On Jan. 24, Hankook Tire held its 10th annual Proactive Awards at the Hankook Technodome in Daejeon, South Korea.

The annual awards ceremony is dedicated to recognizing employees worldwide who embody Hankook Tire’s Proactive Culture –­ a corporate culture valuing the entrepreneurial spirit of challenge and innovation –­ and its commitment to cultivating open communication, innovation and creativity.

The ceremony recognizes standout groups and employees who showed great success through innovative techniques and celebrates those who have fulfilled a proactive leadership role. Hankook allocates a prize of more than $100,000 CAD (approximately $76,200 USD) to the winners selected from four categories: Leadership, Performance, Challenge and Innovation.

Hankook Tire drives internal synergy among its employees from across the world by sharing their achievements across the company’s extensive communication channels for all to see. The goal of the Proactive Awards is to motivate employees to strive for extraordinary results, and encourage all Hankook Tire team members to pursue and obtain new goals.

This year’s Leadership Award was granted to Jae-yong Moon, team manager for the Keumsan Quality Assurance Team, and Sang-gi Park, supervisor of PCR Sub Team, for their commitment to maximizing quality assurance, creating a positive work environment, increasing productivity at each facility and improving quality innovation through independent field improvements.

The Performance Award was granted to the Poland sales subsidiary team for the group’s outstanding sales growth achievements and expansion of the distribution base, despite an insufficient market environment.

The Challenge Award went to Gi-soo Jeon, chief specialist of Manufacturing Technology Team Three, for developing a U/F Non-Lube Rim, excavating and improving the U/F CON influence factor and enhancing test reliability.

Material Research Team Two, KP (Material Sub Team Three, and JP) and Manufacturing Team Two took home the Innovation Award. Five team members were awarded with a Proactive One grand prize for reducing low-quality product rates through facility improvements and enhancing profitability from run-flat tires.

“Hankook Tire will lead the future of tire technology, driven by proactive leaders and culture through constant challenges and innovation,” said Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO, Hankook Tire. “Hankook Tire will continue to build an open, creative and horizontal corporate culture as a leading global tire company which will allows employees to fully function and flourish.”

The company also introduced a new personnel system to improve the efficiency and flexibility of HR management, and continues to build a proactive culture by changing the corporate hierarchy and encouraging the development of human resources. Through these efforts, Hankook Tire will actively strengthen its proactive culture to encourage employees to take active and innovative roles based on professional achievements, and continue to build an atmosphere of open communication, creativity and an innovative corporate culture.