremony (in compliance with the sanitary measures). The team received the Health, Safety and Environment Award for a developing a mask manufacturing project. Finally, the hydrogen team was awarded a prize for its commercial advancement in Australia.

Once again this year, John Cockerill’s employees demonstrated innovation, creativity and boldness.