JP Steel Plantech Co., a steelmaking plant engineering manufacturer (President: Nobuyuki Nada; head office: Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa) and the John Cockerill Group, a Belgian general heavy machinery manufacturer, agreed to strengthen the alliance between the two companies by enhancing their strategic cooperation further. JP Steel Plantech concluded a business alliance agreement with the John Cockerill Group in July last year.

Both parties confirmed this agreement at the first steering committee (hereafter referred to as SC) held in Belgium on Monday, June 24, 2019. We will reinforce the business structure in order to expand the sales of pickling and acid regeneration plant (ARP) facilities, which are John Cockerill’s main products, in Japan, and we will do the same for tension levelers and other steel sheet straightening equipment, which are JP Steel Plantech’s specialty, in Europe. Mr. da Silva, CEO, attended this SC and expressed his expectations for the future development, “Through our alliance with JP Steel Plantech this past year, we have both become familiar with each other’s technologies. We would like to win new contracts as soon as possible.”

Both companies’ futsal teams held a friendly match before this SC. In July last year, the first game in the FIFA World Cup final round (Japan vs. Belgium) was held on the day before the signing ceremony of our alliance agreement. We agreed to have another match between Japan and Belgium with employees from both companies, which led to this friendly futsal match. After the game, young employees exchanged opinions on issues in technical and sales fields and deepened the relationship throughout the whole organization, from the management level to the working level. We will also promote personal friendship to build a better cooperative relationship.

 
Friendly match of futsal teams held as an event for young employees to interact with one another. ·

 ·John Cockerill Group
Established in 1817, this Belgian general heavy machinery manufacturer consists of five sectors: energy, defense, industry (steelmaking), environment, and services. The Group has 6,000 or more engineers at business sites all over five continents in the world and multiple manufacturing bases in Europe, the U.S., India, and other countries. The name of the company was changed from Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie SA to John Cockerill Group this May.

 · Alliance agreement with the John Cockerill Group
By providing the most advanced steel sheet manufacturing processes and treatment lines based on cold rolling and steel plate/sheet leveler technologies, which we are known for, and John Cockerill’s specialty of pickling technology, we will contribute to the expansion of the steel product market typified by high-tensile steel sheets. Through our sales cooperation in Japan, Europe, and India, we will stress the benefits of our alliance and win new contracts all over the world.

 · Agreed matters at this SC
○ Strengthening the strategy to win contracts for pickling and acid regeneration plant (ARP) facilities in Japan
→ Holding seminars for customers in Japan this year

○ Strengthening the system to win contracts for steel sheet straightening equipment (such as tension leveler) in Europe
→ Mutual sales cooperation, such as marketing surveys for obtaining customers

· Youth exchange
○ Friendly matches between the futsal teams of both companies
→ The John Cockerill Group team had a physical advantage and won the match, which meant that we were unable to get revenge for Japan’s defeat in the 2018 World Cup game. 

○ Exchange meetings
→ The meeting helped us understand each other’s technologies better. In terms of sales, we exchanged opinions on both markets and confirmed the sales methods based on that information.