ArcelorMittal’s Marc Burty, a process development engineer, has won a prestigious award from the Chinese government for his work with Lianyuan Steel (LYS), a subsidiary of Hunan Valin Steel in which ArcelorMittal owns a stake.

The "Xiaoxiang Friendship Award" was given to just 20 foreign experts in Hunan province, which has a population of 70 million, in a ceremony held in the provincial capital Changsha on September 25. The biannual awards are the highest recognition for foreigners and are granted by the Hunan Provincial People’s Government.

Hunan’s governor Xu Shousheng presented the awards, which are now in their sixth year, on China’s National Day.

"These foreign experts have brought to Hunan advanced technology, concepts and social administration knowledge during their stay in Hunan and further attracted more worldwide attention to Hunan’s development" said Mr Xu.

Burty was recognized for his work with LYS, where he has been working since March 2011. Currently on a three-year secondment, based in the city of Loudi in Hunan province, he is working as part of ArcelorMittal’s technology assistance and transfer team to build the plant’s capacity to produce automotive grades of steel for VAMA – the automotive joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Hunan Valin Steel.

Burty’s work focuses on three main areas. First, technology communication and coordination; five teams of ArcelorMittal experts have visited LYS to share technology for energy saving, and to audit equipment and quality systems. He has also organised three-week maintenance training courses at ArcelorMittal in Gent, for 27 colleagues from LYS. Since then, unplanned stoppages have decreased month-on-month.

Second, Burty is focusing on change management in working practices, introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) at two major plants to evaluate monthly production. As a result, KPIs were rolled out across the company with major progress made across the board.

Third, he has also worked to improve safety awareness, helping LYS to establish a safety action plan and frequently visiting the shop floor to educate workers about wearing PPE and safe working practices.

Colleagues in Loudi praised Burty for his professionalism. "Lianyuan Steel is very satisfied with Mr. Burty’s work in transferring ArcelorMittal know-how to Lianyuan Steel. This is an important step in ensuring we supply a consistent quality of steel to VAMA," said Wang Jun, Valin Steel deputy general manager and Lianyuan Steel party secretary.

The award marks the first time a resident of Loudi has been named a foreign expert; it is also a first for Hunan Valin Steel - one of China’s top 10 steel producers.

Hunan Valin Steel and ArcelorMittal both own stakes in automotive steel joint venture VAMA which aims to establish itself as a premier supplier of high-strength steels and value-added products for China’s fast growing automotive market.

VAMA is building cold-rolling and galvanizing lines in Loudi to supply the Chinese automotive market from mid 2014. Once the first stage of construction is complete, the line will have the capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cold-rolled and coated products per year, primarily for the automotive industry.